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Fantastic!

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Entertainment careers, romance, and petty crime mix together to create a reasonably good film, based on the real life story of Ziegfeld star Fanny Brice and her attraction to gambler Nicky Arnstein. The script changes the names, and the two leads become Rose (Alice Faye) and Bart (Tyrone Power). "Rose Of Washington Square" is a thin story connected by numerous musical numbers.The film has the look and feel of a long-ago era, specifically Vaudeville, with its eclectic mix of self-contained acts: singing, dancing, magic, and comedy. One lengthy segment features Rose singing in Washington Square, but interrupted by an unrelated act called "Igor and Tanya", an acrobatic performance not connected to anything else in the film. And then there's the stage performance wherein Rose and various dancers perform a dance that includes a magic act. As the dancing proceeds, each person brings forth a lit cigarette out of thin air, smokes it, then fetches another cigarette from out of nowhere.This tribute to Vaudeville goes into overdrive with the appearance of entertainer Al Jolson, as character Ted Cotter. This character has little or nothing to do with Fanny Brice. I think the reason he's in the script is that he represents Brice's historical era. Jolson's inclusion ignites the plot, generating real pizazz into an otherwise lazy, dreary story. All bug-eyed and in black-face, and wearing white gloves, Jolson electrifies at the plush Winter Garden Theater, with his standard songs: "Rock-A-Bye Your Baby", "My Mammy", and "California, Here I Come".Casting is mixed. Tyrone Power is surprisingly good. And I enjoyed William Frawley as a talent agent. But glamorous Alice Faye is not convincing as a stand-in for Brice. Faye does sing quite well, but I didn't care for any of her songs, with the exception of "My Man", Brice's signature number.Costumes, hairdos, and prod design all seem to reflect well the early twentieth century era. B&W cinematography, sound effects, and editing are all competent, and pleasantly unobtrusive.Without Jolson, the film would be average at best. But Jolson alone ups the entertainment value several notches, and that Vaudeville atmosphere is wonderfully nostalgic.

This 20th Century release was a vehicle for Alice Faye, one of the most popular actresses in Hollywood musicals, plays Rose Sargent. Ironically, this is no musical per se, it is a melodrama with music inserted in the narrative. The story takes us to the vaudeville days in which Rose, a beautiful woman is trying to make it in show biz. Ted Cotter, also a singer, admires Rose in a platonic way. Even after he makes it big, Ted will always try to get her an opportunity in which to shine. Rose, unfortunately, falls in love with Barton Clinton, a man that will prove he is not worthy of her. Barton, a con man, has good connections with people of higher living. Their love affair is doomed from the start. Barton keeps falling lower and lower, but Rose, who loves him, sticks by him no matter what.The story is in reality a disguised take on the real life of Fanny Brice and her husband Nick Arnstein. Ms. Brice saw with horror what the studio had done to her, exposing her intimate life to a great audience and sued for damages. The case settled out of court, but it was a well known fact people guessed who the real Rose was.Gregory Ratoff directed the film. It was obviously a vehicle for both Alice Faye and Al Jolson, who sings most of the songs the public associated him with. Alice Faye and Tyrone Power, who played Barton, made an engaging couple in the films they were featured and it's easy to see why. Both actors were at the prime of their careers. Others in the cast include William Frawley, Joyce Compton. Veteran actor Horace McMahon appears briefly, as well as Louis Prima.This film is entertaining and light. It will not disappoint viewers.

It's a good film, but FUNNY GIRL is far better (and with it's sequel FUNNY LADY, more on target). At least Streisand plays the role of Fanny Brice as Fanny Brice - not like Alice Faye who plays her as Rose Sergent - the "Rose of Washington Square." This must have been a trend at 20th Century Fox when doing Faye - Power musicals. In ALEXANDER'S RAGTIME BAND, Power was the great ragtime conductor, "Mr. Alexander". I'm sure though Irving Berlin did not mind about that one way or the other.Everyone knows that ROSE OF WASHINGTON SQUARE was a fictionalized account of the career of Fanny Brice (concentrating more on Brice's singing, rather than her gifts as a comedian). And Tyrone Power was (as Bart Clinton) playing her gambler husband Nicky Arnstein. But while the performance of Omar Shariff in FUNNY GIRL was well built up (his involvement in a stock fraud a desperate last attempt at retaking his self - respect as an independent bread winner, and not Fanny's leech-like husband), the performance of Power is far different. He does love Faye, but he is a rat from the start. Which is curious for fans of Power's career. Up to 1939 Power was always good, decent, heroic - he was Darryl Zanuck's "fair haired" (if dark haired) boy. Zanuck cast him only as great heroes. If he showed anger, it was directed against worst villains (even when he played Jessie James or a pirate). Zanuck must have been willing to allow this distinctly less likable part to Power, as he was opposite his usual screen lover (Faye) and he could really the role. And don't forget, at the end of the film Rose will remain faithful and wait for him to come back from prison.Power's first heel part is only one interesting aspect of the film. Faye's singing is on top, especially when she does I'm Always Chasing Rainbows. But the reappearance (after a few years on the nightclub circuit) of Al Jolson is quite intriguing. Several of his standards (April Showers, California Here I Come, and Avalon) are sung in the film by Jolson, but he plays it straight and (given his tendency to grab the entire film frame in earlier films) with considerable restraint. It is like he finally realized that he was part of an ensemble, not the whole show. So he gives yeoman work as Ted Cotter, the man who loves Rose but can't compete in her eyes with Bart. But he does force Bart to consider what his behavior is doing to Rose. In some ways, while THE JAZZ SINGER is the film he's recalled for, and his best starring movie was HALLELUJAH, I'M A BUM, Joly's best performance on film is as strong, good natured Ted.One final thing I like about this film. After their successful stealing of part of LILIAN RUSSELL from Faye, Edward Arnold, and Henry Fonda, it is nice that here again Weber and Fields showed up to give us a taste of their comic routines. A perfect cherry to the rest of this film sundae.

I hate to be the sole spoilsport in this group of unanimous adulation, but I thought "Rose of Washington Square" was slightly disappointing. Perhaps I had high hopes for it since I'm one of Alice Faye's biggest fans and I love almost all of the classic Fox musicals, but "Rose" ranks with one of Faye & Fox's weakest musicals. Exhaustingly directed by Gregory Ratoff, this wispy, half-tolerable biography of Fanny Brice turns out to be a less successful attempt by Darryl Zanuck to repeat the magic and splendor of Henry King's "Alexander's Ragtime Band" with Faye and her leading man Tyrone Power. What made King's classic memorable, aside from the luminous presence of Faye, was Irving Berlin's endlessly melodious music. Here, except Faye's singing of "My Man" and Al Jolson's "Mammy", the songs are not only unmemorable, but dismal. See it only for the stars but don't expect anything as remotely magical as "Alexander's Ragtime Band".