The Gang's All Here (1943)

Busby Berkeleys' last big hurrah! Not to be missed.

This 1943 colour film is in my mind memorable for many things,the least of which is this being Berkeley's last film in which he had the free hand to create that which was lacking for a few years previously and for those remaining years therafter.
As with his later Warner years and his ensuing MGM years his talent would be saddled with studio control and tight budgets.This loan out to 20th Century Fox and a reuniting with Darryl Zanuck proved to be a God send for him and film history.He was given free reign again and he made the most of this technicolour beauty.
The plot is the usual war time fluff.Boy meets girl,boy loses girl only to get her back in the end with the usual ensuing plot twists and turns.War sentiment is the strong message here as Alice Faye sings longingly about her man gone off to war and being loyal with a version of Ella Mae Morses' then current hit "No Nothin'".
Of course the piece de resitance and the most talked about number of the film is that of "The Lady with the Tutti Fruiti Hat" with beautiful and talented Carmen Miranda.Carmen was a delight in almost every film she appeared in but Berkeley literally iconized her image with this one number alone.It really has to be seen to be appreciated as it takes strawberries,but especially bananas,to an unheard of level.As the story goes as Berkeley was doing a take for the end scene with the 30 foot high pile of bananas on Carmens' head(it was painted boards),the camera crane overshot and hit the bananas which crashed down all around Miranda,who was a little shaken but not hurt.
Another precious scene with Miranda is when she is in Edward Horton's office.She is seeking out his financial advice and as usual is flirting heavily with him.She ends up in a chair with him and on his lap.The kisses flow and Horton is covered in red lipstick.The dialogue and interaction is beautiful,precious and not to be missed.
Speaking of Edward Everette Horton,veteran actors Eugene Pallette and Charlotte Greenwood are also on hand to lend their well healed support to the proceedings.And of course Alice Faye and Sheila Ryan are there to "duke" it out for dibs on the same man...unbeknownst of course to either of them until later.Again Miranda's efforts to keep the secret from them and her ultimate failure provide some great comic moments.
As if the "Tutti Fruiti" number wasn't enough, in the finale the Berkeley of old makes his final indelible mark.The number involves some process shots,reverse filming,multiple crane/overhead shots and all with the usual bevy of endless chorines.It's a beaute and confirmed him as a man with a definitely different vision unlike any one before or after in the history of Hollywood films.
This DVD comes with alot of extra features:a film commentary,two radio shows from the Alice Faye/Phil Harris programs,a rare deleted scene,the trailer,photo galleries and about a 23 minute industrial film made by the drug company Pfizer when Alice was their spokesperson.In it she gives a small but enlightening retrospective of her film career.A delight to watch.
The only concern I have about this DVD is the print itself.At times the contrast,and especially the colour, are not up to the standards I would expect.I can easily compare this with the 20th Century release of "That Night in Rio" where they did a superb restoration job and the colours are definitely vibrant and the contrast is great.They don't seem to have taken the same care on this one,and I do not know why.The film is crisp to be sure but the colour is a little washed at times and just not near what it could/should have been.Marks deducted here for sure.
All in all though this is a film worthy of your time and money.The plot isn't the important thing;Berkeley,his vision and camera artistry are.To assist him are many veterans of stage and screen along with then current stars such as Carmen Miranda and Alice Faye.For all bigband fans the then Benny Goodman band is on hand to provide the musical kicks.Long gone are spark plugs Krupa and James but his offerings,like the movie itself, are definitely reet! October 13, 2008

Fast forward to the GREAT parts!

The plot is silly. Really, really silly and trite.

However, this pointless fluff was put into the hands of the one-of-a-kind Busby Berkeley. He added swarms of dancing show girls gracefully groaning under the weight of giant bananas and the always amazing Alice Faye singing as only she can.

The recurring theme of large fruit comes back again when Carmen Miranda dances with an enormously huge Tutti Fruitti Hat -- an image that has lived on for generations on stage, screen, cartoons and I Love Lucy episodes.

If you need a break from the tedium of reality, this is the DVD for you! You just gotta love it. September 8, 2008

The gang's not quite all here.

