Director: Charles Barton
Year: 1943
Rating: 6.0
A war time film with a pinch of patriotism and a whole lot of music. Big Band. And some of the great ones. There is a light charming comedy tucked in between the musical numbers but it's the music you will likely remember. Take a gander at this - Duke and Take the A Train, Bob Crosby, The Cow-Cow Boogie with Ella Mae Morse on vocals, Count Basie doing One O'clock Jump, Night and Day with this young lad called Sinatra on vocals and two from the Mills Brothers who could harmonize the moon to sleep. I love these old films packed with music. These are like periscopes to a different era in music. Interesting for the time that it was so integrated. Our troops weren't, but the music was.
This Columbia film stars Ann Miller and her dancing feet. She could tap 500 times a minute - faster than any other human. For nearly the whole film she just has a light comedic role and I kept asking myself, when are they going to let her dance. They do in the final number - Thumbs Up and V for Victory as the soldiers march off to war. It is a big fat Stars and Stripes number. The film begins though with her on the switchboard at a radio station. The other woman who substitutes for her and has some good lines is Irene Ryan - unrecognizable from her role years later on as Granny in the Beverly Hillbillies. She wants to be a DJ and play swing music for the boys and finally is able to trick a DJ into leaving - this being Franklin Pangborn, also with a few funny moments. Two GI's are after her - William Wright and Dick Purcell - but in a nice twist, it never gets serious. The device here to introduce the bands is for her to play their record and then the film morphs into them playing. All good stuff.
Year: 1943
Rating: 6.0
A war time film with a pinch of patriotism and a whole lot of music. Big Band. And some of the great ones. There is a light charming comedy tucked in between the musical numbers but it's the music you will likely remember. Take a gander at this - Duke and Take the A Train, Bob Crosby, The Cow-Cow Boogie with Ella Mae Morse on vocals, Count Basie doing One O'clock Jump, Night and Day with this young lad called Sinatra on vocals and two from the Mills Brothers who could harmonize the moon to sleep. I love these old films packed with music. These are like periscopes to a different era in music. Interesting for the time that it was so integrated. Our troops weren't, but the music was.
This Columbia film stars Ann Miller and her dancing feet. She could tap 500 times a minute - faster than any other human. For nearly the whole film she just has a light comedic role and I kept asking myself, when are they going to let her dance. They do in the final number - Thumbs Up and V for Victory as the soldiers march off to war. It is a big fat Stars and Stripes number. The film begins though with her on the switchboard at a radio station. The other woman who substitutes for her and has some good lines is Irene Ryan - unrecognizable from her role years later on as Granny in the Beverly Hillbillies. She wants to be a DJ and play swing music for the boys and finally is able to trick a DJ into leaving - this being Franklin Pangborn, also with a few funny moments. Two GI's are after her - William Wright and Dick Purcell - but in a nice twist, it never gets serious. The device here to introduce the bands is for her to play their record and then the film morphs into them playing. All good stuff.