Thank Your Lucky Stars
 
 

Director: David Butler
Year:  1944
Rating: 7.5


For those few who like old films from the glorious glamorous days of Hollywood studios, here is one I watched the other night that you might enjoy. Harmless, humorous and as light as a passing breeze. Thank Your Lucky Stars was produced by Warner Brothers in 1943 as a benefit for the war with the salaries of the stars being donated to the Hollywood Canteen which had been formed by Bette Davis and John Garfield. It was a club for service men to relax and eat and dance. There were a few of these benefit films produced by Hollywood in the war years in which they present a number of their stars on contract in unfamiliar roles - usually as themselves and often performing songs.


This one has a plot as thin as a 1960's runway model and is just used to give stars an opportunity to do cameos or sing a song. Dennis Morgan is a singer and Joan Leslie has a song and they are trying to break into a show being given for charity. A bunch of stars show up among them Bette Davis, John Garfield, Eddie Cantor, Erroll Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Ida Lupino, Ann Sheridan, Dinah Shore, Alexis Smith, Jack Carson, Alan Hale, Spike Jones and then Bogie shows up for a one-minute cameo.

The rest do musical numbers whether they can sing or not. There is also an all black number - I guess integrating dance numbers was taboo - with Hattie McDaniel and Willie Best in a big gala affair.
For me Eddie Cantor who is a big part of this in a dual role was the main discovery. He is a legend but mainly as a performer on the stage and only appeared in a few films but he is like a gin tonic well shaken. You can only really take him in bite sized pieces but for a few minutes at a time he is something to watch. Always interesting to see how entertainment has changed so much. His act back then was was incredibly popular.