First, be aware that the reviews included may refer to either the 2007 or 2008 DVD releases. I have no complaints about the 2008 release. The colors are vibrant and images very clear. In addition to the feature film, Dr. Drew Casper hosts a commentary version in which he points out technical details of the production making and comments on some of the personnel. "We Still Are" is a brief nostalgic trip by an older Alice Faye, mostly of interest for a few highlight clips of some of her earlier films. I didn't think the Busby Berkeley documentary was worth a look. I've seen a much better one somewhere else.
Back to the point of my title, where's John Payne, Don Ameche, Cesar Romero and/or Betty Grable? We got used to the presence of at least a couple of these stars in the Fox musicals of the early '40s, along with Alice Faye and/or Carmen Miranda, who star in this film. Perhaps this oversight was intentional, as the leading man's role is less prominent than in previous Fox musicals of this period. There are simply too many other things going on involving various other familiar faces or chorus girls to give the romantic ups and downs and flip flops between the leading characters their usual importance. There is just enough romantic intrigue to provide interest without getting tedious, a problem with some of the other Fox musicals of this time. James Ellison, as soldier Andy Mason, makes a serviceable, if less charismatic, leading man than his predecessors. Near the end, he confronts Alice, his new love, and Sheila Ryan, his "other woman" together, a potentially explosive situation. Alice and James handle the situation well, but it looks like curtains for the Alice-James romance. Don't count on it! This is the second and last pairing of Alice and Carmen in a Fox musical. They basically play the same roles relative to each other in both films: Carmen as the exotic outrageously-dressed spitfire, Alice as the calm dreamy-eyed girl-next- door, who becomes the new girl in the leading man's life.
In the mid-WWII years, Fox included one of the big bands in some of their musicals. Glenn Miller got his chance in "Sun Valley Serenade" and "Orchestra Wives". In this film, Benny Goodman's band is periodically featured, with Benny sometimes doing the vocal. However, his band is not an integral part of the stroy, as was true of the Miller films. Benny doesn't know what to do with his eyes during his vocals, mostly looking down, like he is insecure. Miller's films were in B&W. I can only assume this was because they lacked Carmen. This is confirmed by the fact that "Tin Pan Alley", the only film featuring both Alice Faye and Betty Grable, but lacking Carmen, was also shot in B&W.
Can you imagine a musical prominently featuring Carmen Miranda, with Busby Berkeley the director was well as the choreographer? Well, this is it! The only one. A dream team for a lavish musical-comedy spectacle! Carmen appears in a seemingly endless variety of exotic costumes, both on and off stage. She even sports a fashionable-looking version of the asian peasant conical hat. Her patriotic red, white and blue street outfit includes a pair of blue mouse ears, thus predating the Mickey Mouse Club uniform. Reportedly, she designed her own costumes in her film roles, having been a hat and clothes designer for part of her teen years. Already a veteran performer in Brazil before Sonja Henje encouraged her to move to the US, she demanded that her band be used in her film numbers.
Busby staged a number of his signature lavish chorus girl scenes, with or without Carmen included. The choreography of giant banana-wielding chorus girls is perhaps the most remembered. The film finishes with an elaborate kaleidoscopic treatment of the chorus girls and the stars, and Busby's innovative take on the main actors and actresses taking their bows.
Veteran character actors Eugene(bullfrog) Pallete, Edward Horton and Charlotte Grreenwood add some light comedy as they appear from time to time as the parents of the leading man or his "other woman". Carmen also provides much of the comedy. Her romantic life seems limited to flirting with married middle-aged men, esp. Eugene and Eddie.
Overall, certainly among the most entertaining musical extravagancias ever produced, even without the rest of "the gang" or Glen Miller's band. Well paced, with a good mix of different styles of song and dance, comedy, drama and romance, with some references to the ongoing war. Certainly, a welcomed diversion for the men and women overseas as well as at home, not to mention us in the 21st century.
August 31, 2008

Don't bother with the plot. Fast forward to the bananas and "No Love, No Nothin'"

The only problem with The Gangs All Here is the plot. It keeps getting in the way of the production numbers. Busby Berkeley manages to shoehorn four major numbers in just the first 30 minutes, and he doesn't let up much after that. These numbers include everything Busby Berkeley could think of, from Benny Goodman swinging "Minnie's in the Money" to Alice Faye singing "No Love, No Nothin'" to some bizarre extravaganzas featuring lots of thighs, bananas and Carmen Miranda. You'll want to hit the fast forward button at regular intervals to get past the dull parts between them. The story is corny, the romantic misunderstanding is...yawn... and the acting is often weak (James Ellison as the male lead) or prissily unfunny (Edward Everett Horton). Still, the Technicolor is as garish as you could want and the songs by Harry Warren and Leo Robin work well. There's little time to think of anything except the numbers and what Berkeley does with them. Says a commentator in one of the DVD's extras, "[Berkeley] was a dance director who couldn't dance. In a Berkeley production it was the camera that danced." I'm not sure anyone could watch "The Lady with the Tutti Frutti Hat" and not be in awe of how Berkeley not only made use of all those chorines with the giant fruit, but how he kept the action going using his camera in intricately plotted movement. If you watch the Tutti Frutti number a second time, see how many of the chorus dancers you can spot with grim determination, not smiles, on their faces as they lug those giant bananas around and struggle to hit their marks while the camera swoops and turns.

The story? Alice Faye is a showgirl. James Ellison is a soldier, the son of a wealthy family soon off to the Pacific. They fall for each other, but he has a sort of girl friend. His parents and the girl's parents think they should get hitched. Will Alice and Jim work things out? They do after approximately 100 minutes. Among the relatives and friends are Carmen Miranda, Eugene Pallette, Charlotte Greenwood and Horton,

There are a number of reasons to watch this movie, especially if you're interested in Busby Berkeley. It turned out to be his swan song as a major force in the movies. For me, the production numbers are a lot of fun, but the best reason is that classic song by Warren and Robin that Alice Faye introduced...

No love, no nothin'
Until my baby comes home.
No fun with no one,
As long as baby must roam.

I promised him I'd wait for him
Till even Hades froze.
I'm lonesome, heaven knows,
But what I said still goes.

No love, no nothin'
And that's a promise I'll keep.
No sir, no nothin'
I'm getting plenty of sleep.

My heart's on strike,
And tho' its like
An empty honeycomb,
No love, no sir, no nothin'
Till my baby comes home.

This became one of America's great songs of longing during WWII. If you want to hear more of them, you can't do better than Jo Stafford and her CD, G.I. Jo - Songs of World War II. August 13, 2008

new transfer

This is better than the DVD in the Alice Faye box. Definitely a better transfer. August 4, 2008

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