Watch Thank Your Lucky Stars For Free

Good movie but grossly overrated

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

. . . that could be given credit for inventing the garbage disposal. Holding top billing on all the promotional material I've seen for THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS, Humphrey Bogart's cameo is laughably short and otherwise humorless (not to mention talent-free). Nearly everyone involved here plays themselves, some far better than others. Only Errol Flynn's bit is incognito (apparently because his singing was dubbed as he tried to channel Dick Van Dyk from the Future's MARY POPPINS). This WWII variety show reduces Eddie Cantor to an obnoxious lampoon of his once promising self. Though Cantor is ubiquitous as Dinah Shore's Svengali, Ms. Shore proves LUCKY's true workhorse, among other things spoofing Judy Garland's OZ rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" with her song "Dreamer," which itself is later presented in a dumbed-down HEE-HAW version by Olivia DeHavilland, George Tobias, and Ida Lupino. Joan Leslie and Dennis Morgan's wacky "framing story" cannot hold a candle to any of Garland and Mickey Rooney's let's-put-on-a-show flicks, but what could you expect when a film noir\gangster studio puts on a musical in which "Ice-cold Katie" is the main villain?

Tnis is at best a very uneven film, with very misleading billing. Humphrey Bogart, who gets first billing, appears for about 3 minutes in a very forgettable and poorly done cameo. (No, he doesn't try to sing.) Olivia de Havilland and Ida Lupino appear together in a rather mediocre dance number. Bette Davis, though she can't sing, puts in a great appearance singing "They're either too young or too old," and Errol Flynn does a remarkably good job with his song and dance number. Alexis Smith looks very elegant and graceful in her dance number, though it is true that she is lifted through the air by various male dance partners as much as she actually dances herself, which helps. Still, she looks very beautiful for her 3 minutes of screen time. Ann Sheridan looks good in her song too, but it is so mediocre that there's not much she can do with it, and since she doesn't get to do any glamorous dancing, the number is forgettable.. The same applies to Jack Carson and Alan Hale, both very talented actors, who get saddled with a truly dead song and dance duo.In fact, the weakest element in this movie is the music, which is almost all forgettable.These various cameo appearances are fitted into a frame: Dennis Morgan is trying to break into show biz as a singer, while EE Horton and SZ Sakall, who are way down on the billing, are trying to put on a charity variety show. The three of them, plus Eddie Cantor, who plays himself and is very funny doing so, are the actual stars of this movie, though you would never guess it from the billing. All four are good.There are other forgettable musical numbers, including several with Dinah Shore, who comes off as having no personality, a rousing if forgettable number for Black singers and dancers in which Hattie McDaniel holds up her own, and a monologue of sorts with John Garfield that's not half bad, but only because he's a good actor.In short, a largely mediocre effort. If you like any of the stars who do the cameos, you will want to see them do their 3-5 minute bits. If you're looking for 2 hours of entertainment - this movie runs just over 2 hours - you won't find it here, though.-----------------------------------I've just watched it again two years later. Perhaps I'm in a more charitable mood, but this time I got more pleasure out of it. It really only works if you know the work of the various actors who appear, as most of them either play against type - like Errol Flynn or his frequent side-kick, Alan Hale - or satirize themselves, like John Garfield, who is really very good playing a highly exaggerated version of his usual tough guy. Ann Sheridan is a knockout in her number, thanks to her dress and the way she moves; you really don't notice that she wasn't a great singer. That's the case for most of these cameo performances: they're done by often very fine actors who didn't normally sing and dance on screen. Most seem to be having a good time doing something they didn't usually get to do, and none of them embarrass themselves. Bette Davis definitely couldn't sing, but she brings off her number through sheer personality. The same goes for many of the others.If you don't know the classic Warner Brothers movies of the 30s and early 40s, this won't hold you. If you know how these stars normally appeared, you may get a kick out of seeing them do something very different, or making fun of what they normally did.

