TheLittleSongbird Of the film musical biopics of famous composers and songwriters around the mid-40s and early-50s(Till the Clouds Roll By, Rhapsody in Blue, Night and Day, Words and Music and this), Three Little Words is my personal favourite, because of its lighter tone, more secure pacing and simpler approach. All five however still have many virtues.The story is somewhat secondary to everything else and a good deal of the details like all the above biopics are highly fictionalised (Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby's relationship was apparently the complete opposite as to what was portrayed here, but am not entirely sure). Arlene Dahl also has very little to do, and is a little bland as a result. However, those are the only things not so good about it. Everything else was so good and more than compensated, and of all Fred Astaire's MGM musicals Three Little Words is one of the better ones. I for one appreciated the film's simplicity, and liked that it was light in tone, it never felt dull or rushed and didn't try to do too much. Throughout it is also very warm-hearted and charming and put me in a good and happy mood after a hard day.As ever with MGM, it is a very lavish-looking film and filled with colour and elegance. Of the songs, Mr and Mrs Hoofer at Home and especially Thinking of You stood out, though Who's Sorry Now(beautifully sung by Gloria DeHaven), You Are My Lucky Star and Groucho Marx's theme Hooray for Captain Spaulding are good songs too. Choreographically, the highlights are the three numbers between Fred Astaire and Vera Ellen. Neither are among Astaire's very best routines, but they are still great. The best of the three is the charmingly romantic and movingly tender Thinking of You, though the witty and very funny Mr and Mrs Hoofer at Home and the fun and cleverly choreographed Where Did You Get that Girl are pleasures to watch as well.It's a nicely scripted film too, with some humorous parts and some emotional parts. The humorous parts are genuinely funny and the emotional parts have a great deal of poignancy. It's well paced too, not dissolving into too much talk or ham-fisted melodrama. The performances are solid across the board, with Astaire dancing as beautifully as ever and his acting performance, heavier and more serious in comparison to the rest of his roles, is one of his best. Red Skelton (a performer I normally take or leave) is funny while more restrained than he usually is, which suited the role and the tone of the film very well. Vera Ellen dances a dream with Astaire and charms in the acting department too, while Gloria DeHaven is a breath of fresh air with her rendition of Who's Sorry Now being one of the film's most poignant moments and Debbie Reynolds allures in her brief screen time.Overall, a great film, one of Astaire's better MGM musicals and the best and personal favourite of the filmed musical biopics of the mid-40s-early-50s period. 9/10 Bethany Cox

jane_e1 I loved every aspect of this movie. It is truly a shame that it doesn't receive more attention. I can only attribute that to the fact that it is biographical in nature and that the names Kalmar and Ruby are not familiar to today's viewing audiences.what they are missing is some wonderful song and dance routines, and some great back and forth between to legendary performers. It's truly a shame that so many misconceptions abound about such a wonderful film. Personal taste aside, I would like to clear up a few factual misconceptions about the actor Red Skelton and his portrayal of Ruby. Perhaps the last reviewer is unaware of just how appropriate the role of Harry Ruby was for Skelton. Skelton composed symphonies and was highly intelligent. His humor may have seemed lowbrow, but he was somewhat of a genius in his own right. He also bears a strong physical resemblance to Harry Ruby who actually has a cameo in the film. And if all of this is not enough of a selling point for you, you must know that you have not lived until you have seen Debbie Reynolds as Helen Kane performing "I wanna be loved by you"

ryancm This is what MGM did best. Musicals. Ah, they were all so wonderful, and THREE LITTLE WORDS in one of them. A nice, quiet muscial with great songs and dance numbers. Don't know how much of this is real biographical, but it's well done and interesting. Nice work from Astaire and Skelton as Kilmer and Ruby. The leading ladies are quite wonderful with Arlene Dahl at her dreamiest, though she doesn't have much to work with here. Because of story implications, Astaire doesn't dance after the first half, but until then he's sensational as always with Vera Ellen doing some fine hoofing as well. This was Debbie Reynolds 3rd film, having a bit in JUNE BRIDE and a small roll in DAUGHTER OF ROSIE O'GRADY. No Decalogue here and her voice is dubbed, but she makes an impression. For a nice, cozy evening, cuddle up with this DVD version of THREE LITTLE WORDS.

joseph952001 The first time I saw "Three Little Words" was when I was a teenager on vacation in Tulsa, Oklahoma. My Dad was not a fan of Red Skelton, but he endured the pain of it jut as he was subjected to watching Betty Hutton screaming with red-face in "Annie Get Your Gun", but as far as the movie "Three Little Words" goes, I loved it. Being a tap dancer myself, I could tune in quite well to a singing and dancing movie. This has to be considered one of Fred Astaires best movies he ever made. His dance numbers were created by Hermes Pan, thank God, because any film in which Astaire created his own dance sequences showed a very good reason why Astaire should let the others attempt this job. As a result, all the numbers are excellent, especially the dancing of he and Vera-Ellen in the "Thinking of You" number, and what about Gloria DeHaven? Here she is playing her own mother Mrs. Carter DeHaven. That must have been a thrill for her, and did she sing "Who's Sorry Now?" to perfection!As far as this being Debbie Reynolds screen debut. Not so! Her film debut was in "The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady" filmed by Warner Brothers starring Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson, and the best dancer Hollywood has ever had to offer - June Haver, but Haver's talent was always underestimated and not given the credit for being the fine performer that she was!But, what can you say about "Three Little Words" except - sit back, get out the pop-corn and the soda's, relax and watch an excellent cast have a field day doing some of the finest singing, acting, dancing, that you will ever witness on the silver screen. It's just too bad that these old movies can't be seen on the large silver screen so that our younger generation can see what entertainment was, is, and always will be all about! Don