ksf-2
Star of the show dreams up a stunt to gain publicity for herself! Eleanor Powell is "Ginny", who finds a way to get attention, but her press agent (Eugene Palette) doesn't approve. SO many big names in here.. the awesome W.C. Fields, Sophie Tucker, Aubrey Smith, Cab Calloway, Woody Herman. Some silly bits, one after another. Paper-thin plot in a nonsense script. The wacky-ness moves right along, and we see every corny act in vaudeville history, as well as some good song and dance! Also a circus bear act about half way through. and the high-wire walker that walks a tight rope over some canyon. It ends... at some point. for some reason. Not much of a plot, but its fun to see some of these big acts from the 1940s. TERRIFIC piano duets by two players during the Cab Calloway segment, but the pianists are not named. Directed by Andrew Stone, who would win an Oscar for the "Julie" screenplay in the 1950s. We knew it wouldn't be for THIS film...
pik923
Some wonderful ideas are in this film, which taking into consideration when it was filmed, are quite wonderful, inventive and enjoyable. Yes it gets a bit boring now and again, however stick with it! During these years when many movie theatres would not screen motion pictures with Black performers (they often deleted scenes for their audiences) this film highlights Cab Calloway and His Orchestra in two great numbers (well 2.5)!!!The cast is delightful! In fact, they are perfect! And Sophie Tucker is always a pleasure to watch, as is Woody Herman and His Orchestra.Sit back and enjoy a good fun musical with some great staging, fantastic big band music!
s-hill4
On Oct. 4 2004, an interesting Comment by "John5th" contained a serious slip of the pen in the following sentence: "... we see a huge production number called Circus In The Sky featuring Sammy Kaye and his band and a host of circus acts all at the top of a skyscraper." Clearly, John5th intended to write "WOODY HERMAN" (who stars -- even sings! -- in several musical numbers in this film, and is prominently mentioned in the opening credits, along with Cab Calloway). And NOT Sammy Kaye (who doesn't appear at all, and isn't mentioned in the credits). If John5th is still reading this Commentary, I feel sure he'd make the correction himself. I tried 2 ways to contact John5th, but got no reply; he may have gone on to other interests. -- Prof Steven P Hill, Cinema Studies, University of Illinois.
john5th
Despite contrary opinion this film is unchallenging fun, great entertainment and a wonderful showcase for the kind of show biz performance that is all but gone today. Eleanor Powell is very funny as a stunt crazy publicity agent who for starters fakes getting shot during her own show! She competes with partner Dennis O'Keefe (also very good as the son of the agency owner) to bring in bigger and better clients. In the process of lining up acts and artists we see a huge production number called Circus In The Sky featuring Sammy Kaye and his band and a host of circus acts all at the top of a skyscraper. Another hare-brained scheme results in a wonderful Cab Calloway number called Hepster's Dictionary that is projected on to the side of a building in Times Square, naturally resulting in the arrest of Ms. Powell. Other highlights include Powell dressed as a pinball(!) dancing in a giant pinball machine set, an odd dance with a horse as partner, 2 numbers by the the inimitable Sophie Tucker and the always funny W.C.Fields. For a glimpse at the last gasp of Vaudeville, an era when down-on-their-luck actors could trust their memoirs to a PR agent, enjoy the very unique Sensations of 1945.
