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If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

One of the great screen musicals? Hardly. But that doesn't mean it isn't entertaining. Remember, this is not an MGM film...the one studio that really "got" musicals (although they had some misses). This is just little old RKO.I have to admit that I didn't realize Joan Davis had been in so many films. She was very good with the right role...and this is one of those right roles. She fits her talents into this role well without exaggeration.Jack Haley is the male lead here, and although somewhat forgotten now, he figured pretty big in Hollywood for quite a few years, although here he was past his prime. Nevertheless, the part works for him.The other gem here is the wonderful Margaret Hamilton with a bigger role than she often got...and she makes the most of it! A lot of the laughs here belong to her.The musical numbers are "okay", a "Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries" is quite good.The plot is mainly an excuse for entertainment numbers, but it's okay --a man (Haley) is in love with a woman (Davis), but the man's spinster sister (Hamilton) won't have it! Pretty standard fare, although it seems like it might be more at home about 5 years earlier.

Mixed emotions about this one. Some fun, upbeat stuff, and big names like Margaret Hamilton and Jack Haley, in starring roles, post Wizard. Gene Krupa. Some funny lines in this thing, specifically the diner scene. Clever jokes and banter. Kills some time, but you don't really have to pay attention to the plot. I think the point is to highlight the bands and performers. They also reprise "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries", which shows up in various films from time to time, usually with a stripper or silly act. Didn't really dig the bit where a young girl seems to lip synch, while playing Joan as a youngster. didn't really work. "Liza" played on the organ also brought this to a crashing halt. should have left that out. The thin plot here is just all over the map, but it doesn't really matter. Directed by Felix Feist.

I gave this film "5" out of "10", but there's a caveat.The movie itself might be described anywhere along the continuim, from "Awful" to "Excellent", depending on what the viewer is looking for. My rating is purely arbitrary.It's total escapist fare, one of hundreds of films ground out during WWII to divert the American people from the horrors of war for an hour or two, and it must have done its job. It's certainly diverting.But what it is, more than anything else, is a time capsule of the fashions, manners and mores of a particular time and place. It is the year 1945 preserved in amber, and it was completely dated by 1947.From the showgirls in the musical numbers - pompadoured, lacquered and outrageously costumed in what looks like whatever the wardrobe department had left over, to the irrepressible Joan Davis dressed to the nines and beyond in shoulder pads, sequins and hair, hair, hair - this picture is a never-ending parade of "What Not to Wear", '40's style, and it's a hoot.Add a couple of silly romantic sub-plots and the slinky Jane Greer as the backstage back-stabber, and you have the whole package. There's even leading man Phillip Terry - briefly married to Joan Crawford in real life, and the scene-stealing Margaret Hamilton thrown in for good measure. And believe me, anyone who can steal a scene from Joan Davis and Jack Haley in their prime is guilty of grand theft thespeus.So there you have it. This one is not likely to show up on AFI's list of anything. If you're looking for a Golden Age musical, this isn't it. But if you're in the mood to spend a little time watching how your grandparents did it, this one's for you.

This is the type of musical comedy that only works when the comic players are on screen. What is going on with the more traditional romantic plot line just isn't as interesting here. Where it is very funny (and very worth watching) is for the re-teaming of Joan Davis and Jack Haley as musical revue comics who have to deal with the fact that Haley's spinster sister (the wonderful Margaret Hamilton) does not approve of her brother being in show business and is determined to keep Davis from marrying him no matter what. Davis and Haley are perfectly matched (having worked together at 20th Century Fox in the late 1930's, and of course it is a delight to see Hamilton playing sister to her "Wizard of Oz" co-star (Haley). While she doesn't threaten to turn him into a beehive here, she does threaten to pull Davis's blonde hair out by its black roots, and tries to knock off Davis comically with a hatchet after finding out that the man Davis tried to fix her up with is a gigolo (played by that French lip popper, Fritz Feld). Hamilton, a gentle soul off screen, screeches "Who put you up to this?" with all the venom she had demonstrated as a wicked witch later known as Elphaba. The film sags when they are off screen, which identifies why it is perhaps not as well known as it would be otherwise. The other story deals with the daughter (Martha Holliday) of one of Davis's old "Scandals" cronies who wants to break into show business in spite of the fact that her father is a British nobleman. In that story-line, only Jane Greer (billed as "Bettyjane") offers any heat as a bitchy headliner whose dancing talents are obviously limited, getting acquainted with a bucket of paint as Hamilton meets her match in a sandbag.It all starts off wonderfully with a lavish production number sung to "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries" by Joan Davis's real life daughter, Beverly Willis, who is playing Joan as a kid. The line of chorus girls goes on forever thanks to a nice mirror trick. Willis is absolutely hysterical in her bit, although Davis herself provides the voice for this character. Two comical production numbers with Haley and Davis are fun too---"Who Killed Vaudeville?" has Davis and Haley imitating various contraptions, most notably Davis sounding like a stalled automobile. Another number has the two complaining about dreaming of people like Cary Grant, John Wayne and Ginger Rogers (appearing silently in outtakes from one of their recent RKO films) while looking over at their mate to find them either covered with cold cream or snoring like the car motor Joan would later imitate. Specialties by organist Ethel Smith and Gene Krupa's band round out the musical numbers, while a montage of production numbers representing a "Scandals" performance appear to be outtakes from other RKO films. Krupa's drum playing is filled with energy. Another sweet moment comes when Davis's helium voiced maid (Rosemary Murphy) sings "Wishing", originally heard in the 1939 classic "Love Affair". While Ms. Davis would be paired by RKO in two films with Eddie Cantor, I much prefer her pairing with Haley. They seem like an ideal sitcom couple, although her later partner on "I Married Joan" was a perfect foil for her--- Jim Backus.