There's No Business Like Show Business
(B or 3/4 stars)
'There's No Business Like Show Business' (directed by Walter Lang) is a big, bold, fairly nonsensical, but fairly entertaining musical that focuses on an American show business family spanning WWI & II. The movie opens in 1919 & introduces Terence & Molly Donahue (Dan Dailey, Ethel Merman) as a husband & wife vaudeville act known as The Donahues, who place their 3 young children to an exclusive Catholic boarding school in Boston while they travel the vaudeville circuit. Skipping ahead to 1937, the children have grown up & the act is now known as The 'Five' Donahues. After a respite due to the Depression, the act gets back into full swing.
Terence & Molly combine singing & dancing, while their eldest son Steve (Johnnie Ray) plays piano & sings, the other son Tim (Donald O'Connor) sings & dances, as does their talented sister Katy (Mitzi Gaynor). Tim falls for sensuous hat-check girl at the Gallagher's Club, Vicky Parker (Marilyn Monroe), an aspiring singer & actress. They bond & then argue over a misunderstanding, and Tim goes on a bender; ending up in the hospital after a bad car accident. Lyricist Charles Gibbs (Hugh O'Brian) marries Katy. And eldest Steve leaves the act altogether to become ... a priest. After many sentimental melodramatics & personal upheavals, The Donahues reunite for a vaudeville show benefit to show that, well, there's no business like show business.
I realize that this isn't the best movie out there, nor is it, by far, the best movie musical. But I enjoyed myself despite the overstuffed, contrived & corny screenplay, haha. There is a fantastic collection of Irving Berlin musical numbers to enjoy. And really, thank goodness there are so many of them - and that they're good - because plotlines in-between each elaborate number don't hold enough interest. Everyone gives it their all in their performances. Best of all is Ethel merman, who tears into each dramatic beat & every full-throttled vocal offering with relish. Donald O'Connor, so good in Singin' in the Rain, is great again. And Marilyn Monroe - who didn't even want to do this movie - rivets, especially in her vampy "Heatwave" number -- iconic.
This movie is expectedly wondrous to watch, with Leon Shamroy's vibrant color cinematography, lavish sets & Oscar-worthy costumes. 2 new songs written for the film by Berlin are "A Man Chases a Girl Until She Catches Him" & "A Sailor's Not a Sailor 'Till a Sailor's Been Tattooed". And other classics such as "After You Get What You Want You Don't Want It", "Lazy", "When the Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves Alabam", "Alexander's Ragtime Band" are fun to behold. Berlin & Ethel Merman had a special connection and, this movie was basically made for her. The whole film is mindless entertainment; mediocre, but very watchable. And the show-stopper finale in which Merman belts out the titular song puts a real stamp on it.
Terence & Molly combine singing & dancing, while their eldest son Steve (Johnnie Ray) plays piano & sings, the other son Tim (Donald O'Connor) sings & dances, as does their talented sister Katy (Mitzi Gaynor). Tim falls for sensuous hat-check girl at the Gallagher's Club, Vicky Parker (Marilyn Monroe), an aspiring singer & actress. They bond & then argue over a misunderstanding, and Tim goes on a bender; ending up in the hospital after a bad car accident. Lyricist Charles Gibbs (Hugh O'Brian) marries Katy. And eldest Steve leaves the act altogether to become ... a priest. After many sentimental melodramatics & personal upheavals, The Donahues reunite for a vaudeville show benefit to show that, well, there's no business like show business.
I realize that this isn't the best movie out there, nor is it, by far, the best movie musical. But I enjoyed myself despite the overstuffed, contrived & corny screenplay, haha. There is a fantastic collection of Irving Berlin musical numbers to enjoy. And really, thank goodness there are so many of them - and that they're good - because plotlines in-between each elaborate number don't hold enough interest. Everyone gives it their all in their performances. Best of all is Ethel merman, who tears into each dramatic beat & every full-throttled vocal offering with relish. Donald O'Connor, so good in Singin' in the Rain, is great again. And Marilyn Monroe - who didn't even want to do this movie - rivets, especially in her vampy "Heatwave" number -- iconic.
This movie is expectedly wondrous to watch, with Leon Shamroy's vibrant color cinematography, lavish sets & Oscar-worthy costumes. 2 new songs written for the film by Berlin are "A Man Chases a Girl Until She Catches Him" & "A Sailor's Not a Sailor 'Till a Sailor's Been Tattooed". And other classics such as "After You Get What You Want You Don't Want It", "Lazy", "When the Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves Alabam", "Alexander's Ragtime Band" are fun to behold. Berlin & Ethel Merman had a special connection and, this movie was basically made for her. The whole film is mindless entertainment; mediocre, but very watchable. And the show-stopper finale in which Merman belts out the titular song puts a real stamp on it.