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Purely Joyful Movie!

Excellent but underrated film

Don't Believe the Hype

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

That's as in Alice, not Dunaway. But, you'll never know how much you'll love her until you see some of her pre 1940's work when she really was the queen of the Fox musical, filled with more pip and pizazz that the Zanuck studio would when they signed another blonde named Betty Grable. Back then, Alice Faye was pluckier and sexier, not quite like Harlow (as she had been during her earlier days), but certainly tougher, and not so Ann Harding like when they began to make her characters more long suffering.The story here has her as a starving playwright who sings for her supper in an Italian restaurant after revealing she doesn't have money for the two healing helpings of spaghetti she scarfed down. Drunk theatrical producer Don Ameche decides to secretly help her out, with objections from his boss, Charles Winninger, and his socialite stalker, Louise Hovick, aka Gypsy Rose Lee, who claims to be married to him. Ameche's aided by the silly Ritz Brothers, and by chance, Ameche tries to get her to star in his big musical (which she hates) so he can get rid of his pain in the butt diva star, Phyllis Brooks, whom everybody seems to hate. Clara Blandick ("Auntie Em") plays a nasty customer in the music shop in Faye's home town which indicates why she left there in the first place. I'm wondering, however, if there was an opening scene with Faye cut from the film in this provincial hovel of babbity people like Blandick that made her decide to leave in the first place. Hovick/Gypsy is so camp in her deliciously bad acting, but it fits her off screen image.This is the 20th Century Fox musical at its delightful best, with Faye joined by real life husband #1 Tony Martin in the show within the movie scenes. Ameche gets to sing as well, a sign of things to come when he later sent on to become a musical comedy star himself on Broadway. Of course, this has all the formulatic elements that many 1930's and 40's musicals had, but it works here very well. The Ritz Brothers are very funny in a production number about long underwear. The title may be true in life, buy as far as this film is concerned, it couldn't be further from the truth, but that's a good thing.

I guess I'm in a minority, but I found the results tepid, at best. The Ritz Brothers have no real act except to bounce around in tandem, and are more annoying than funny. Then too, the production numbers appear cut-rate, certainly not up to anything memorable. I kept hoping we'd get an eccentric styling from bandleader Louis Prima, but no such luck. Maybe he needed Keely Smith to play off of. The plot's boilerplate, but then who tunes into musicals for the plot. It's something about Faye finding her real place in show business, at the same time she and writer Ameche try to find a way to get together.On the other hand, Faye's delightful, sparkling one minute, soulful the next. She really deserved better musical backup. Ameche's lively and a handsome foil for Faye. No wonder they were a natural movie twosome. Their first scene together in the spaghetti emporium is a peach. Too bad the remainder doesn't equal that initial scene. Then there's the amazonian Gypsy Rose Lee who could easily have stolen the movie against someone less compelling than Faye. Too bad Lee didn't make a career of movies; she would have made a heckuva villainess. Nonetheless, in my little book, the musical's mainly for fans of the great Alice Faye, and little more.

Director Norman Taurog has a witty script and the top musical performers on the Fox lot to direct, and he delivers. The plot is all too familiar and implausible, but the dialogue sparks it. Leads Alice Faye and Don Ameche are at their most charming and natural, and Faye has a couple of solid hit songs. Too bad Ameche wasn't as lucky. The Ritz Brothers have integrated roles in the plot, ample screen time and deliver several excellent numbers. Tip, Tap & Toe wow with a fine eccentric tap number just before the production number (a clinker) at the end of the film. Character comedian Charles Winninger is somewhat wasted in a largely straight role, but Gypsy Rose Lee (billed under her real name, Louise Hovick, gets a break as a playing the snarky "other woman." Tony Martin has fine pipes but comes off a bit smarmy and mannered in his numbers, and Rubinoff on screen is proof why he was better on radio. Phyllis Brooks and Wally Vernon also deliver snappy bits. Definitely one of the better of 20th Century Zanuck's musicals, although he can't resist his cheesily costumed chorus cuties whose talents are best on display without moving or talking. One chorine with a platter on her head traipsed pigeon-toed down a staircase in a Tony Martin number--at first I thought she was Harry Ritz. I'll watch this film again just to see the Ritz Brothers and Tip, Tap & Toe.

"You Can't Have Everything" is a splendidly tuneful, enormously entertaining Fox musical, directed by Norman Taurog, starring Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Charles Winninger, and, of course, the Ritz Brothers. This is one of three splendid & spirited musicals Alice Faye made at Fox in 1937. The other two are "On the Avenue" and "Wake Up and Live".Faye, sweet and vulnerable, plays an impoverished playwright named Judith Poe Wells, a descendant of Edgar Allan Poe, who writes plays livid with social significance and realism. She is convinced that it is her sacred duty to live up to the talent her family inherits. As the film opens, Judith accidentally meets a handsome Broadway insider named George Macrae (Ameche) in a Romano Italian restaurant when she fails to pay her plate of spaghetti. Macrae falls in love with Judith and persuades her to turn her into a showbiz sensation. But Judith is not interested in musical comedies or what she calls "usual George Macrae tripe". Rather, she wants serious dramas that depict life's struggles and harshness. Much to Judith's dismay, Macrae nevertheless tells his boss Sam Gordon (Winninger) about her play "North Winds" ("a play about the vital problems that confront womanhood in the frozen north") and ways of turning it into a musical comedy. Macrae's former girl Lulu (Gypsy Rose Lee) shows up and spoils the show by revealing something about Macrae's past and one night while he was drunk. The Ritz Brothers, for once, are immensely enjoyable as their perform their remarkable comic acts and musical numbers. Their acts are perfectly integrated with the story. It was really a hoot to watch them. Also the film features a fantastic dance specialty by Tip, Tap, Toe, which anticipate those by Nicholas Brothers in the later Fox musicals.Among the musical highlights, my absolute favorites are Faye's poignant rendition of the title tune (which kind of reminded me of her unforgettable "You'll Never Know" number in the classic 1943 musical "Hello, Frisco, Hello"), and the lively "Danger, Love at Work". But that's not all. Also look for "Afraid to Dream" and "Please Pardon Us We are in Love".Don't miss "You Can't Have Everything" if you love all-time classic musicals.