State Fair (1945)

My Review

A family from a small town attends the Iowa state fair with the father entering his boar in competition and his son and daughter getting involved in various activities, including romance, in the musical “State Fair.” Director Walter Lang (Greenwich Village” 1944) put together the definitive version of the famous musical with outstanding production values, high-quality musical numbers, good performances, and a well penned screenplay by Sonia Levien and Paul Green. It was based on the 1932 novel “State Fair” by Phil Stong.

The cast includes Jeanne Crain and Dick Haymes as the siblings, Dana Andrews and Vivian Blaine as their friends, Charles Winninger and Fay Bainter as Dad & Mum, Donald Meek, Frank McHugh, Percy Kilbride, Harry Morgan, John Dehner, William Marshall, Janet Nigh, Phil Brown, and Blue Boy the Hog as Blue Boy the Boar.

The watchable “State Fair” was the ninth highest grossing movie of 1945 for 20th Century Fox. It won a single Academy Award for Best Song – “It Might As Well Be Spring,” music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It also received one Oscar nod for Best Musical Score (Alfred Newman and Charles E. Henderson). It was filmed in Technicolor at the 20th Century Fox Studios in Century City in Los Angeles. Other versions of “State Fair” were released in 1933, 1962, and 1976.