In the same vein as 1942’s Yankee Doodle Dandy and 1948’s Words and Music, 1950’s Three Little Words offers a musical biography of legendary songwriters. This one looks at the team of Kalmar and Ruby.

Bert Kalmar (Fred Astaire) aspires to a career as a stage performer. Due an injury, however, this doesn’t quite work out for him.

As a result, Bert needs to go with Plan B. That leads to a songwriting partnership with Harry Ruby (Red Skelton).

Regard that as a pretty loose and non-specific plot synopsis. This makes sense, as Words comes with a pretty loose and non-specific plot.

This 1950 flick bears a pretty strong resemblance to Words and Music in that both barely attempt actual stories. Instead, we get narrative and character niblets that exist mainly as an excuse to showcase a variety of musical performances.

Words makes this orientation clear right out of the gate. After a text screen to set up the movie’s basic concept, the film immediately launches into a song-and-dance routine from Astaire and Vera-Ellen.

This sets up the basic template, but I suspect it’s unfair of me to describe Three Little Words as a plot-free affair akin to Words and Music. While the 1950 film does largely exist to showcase production numbers, it makes a more concerted effort at story and characters.

Well, to a degree. We get the interactions between Kalmar and Ruby – with a comedic emphasis on their almost-certainly fictitious “meet cute” – as well as Kalmar’s romance with eventual wife Jessie Brown (Vera-Ellen).

At no point does the movie develop into a particularly clever or fascinating fictionalized biography. Still, it devotes enough attention to its characters that we connect with them and take pleasure from their journeys.

Three Little Words manages to integrate its songs and choreography better than its 1948 predecessor as well, mainly because the latter so often utilized extraneous characters for those scenes. In this flick, we usually find performances from the leads, and that allows the material to fit the tale more smoothly.

Compared to Words and Music, we find a clearly superior cast. Unsurprisingly, both Astaire and Skelton were too old for their roles, but they show good chemistry.

And it’s just hard to ever really find fault in an Astaire performance. While I liked Mickey Rooney more than expected in Words and Music, his tendency toward mugging means he can’t compete with the effortless charm and talent that was Astaire.

Toss in a brief appearance from a very young Debbie Reynolds and Three Little Words turns into a fairly enjoyable little mix of comedy, music and minor drama. Nothing world-beating occurs here but the movie offers a likable affair.

Three Little Words appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The transfer delivered an appealing presentation.

Sharpness consistently appeared positive. Only a few slightly soft shots materialized, so the majority of the movie demonstrated good clarity.

I noticed no issues with jagged edges or shimmering, and edge haloes remained absent. No issues with print flaws occurred either.

Colors felt strong. We got a nice mix of blues, reds, greens and other tones that looked lush and vivid in fine Technicolor fashion.

Blacks seemed deep and dense without too much heaviness. Shadow detail worked similarly well, as dimly-lit shots were appropriately clear and thick. I found little about which to complain here and thought the Blu-ray brought the movie to life in a positive manner.

I thought the DTS-HD MA monaural audio of Words felt perfectly adequate for its age. It didn’t exceed expectations for a mix of its era, but the audio was more than acceptable.

Speech wasn’t exactly natural, but they seemed distinctive and without problems. I noticed a bit of edginess at times but nothing substantial.

Effects were a bit shrill, but they showed only a little distortion and displayed acceptable definition. Music was pretty lively given its age, as the score and songs sounded reasonably bright and concise.

No background noise was noticeable. All together, I found the soundtrack aged pretty well.

When we shift to extras, we open with a featurette called Two Swell Guys. It spans 15 minutes, 13 seconds and offers info from composer Richard M. Sherman, musical historian John Kenrick, and actors Arlene Dahl, Gloria de Haven and Carleton Carpenter.

“Guys” covers facts about Kalmar and Ruby as well as liberties for the film, cast and performances, and the movie’s reception. Though not the deepest of programs., “Guys” nonetheless offers some good nuggets.

Two shorts follow. We get the live-action Roaming Through Michigan (8:49) as well as the animated Ventriloquist Cat (6:43).

With Cat, we meet a feline who messes with a dog on his tail. While not a classic, it comes with some amusement value.

As implied by the title, Roaming delivers a travelogue that depicts the natural wonders of Michigan. It seems fluffy, of course, but it still gives us a moderately interesting snapshot of the state’s status 74 years ago.

In addition to the film’strailer, we end with an audio-only extra. Paula Stone’s Hollywood USA gives us a radio promo that runs 11 minutes, 23 seconds.

Narrated by Paula Stone, the reel involves her visit to the sets – her fictionalized and glossy visit to the sets. She chats with film subject Harry Ruby and actor Fred Astaire.

Though the program clearly exists to sell the movie, it comes with some charms. In particular, it’s good to hear from Ruby, the then-surviving member of the songwriting team, as Bert Kalmar died in 1947.

As a look at the partnership of songwriters Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, Three Little Words takes liberties with the facts but it nonetheless charms. Abetted by a good cast and a light tone, the movie keeps us entertained. The Blu-ray delivers solid picture as well as appropriate audio and a decent set of supplements. Expect an engaging little musical.