Martha Wilcox Betty Hutton really puts her heart and soul into this film. Although she may come across as bonkers in a lot of her films, she is definitely a talented actress with a lot of energy and spirit. Here she takes pity on an old man by trying to get him a job. This is an endearing quality, and makes you connect with her character from the early stages. Eventually, she realises that this man is carrying a torch for a woman who left him. Although you may not necessarily connect with the man, you connect with the writing that has drawn the character. In other words, it is a good script which is sensitively played by Hutton. You see her eyes in conversation with her boyfriend whilst she is singing, and you can't help feeling for her on her journey through this film. Definitely one of her better performances with a good script to take you through the film.

Jay Raskin The first forty minutes of the movie is delightful with Barry Fitzgerald playing a millionaire in disguise who turns hatcheck girl Betty Hutton's life upside down. The last ten minutes are also fine with a cute and satisfying ending. Its the forty-five minutes in-between that gets bogged down. The biggest problem is the subplot with Don Defore. Defore plays an ex-marine returned from the war and the leader of an orchestra looking for a job. He is passionless and dull in both roles. He rejects long time girl friend Judy (Hutton) because he finds her in a wealthy apartment wearing rich clothes and assumes (incorrectly) that she got the goodies by whoring around. This might have made him noble in 1945, but now he seems like a "holier than thou" male chauvinist. One feels like telling the distraught Judy that she was lucky to get rid of the creep. Unfortunately, she has to feel guilty for having had good fortune without the help of her "man". She spends the rest of the movie trying to win him back.The other problem is that Betty sings just four musical numbers and only two ("Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief" and "Square in a Social Circle") are in her inimitable jitterbug-swing style. These two numbers are the highlights in the film. Andy Russell, a rather lifeless Bing Crosby/Frank Sinatra type crooner is given three numbers, including a duet with Hutton, which just slows the film down. In sum, the delightful performance of Barry Fitzgerald and the comical energy and singing talent of Betty Hutton start the movie in a glowing fashion and eventually get us over the finish line, but the middle part is dated and a bit wearisome.I think the movie is worth seeing for two scenes - Hutton's dynamic delivery of "Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief" and her jarring scene where she welcomes her soldier boyfriend back from the war, saying "Move, Danny, Move, Do Something," I think at that moment she captured some of the extraordinary happiness that people felt about the war ending at that time.

tommythek Why is this a movie for dieters? Because it is so lightweight! Try to control your hysterical laughter at my most amusing joke. But seriously, folks, I wanna tellya .....For those movie viewers who like to think about what they're watching while they're watching it, this movie is not for you. For those movie viewers who want to simply forget about what ails the world and who have no better way to pass about 1¾ hours, this movie is for you. Oh! To halfway enjoy this movie, it also helps if you like old movies, now-dead movie stars and mostly forgettable music which has long since been forgotten.The main beneficiary of this movie was none other than Sherman Billingsley. He was the owner and proprietor of New York City's famous Stork Club. Not only did he get to have a movie named for his popular nightclub, but he's also a main character in the movie. Talk about your free publicity! Unfortunately for Shermie, he did not get to play himself in the movie. That task fell to Bill Goodwin, George and Gracie's renowned radio announcer. But the real stars of this piece of fluff are the effervescent Betty Hutton and the movies' favorite persnickety Irishman, Barry Fitzgerald. The plot revolves around romantic mixups involving Betty, Barry and Bill -- the three B's? -- as well as Don DeFore and the inimitable humorist, Robert Benchley. It's the type of contrived plot that tests the credulity of even the most tolerant viewer, so you can imagine how the intolerant are likely to react.For me, the movie's most disappointing aspect was its music. And that's the main reason I had opted to watch it! This movie employed some of the top songwriters of the 1940s (as well as of other decades) -- Hoagy Carmichael, Paul Francis Webster, Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn, Jay Livingston and Ray Evans -- the best and most famous of the group employed. The movie was even co-written and co-produced by Buddy DeSylva, a pretty fair country songwriter in his own right from the 1920s and 1930s. Out of that entire group, the best and only worthwhile song they were able to come up with was Hoagy and Paul Francis' "Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief." Although this song helped put Betty on the map and was quite popular in its day, when one thinks back to the memorable songs of that era, "D, L, I C" is not one that will pop readily into anyone's mind. And it stands out head and shoulders above all other songs in this movie!One person who lost out by this movie's musical dearth was Andy Russell. Andy was one of the better crooners of the 1940s and, in my book, much underrated. He made his musical debut in this movie and that great roster of songwriters gave him NOTHING worthwhile to sing. It was the musical equivalent of, let's say, Lawrence Olivier making his movie debut with all of his dialogue being written by ..... ME!!!So, any of you folks needing to shed a few pounds, you can't do better than to start with "The Stork Club." It's lightweight, low-calorie and, in 1¾ hours, will take two inches off that ole tum-tum. Guaranteed! If not, your money cheerfully refunded ..... in full!

lschrupp So, this beautiful blonde saves a rich old man from drowning, see? But she doesn't realize he's rich, see? And she tries to get him a job at the Stork Club, where she works, see? And he decides to secretly make her rich for being so nice to him, see? A totally predictable feel-good movie, worth watching if you like Betty Hutton and WWII vintage studio potboilers with fun stories and a couple of good musical numbers.