Stage Door Canteen (1943)

Three soliders meet three girls at the famous canteen before going overseas in this star-studded film. Featuring apperances by Katharine Hepburn, Helen Hayes, Edgar Bergen, & Harpo Marx. Also featuring the bands of Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Guy Lombardo, and Freddy Martin. Product Description

Stage Door Canteen - A look back at more innocent times

This review is going to be very critical of and take a lot of the previous reviews of this movie to task. I evidently am way older (74) than most of the reviewers, but if the comments most of the previous reviewers made are any example of the difference between the understanding of what it meant in those WWII days to have patriotism, appreciation of the simpler times during which this WWII and many other similar WWII movies were made, the obvious difficulties in striking a balance between presenting the story of the Canteens back during WWII and still having a semblence of drama and quality, it is no wonder we have such disagreements on current war time problems in the year 2008. Don't the public schools teach anything about what conditions were like in the U.S. during those days? If they did, some of the really ignorant comments would not have been made. Do the persons who wrote these snide cricitisms about the naivete of the soldiers, how the girls were too straightlaced, etc., have any appreciation of the narrow and innocent social times present back in the WWII years? One critic said all the soldiers in the movie were white. That is a racist comment. Did that person have any knowledge or understanding of the long and bitter difficulties between races in those days? The Armed Forces were segregated, is that so hard to understand? In those days, the U.S. in many ways was a very racist country, didn't you understand that was the way things were back then? During WWII, in the movies, as in many other areas of social interaction, society was admittedly, and the U.S. Armed forces as well as the population in general were guilty of sometimes overt and sometimes quiet racial discrimination. Are the reviewers making comments ridiculing this movie aware at all about how times were then and how they have improved now? Or does it make you a better reviewer if you simply put down the movie? I am shocked at the snide remarks made about the movie, the actors, and yes, back in those days, we did refer to our enemies in words that were as hateful as possible, and these words were used in all segments of society, this because our enemies were at that time as close to being deserving of our hatred as is possible to be in wartime. Is this the first movie from the 1940's you reviewers have ever seen? Are you not aware that much of the arts, the books, the movies, etc, reflected the times and these were times, as we look back, that in many ways we were not proud of our society. I just have to say that most of the reviews I read were somewhat ignorant and unnecessarily vicious in their ridicule of what were vastly different times reflected in movies of that day. This movie was a fine example of gathering together many stars and musicians of the day, into a coherent and beautiful rendition of what it was like for soldiers to be leaving their country and maybe know they wouldn't return or for the home folks to have to put up with the rationing, and other privations at home and having their sons and husbands and boyfriends leaving, maybe never to be seen again. I hope my strong words will resonate with some of the unthinking criticisms of this movie and of the people from those long ago times. August 2, 2008

Glad Tidings From The "Good" War

War propaganda comes in all forms, from harsh gung-ho chauvinist to the melodramatic. This film is in the melodramatic form of a patriotic homage to what is now called in the mass media, at least, the "greatest generation", my parents generation during World War II. Here we have a thin story line about three GI's landing at New York's famous Stage Door Canteen to be feted, wined and dined by the toast of the international entertainment world, including Benny Goodman, Peggy Lee, Ray Bolger (doing a great dance routine), Gypsy Rose Lee, etc. Plus there is a little off-hand romance between the boys and the off-limits hostesses. But love will out in the end.

The dialogue, is to say the least to the modern ear, stilted. I assume, however, that it got its job done by boosting morale on the home front letting one shed a little tear for the boys going off to fight the enemies of the day. If you wanted to know what moved you in your youth or your parents or grandparents- what made you or them laugh, cry, sing and dance- then here is a slice of that for you. Note:I do not usually comment on technical quality of films but, given war rationing, the film seems, well filmy, and somewhat out of focus.

March 7, 2008

Variable and corny, but it has some high points

What to make of this wartime, home-front morale movie, which is loaded with star players and character actors? It has a slight story-line about four young American soldiers. They're about to ship overseas any day, but manage to visit the Stage Door Canteen just off Broadway, where the stars entertain, dance and talk with soldiers, cook and serve and wash the dishes. The four, of course, all have states as nicknames. One, the innocent California, longs for his first kiss; Tex meets a down-home girl at the Canteen; Jersey isn't seen much as he manages to marry his girlfriend; and Dakota, a young womanizer, meets at the Canteen a woman who's out for a career and they surprise each other by falling in love. All the while we have comedy bits from lots of actors, ranging from Harpo Marx to the distinctively odd couple of Franklin Pangborn and Johnnie Weismuller. We have any number of grande dames -- Helen Hayes, Lynn Fontanne, Judith Anderson, Katharine Cornell, among others, doing their home-trained impression of gracious American aristocracy.