World War Two was a time when the studios and it's stars, all bought war bond's, all 'backed the attack' and urged everyone else in the free world to do the same.Paramount seemed to be the headliner in this sort of all-star musical fayre, with films such as Star Spangled Rhythm etc, but that is not to say the other studios didn't play their part either.Thank Your Lucky Stars is Warner Bros' effort. A chance for Lieutenant Colonel Jack L.Warner, Head of the Studio and commander of the U.S.A.A.F 'S First Motion Picture Unit, to lift the roof from his studio and let the wealth of talent flood out.Eddie Cantor shows off what a great sport he was, by playing two parts. He plays an overly 'hammed' up and unpopular version of himself, a role with so much substance and screen time that it seems to fill the entire picture. Indeed he gives so much to this role that I find it amazing that he had the time or the energy to portray his second role as Joe the one-time dramatic actor who's career was cut short by his likeness to Cantor, who, now long forgotten, eeks out a living as a tour bus driver in Hollywood.Dennis Morgan and Joan Leslie are the two showbiz wannabes trying to break into the big time using Joes likeness to Cantor to land a radio spot for his voice and her song.All of this rather uninspired action takes place however around a Cavalcade of Stars benefit for the war effort where several notable movie stars of the day, have pledged to appear.So from here on in you can forget the rather scratchy, boring and predictable plot and just enjoy the cameos and musical numbers, by some of the Warner Brother's Elite.The famous 'scene-stealer' Alan Hale and funny man Jack Carson do a wonderful vaudeville sketch. John Garfield thoroughly lampoons his gangster/tough guy image as he struggles his way delightfully though 'Blues in the Night.' And George Tobias, Ida Lupino and Olivia De Havilland (Yum Yum) play for laughs doing a Beebop number.Dinar Shaw is given plenty of screen time to give us three lovely numbers, and even has time to grace us with a comic turn as she sparks off beautifully with Cantor.However, the real high points of this movie are Bette Davies and Errol Flynn. Davies, in true Deitrich style, talks and groans through 'They're either too Young or too Old,' a song which became a huge hit thanks to her rendition in this picture. Her obvious lack of singing talent seemed not to matter as her true screen radiance seems to overshadow everything else. A classic number, wonderfully delivered.Flynn in my opinion, is the best 'cameo' performance of the film. Sporting a large almost handle bar moustache he sings and dances through a comic number as a cockney man who's tales of daring do and bravado are only out sized by his apparent love of ale and is inability to pay for it. Each verse is a story of heroics which is obviously untrue, as he dances between the locals who are trying to kick him out....great! He seemed to perform his musical turn extremely well..a bit too well if you ask me. Maybe he should have made more musical appearances.However some of the star turns fail quite badly..Ann Sheriden is pants but pretty, Humphrey Bogart is given so little chance that he might have well stayed at home in bed, and Hattie MacDaniel gives us a Harlem number which isn't too good to say the least. Hattie sings brilliantly but the material she has to deal with is awful.Another interesting point is the politically correct nod to South America, who were still neutral but could have sided with the axis at the drop of a hat. 'Goodnight, Good Neighbour' sung by Dennis Morgan and danced superbly by the wonderful Alexis Smith, was political ass licking in musical form, an attempt to strengthen the bond between North and South and an attempt to influence their decision on who's side they should eventually fall if and when.Still, if its Hollywood wartime nostalgia you want then watch Thank Your Lucky Stars. Hollywood Wartime nostalgia you'll get.

The unforgettable Eddie Cantor is the glue which holds this wartime extravaganza together. He was one of the few great singers who could double as a first rate comedian.Other reviewers have pretty much covered all angles but for me the high point is the appearance of Spike Jones and his City Slickers, performing one of their hilarious numbers. Once you've experienced Spike, you just can't get enough of his unique style, if that's the right word.Bogart's appearance is amusing while Miss Davis provides a memorable performance. None of the other Warners stars really stand out. For me, 'Starlift' is a better star vehicle, though it would come almost a decade later.