Two Weeks With Love

Kittenish teens Patti (Jane Powell) and Melba (Debbie Reynolds) turn a 1900s family vacation in the Catskills into Two Weeks with Love, "a bright entertainment that may come as a surprise to those who think there is nothing new under the musical sun" (The Hollywood Reporter). Patti is fluttery over a suave older man (Ricardo Montalban) and thinks romance will bloom if her disapproving parents let her wear...a corset! With that longed-for garment, 18-year-old Patti is sure she'll look like a more mature woman. Meanwhile, Melba stalks a local boy (Carleton Carpenter) with lovestruck determination. In a sensational showstopper, Reynolds and Carpenter tear into a version of "Aba Daba Honeymoon," so frisky and charming it became a smash-hit record. Busby Berkeley staged all the numbers, including "Row, Row, Row" and a dream sequence that has corseted Powell wowing Montalban with, of all things, an aria from The Chocolate Soldier. Aba daba, what a delight!

• comedy
• musical