We follow our four while they find that first kiss, relax with and long for the wholesome young ladies they talk and joke with, and rededicate themselves to fight for our American values. Of course, all of the soldiers in the packed Canteen are wholesome and white, and so are all the stars. More startling after nearly 65 years, with all that talent around, is how dated and corny the movie is. This is emotional propaganda, designed to entertain Americans at home, show them how all of America's stars support the war effort, and leave the audience tearing up over the possible fate of the soldiers they've just met...but determined to rededicate themselves to the war effort that will bring the soldiers back safe and victorious. All those heart strings Hollywood pulls, however, are so visible we know when we're being manipulated into a sob or a smile.

Equally unnerving is how dated so many of the comedy bits and musical numbers seem now. Ray Bolger does a specialty number written for him by Rodgers & Hart, singing and dancing to "The Girl I Love to Leave Behind." The dancing is great but the song sure isn't. Amidst all the comedy and the soldiers' love stories we suddenly have Yehudi Menuhin pulling out his violin and playing a carefully lighted Ave Maria...followed by the frenetic Flight of the Bumble Bee. Even odder is Gracie Fields, that dynamic English musical hall star. She does a raucous, energetic, mugging specialty song about "killing Japanese," (she uses the now-offensive shortened version of the word), which has the boys cheering...then announces she's been requested by one young soldier to sing "The Lord's Prayer." Huh?

There are a number of highlights, and seeing all these stars and entertainers doing their stuff is probably worth the price of the movie. A young Peggy Lee fronts the Benny Goodman Orchestra with "Why Don't You Do Right?," Charley McCarthy and Edgar Bergen have a funny routine, Ethel Waters sings with the Count Basie Orchestra, and Lannie Ross, a long-forgotten orchestra crooner sings a great and long-forgotten WWII ballad...the poignant and romantic "We Mustn't Say Goodbye," lyrics by Al Dubin and music by James V. Monaco.

In dreams we'll always be together
Beneath the moonlit sky
We mustn't say goodbye

Each night I'll push aside the mountains
I'll drain the oceans dry
We mustn't say goodbye

I promise you that when the postman rings
My heart will be inside
The envelope he brings

Oh, don't you know the memories we gathered
Can never, never die
We mustn't say goodbye

If you have a chance to hear the Jo Stafford version, you'll be in tears.

Last but not least in oddity, we have the Kate Hepburn closing. Dakota and Eileen decided to get married at the Canteen, and she shows up to meet him there. He never appears. Then a soldier appears and tells her and her friends that Dakota's unit unexpectedly shipped out that morning. Dakota told him to find Eileen and tell her that he loves her. He'll return from the fighting and they'll be married then. Eileen starts to run from the Canteen in tears, when suddenly this mannishly dressed, angular woman stops her. With her face about three inches from Eileen's, Hepburn delivers an understanding but extremely firm lecture that Eileen's duty now is to return to the Canteen and do her job, just as Dakota is doing his job, and that we at the home-front can do no less than what our soldiers are doing fighting for us. Eileen wipes away the tears, and with a tremulous smile walks towards the waiting solders to dance and talk and just listen to their dreams and hopes. Fade to black.

This is a public domain title. The version I saw was barely watchable, so buyer beware. June 20, 2007

Home Front during WWII

I watched "Stage Door Canteen" the other night primarily because Katherine Hepburn was in the cast (as one of many cameo appearances). I must admit that I was having a hard time figuring out her eventual impact on the movie but she played an important role at the end of the film. The basic plot of this film is secondary to the entertainment. However, the two work together well. We see several GI's on leave 24 hours before they ship off. They are directed to the Stage Door Canteen where four-star meals are served to servicement with five-star entertainment and pristine but friendly young ladies waiting to dance of talk. It's in between the dancing and talking that most viewers will find the movie enjoyable. I don't recall all of the acts (some of whom I never heard of) but Benny Goodman, Xavier Cugat, Gypsy Rose Lee, Count Basie, Harpo Marx and the aforementioned Katherine Hepburn tooks turns on (and off) the stage. Some of the music was very good and some wasn't. There was also some exceptional amateur (I think) dancing highlighted on the floor. The plot seemed to get in the way at times but our soldier boys kept getting another 24-hour leave to keep the entertainment going. If nothing else, the "plot" gave some of us pause to reflect on war-time romances by seeing a few get started.

The movie is a bit long (over two hours) and would have benefitted from jetisonning a mediocre song or two and half of the plot. However, there are a couple of songs that staid with me so I'd better keep this tape if I want to hear them again. June 3, 2007

Stage Door Canteen

What a delightful music video. So many stars in this movie that one can't count them all. A real classic that everyone should watch with a friend in the military. May 13, 2007

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