Honeychile Reviews

Canova plays a hillbilly songwriter with a great little number, "Honeychile." Foy and Catlett are a pair of publishers who desperately want the rights to the song, but Canova won't sell. Hale (later to achieve everlasting renown as the Skipper on TV's "Gilligan's Island") is her jealous boy friend. He gets in trouble after some crooks fix a chuckwagon race. In order to free her love, Canova decides to sell her song. For what this film is, it's not too bad. It's certainly Canova's show all the way. She gets to sing a number of ditties, including the title piece and an operatic version of the famous "Ragmop" by Johnny Lee Wills and Deacon Anderson, arranged by Jack Elliott. This was her return to corn comedy after a number of years away from the genre (the first of six films in Republic's second Canova series), and she's just fine. It's also her first appearance in color. The production values are smooth and the film has a certain charm to it. Other songs include "Honeychile" (Jack Elliott, Harold Spina), "Tutti Frutti" (Elliott, Ann Canova), "More Than I Care To Remember" (Ted Johnson, Matt Terry).