Reviews (2)

A mixed bag... but still good nostalgic fun
Bing Crosby croons the closing number in this flimsily-scripted wartime tossoff in which Paramount Studios hosts a patriotic all-star revue to entertain our men in uniform. Eddie Bracken is a goofy sailor back home to get a girl... Lucky for him that Betty Hutton -- in her first major role -- has her eyes set on him as well. She fast-talks and finagles (in a very Lucy-like way) to get Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Fred MacMurray and a bunch of other stars to come on board for the (spontaneous, yet amazingly elaborate) really big show, and in the process Hutton gets her man. The song and dance numbers, despite being written by Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen, are notably not first rate, although the Golden Gate Quartet have a nice cameo (even if they are playing train porters...) and a trio of starlets -- Paulette Goddard, Dorothy Lamour and (aroooogah!! woof! woof!) Veronica Lake -- do a hilarious number together, based on their images as stars. Also notable is a silly, prolonged skit in which men pretend to be women (eek.) and Bing's big patriotic number at the end, which is some of the clumsiest wartime propaganda committed to film. Betty Hutton is given the film's biggest role, and though she hams it up, she's still totally adorable. Let's see more of her!! Film buffs will also enjoy the chance to see director Preston Sturges and studio legend Cecil B. DeMille onscreen.

Absolutely crazy!
This combination of Paramount's stars during World War II is great! The storyline is typical of musical comedies from that era: Betty Hutton is a telephone operator at Paramount who, along with Victor Moore, pretends that Moore is the head director of the studio in order to impress Moore's sailor son (played by Eddie Bracken) and his shipmates. In reality, Moore is only a gate guard known as Pop, and when he is discovered by the director whom he is impersonating (Walter Abel) he and Hutton are fired and thrown off the lot. Unfortunately, they have promised Bracken that the stars of the studio will put on a show for the men on his ship. Hutton manages to sneak back into the studio and coaxes several actors and actresses to help their beloved Pop. The whole movie is a lot of fun. My family loves it, especially the part when Hutton is trying to get back into the studio! With a few exceptions--Hutton, Moore, Bracken, Abel, etc.--everyone in the movie plays themself, including several well-known Paramount directors of that time. Definitely a must-see if you love goofy movies from the forties! ... Read more

Reviews (8)

COLOURFUL BUT PONDEROUS
A lavishly corny confection. In this one, producer Adolphe Menjou seeks the advice of an average American girl (Andrea Leeds) concerning the qualities of his shows. The pluses this film has to offer include the ballet sequence, which is definitely a matter of taste, some fairly comical lines and the colour photography, which was the best yet in its day, because it wasn't considered "obtrusive". A rather inane script has Leeds fall in love with a greasy spoon cook and wannabe singer (Kenny Baker, who warbles LOVE WALKED IN about a dozen times) Leeds says zestfully: "I love hamburgers".........The very fact that Goldwyn put his name in the the title of a movie indicated that he considered it an extravaganza and a masterpiece (if not the greatest movie-musical ever made). Wrong. Granted, the musicals that were churned out at an alarming rate by Fox were fast and cheap, studded with vaudeville; they simply collapsed from sheer overkill. In his search for a formula, Samuel Goldwyn first paid three writers, including Dorothy Parker, $125,000; he then tore up their script and hired Ben Hecht. A curiousity from the thirties.

Entertaining but disjointed
"The Goldwyn Follies" has not fared well with critics even from the time it was first released, some of whom have called it one of the worst films ever made. My own personal opinion of this film isn't quite so jaundiced as that.

Part of the problem seems to be that Samuel Goldwyn attempted to out-Ziegfeld Ziegfeld, and in the process released a film that, while entertaining, seems rather disjointed. In certain respects "The Goldwyn Follies" stumbles & staggers like a car with a bad transmission. Perhaps it would have been better had this film been done in a revue form similar to the Ziegfeld Follies style.

