Watch The Stork Club For Free

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Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

"The Stork Club" is an old film that has somehow fallen into the public domain. Because of this, you can find it at the biggest repository for such films, archive.org. I wouldn't rush to do this, as the film is far from perfect, but it is enjoyable and fun.When the film begins, Jerry Bates (Barry Fitzgerald) falls into the water and nearly drowns. However, a quick-thinking Judy (Betty Hutton) jumps in and saves his life. She assumes he was trying to kill himself and she doesn't realize that it was an accident and this man in shabby clothes is in fact mega-rich. Bates decides to reward her for her kindness and has his lawyer set her up with a fancy apartment and big expense account...with the stipulation that she never know her benefactor. However, when her boyfriend (Don DeFore) returns from his stint overseas, he assumes that his girlfriend MUST be up to some hanky-panky....and that is why she is living the high life. So it's up to Bates and Judy to somehow work all this out...as well as work out Bates' own relationship problems.The film is enjoyable fluff. The film has two flaws, however. First, there are about one or two songs too many (especially the second one which Hutton practically screams) and the whole mess very easily could have been worked out and explained. In fact, the lawyer (Robert Benchly) even says "It's all very simple..."...too simple. But somehow they made it all needlessly complicated to pad out the story. Still, Hutton and Fitzgerald are very likable...hence my score of 6.

Very dull clunker with Ms Hutton as a coat check girl at the Stork club who saves an old man from drowning .he turns out to be a millionaire and secretly rewards her with charge accounts ,a luxury apt and money. Once she realizes its no joke,she spends like there's no tomorrow,buying mink coats for her and her gf and even buying suits for the old man whom she thinks is just a down and out loser- For someone who was working a lowly job for probably a few bucks- to go out and buy mink coats etc, she has no concept of reality,it just seems very greedy and selfish of her to do so, coming into money and you go out and spend thousands without knowing where it came from and from who and not even knowing how much was given for her to use. She is rather snobbish in one scene with her new chauffeur basically treating him like crap, I had no respect for her. She still continues to work at the Stork club for some reason and the owner seems to show interest in her moving up and not chastising her for being late, I don't get that part of the plot , why would the owner of a posh club in 1945 give a hoot about a lowly coat check girl? and the millionaire giving her all that money and her saying that it ruined her life because her jealous jerk of a bf played by don defore thinks shes a kept girl. She sure didn't care about other people when she was buying minks and treating the chauffeur like crap. Her Bf dumps her ,i would have too and I would have dumped him too- Don Defore is supposed to be a marine ? yeah right b/s - he looks like he just got out of a limo with his perfect hair and tux - if he was a marine just coming back from the war in the pacific -he would have been battle hardened and not looking like Cary Grant. the conclusion of the movie is one of those unbelievable fantasy all smiles crap. I thought Hutton played a real jerk and her bf a jerk too. The rich millionaire and his wife were no more than fillers when Hutton wasn't whining or looking for sympathy on screen. Lousy movie. 1/10

This is a solid vehicle for Betty Hutton that gives her plenty of opportunities to use her singing ability as well as her upbeat, energetic acting style. It's far from flawless, but it gets a big boost from Barry Fitzgerald, and the sharp contrast between the two stars and their characters also lends some substance to the enjoyable but rather fluffy plot.Hutton and Fitzgerald are certainly an intriguing pairing, with seemingly nothing in common. The story setup has Fitzgerald as a cranky, friendless millionaire whom Hutton's character rescues from drowning. The millionaire's determination to help the good-hearted hat check girl gets tangled up with her own misunderstandings and difficulties, creating an implausible but entertaining story. The setting in the popular Stork Club provides a suitable backdrop to the plot.Hutton just has to be natural in the role, and she fits into the part well. Fitzgerald played this kind of role as well as any other character actor, past or present, and his style usually makes even the blandest lines of dialogue worth listening to. The cast also includes Robert Benchley, who adds his dry humor in the role of the millionaire's lawyer. Benchley is always amusing, and he gets some fine moments even though he is not on-screen all that often. The stolid Don Defore is well cast as Hutton's earnest but unimaginative boyfriend, and he serves as a good straight man for the others.This probably would have been improved with a tighter script and a crisper pace. Its deliberately improbable story is fun to watch, but it's the kind of story that works best when the dialogue and action both move along briskly. With some of the slow stretches removed or shortened, this might be quite a good movie. But even as it stands, it's enjoyable enough as very light entertainment.

Why is this a movie for dieters? Because it is so lightweight! Try to control your hysterical laughter at my most amusing joke. But seriously, folks, I wanna tellya .....For those movie viewers who like to think about what they're watching while they're watching it, this movie is not for you. For those movie viewers who want to simply forget about what ails the world and who have no better way to pass about 1¾ hours, this movie is for you. Oh! To halfway enjoy this movie, it also helps if you like old movies, now-dead movie stars and mostly forgettable music which has long since been forgotten.The main beneficiary of this movie was none other than Sherman Billingsley. He was the owner and proprietor of New York City's famous Stork Club. Not only did he get to have a movie named for his popular nightclub, but he's also a main character in the movie. Talk about your free publicity! Unfortunately for Shermie, he did not get to play himself in the movie. That task fell to Bill Goodwin, George and Gracie's renowned radio announcer. But the real stars of this piece of fluff are the effervescent Betty Hutton and the movies' favorite persnickety Irishman, Barry Fitzgerald. The plot revolves around romantic mixups involving Betty, Barry and Bill -- the three B's? -- as well as Don DeFore and the inimitable humorist, Robert Benchley. It's the type of contrived plot that tests the credulity of even the most tolerant viewer, so you can imagine how the intolerant are likely to react.For me, the movie's most disappointing aspect was its music. And that's the main reason I had opted to watch it! This movie employed some of the top songwriters of the 1940s (as well as of other decades) -- Hoagy Carmichael, Paul Francis Webster, Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn, Jay Livingston and Ray Evans -- the best and most famous of the group employed. The movie was even co-written and co-produced by Buddy DeSylva, a pretty fair country songwriter in his own right from the 1920s and 1930s. Out of that entire group, the best and only worthwhile song they were able to come up with was Hoagy and Paul Francis' "Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief." Although this song helped put Betty on the map and was quite popular in its day, when one thinks back to the memorable songs of that era, "D, L, I C" is not one that will pop readily into anyone's mind. And it stands out head and shoulders above all other songs in this movie!One person who lost out by this movie's musical dearth was Andy Russell. Andy was one of the better crooners of the 1940s and, in my book, much underrated. He made his musical debut in this movie and that great roster of songwriters gave him NOTHING worthwhile to sing. It was the musical equivalent of, let's say, Lawrence Olivier making his movie debut with all of his dialogue being written by ..... ME!!!So, any of you folks needing to shed a few pounds, you can't do better than to start with "The Stork Club." It's lightweight, low-calorie and, in 1¾ hours, will take two inches off that ole tum-tum. Guaranteed! If not, your money cheerfully refunded ..... in full!