State Fair

The Frake family goes to the Iowa State Fair as they do every year. Abel pins his hopes on Blueboy, his champion hog, Melissa on the pickle and mincemeat competitions, and their two children have their minds elsewhere: both find someone at the fairground, and nobody knows what happens when the fair ends. The film's place in history comes from its songs. This is the only original score Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II wrote directly for the screen. It was their second score together after Oklahoma!, and It Might as Well Be Spring won that year's Academy Award for Best Original Song. Walter Lang directed, with Jeanne Crain, Dana Andrews, Dick Haymes and Vivian Blaine. Who it's for: Viewers who like classic Hollywood musicals, Rodgers and Hammerstein songs, and good-natured period comedy. Who it's not for: The plot is thin, there is almost no conflict, and the view of rural America is entirely idealised. Anyone wanting a hard story will not find one.