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That was an excellent one.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Frank Sinatra eventually became a fine actor. Eventually.MGM made great musicals. This film was produced by RKO.In sum, this is a light weight musical with a light weight plot and light weight acting. It's not just a gas, it's helium.In all fairness to Sinatra, this was only his second film appearance, and surprisingly the film following this one was "Anchors Aweigh" in which he did very nicely. But, that latter film was an MGM production. It makes a difference.I was not impressed at all with the songs here, although they were composed by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne.The cast here does "okay". Just "okay". George Murphy, who I have seen in other films and who can be quite engaging, should have protested his role here; about all he does is yell and scheme; an embarrassment. Adolphe Menjou is a bit entertaining blowing his top. Gloria DeHaven does alright musically and acting, but it's clear why she never became top shelf. Walter Slezak was not even particularly funny here as the hotel manager. Eugene Palette is always entertaining.Frankly, to like this film one would have to be a super fan of Frank Sinatra.

An obvious remake of the Marx Brothers with Lucille Ball in 1937's "Room Service."Song and dance man George Murphy is adequate here in the role made famous of Groucho Marx. The part required to be zany and Murphy tries to even play it straight.Sinatra is good as the crooner involved in all the mayhem, but Walter Slezak and A. Menjou as hotel honchos really steal the show.The zany tale involving play investments, a hotel being used to stage a show, a wily Murphy concocting Sinatra to be ill at the hotel to avoid conviction,they all over-shadow the nice singing and dancing.

George Murphy (Gordon) has taken over a floor of a hotel managed by Walter Slezak (Joe). The entire cast of his show eats and sleeps there for free to the horror of Slezak's boss Adolphe Menjou (Wagner). The film follows Menjou's attempts to throw everyone out of the hotel and Murphy's attempts to get some backing for his show.The film is easy to watch with pleasant songs and some funny moments. Gloria DeHaven (Chris) and Frank Sinatra (Glenn) are good but Murphy and Menjou are guilty of shouting too much, The story is complete nonsense and overall it's too shouty.Sinatra can obviously sing but it is the female backing singers that leave a lasting impression. They sing in that Wonderful World of Disney style that leaves a magical note in the air.

Gordon Miller is a Broadway producer with not much cash and even fewer scruples. He has ensconced the young cast of his new show in a large New York hotel, and is feverishly rehearsing them for opening night. Along comes the young writer Glenn Russell, and it transpires that the kid can sing ...A frivolous, fizzing little musical from RKO Radio, "Step Lively" doesn't even pretend to be sensible. The frenetic farce is augmented by workmanlike songs from Cahn and Styne, two numbers standing out as better-than-average - "Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are" and "As Long As There's Music". Both are staged impressively."Come Out" gets the full production treatment, with Gloria De Haven heading a floorshow-style ensemble. "As Long" is the big finale, with two pieces of silver-screen magic. Gloria walks down a beam of light, and the chorus line have striking black-and-white gowns which enable them to 'disappear' impressively.The sets are fun. Glenn walks Christine home to her brownstone, and the couple is tracked by a neat crane shot. When Glenn runs out of the hotel, we see him sprint away from the camera, down the sweeping staircase, across the lobby and out through the revolving door. Now that's what I call a set.Frank Sinatra had made his name fronting the big bands, and now he was making the transition to independent actor-singer. He is good in the role of Glenn, the jeun-naif, but clearly lacking the poise of later years.Gloria De Haven (Christine) began her movie career eight years before this film, appearing as Paulette Goddard's sister in Chaplin's "Modern Times". She was still showing up in TV movies two years ago. How many actors working today have resumes dating back to the silent era? She is pretty and engaging as Christine, the romantic lead."Step Lively" is a curiously old-fashioned musical. It is almost as if RKO was trying to hark back to its heyday of a decade earlier, and the 'come on kids, let's rehearse a show' approach. Compared with "Meet Me In St Louis", it seems a cinematic dinosaur, and yet both were made in the same year.Verdict - A light-hearted, if light-headed, musical that was already old-fashioned in 1944.