Having said all this, "The Goldwyn Follies" is still worth viewing for all the varied & various entertainers who appear: ballerina Vera Zorina, Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy, the Ritz Brothers with their own particular brand of insanity, popular singer Kenny Baker (a regular on Jack Benny's radio show at the time), opera star Helen Jepson, vaudevillian Bobby Clark (who for some reason was not permitted to use his trademark painted-on glasses), and radio comic Phil Baker.

The film's plot involves film producer Oliver Merlin (Adolphe Menjou) whose movies fail consistently at the box office. While shooting a film on location with his temperamental star Olga Samara (Zorina), Merlin overhears Hazel Dawes (Andrea Leeds in her first film following her triumph in "Stage Door"), a young woman who watches the film shoot with a friend & comments about how less than human the characters seem to be. Mr. Merlin follows Hazel to a drugstore soda fountain where he hires her to be "Miss Humanity" and critique his ideas for film scenes but not to associate with actors so as to lose her down-to-earth qualities. Eventually Hazel meets a prospective movie singer (Baker) who runs a lunch counter, and a love interest develops between them.

"The Goldwyn Follies" features music by George & Ira Gershwin as well as choreography by George Balanchine. The former's contributions include the song "Love Walked In" while the latter's include a "Romeo and Juliet" sequence resembling a competition between "The Nutcracker" and "West Side Story" as well as a ballet featuring Vera Zorina as a water nymph who ascends & descends from a pool.

For all the problems this film may have had, in the end it isn't a total washout.

P.S. Keep your eyes open for an appearance by a young Alan Ladd in a bit as an auditioning singer.

VERA ZORINA`S FIRST FILM
When Ingrid Bergman published her memoirs in 1981, Vera Zorina found herself unfavourably mentioned... In 1942 she was up to do Maria in FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS, but was replaced because of tip-toing through the mountains... In an un-authorised biography of Bergman, Paul Henreid quoted Bergman saying "Zorina can`t act... I hope they find out how terrible she is..."

However. Such greats such as Richard Rodgers, Leonard Bernstein and Bob Hope have all praised her acting gifts. In 1946 the great GRETA GARBO saw her in "The Tempest" on stage and was spellbound. In THE GOLDWYN FOLLIES she stars as the love-sick temperamentel Olga Samara - and indeed - it is a a Russian Scarlett O`Hara we are given.
The film is a great comedy and satire of the Hollywood system and the music and performances are all great.
But it is Vera`s picture.
Look for her in ON YOUR TOES, I WAS AN ADVENTURESS and LOUISIANA PURCHASE also:)(:

Wonderful Classic
Being a fan of old movies, I've watched too many to name. This one in particular is one of those you'd like to go back and watch again and again. As you can see, it's out of print at the moment, but I believe it's well worth your money. It's very extravagent, music oriented, and has much comedy in it to keep you laughing throughout the entire movie. If you appreciate old movies/musicals you'll enjoy this one. It has a lot going on and I'd recommend it for all ages. Happy viewing! =D

More of an extravaganza than the script merited
11/6/02 I've seen this extravaganza thanks to "BlockBuster'video as it was before my time....I felt than it was too much of an extravaganza...of muscial renditions with a minor story plot;however based on when it was meant to be seen (in the late 1930's) when movies had more domainance than audience's financial ability to be entertained by musicians at the better clubs or renown theatres, as time goes by more and more we will apreciate the efforts of our first movie moguls,movie entities and movie actors,actresses and the studios's 'cast of 1000'..we're considered lucky when they clone certain scenes in animations with & thanks to modern technology(e.g. movies on dinasours).11/6/02 ... Read more

Reviews (1)

FOLLOW THE BOYS (1944)
(Comedy, Black & White, 2 hr 2 min)

Universal - U.S.A.

DIRECTOR: A. Edward Sutherland

CAST: George Raft, Vera Zorina, Charles Grapewin, Maria Montez (As: Herself)

COMMENTS: This movie was the first one of Universal Pictures in the follies genre.

Forget about the penny-dreadful's worth of plot and just sit back and enjoy the star cameos. A long wartime rouser, FOLLOW THE BOYS begins with the closing of New York's Palace Theater and the demise of vaudeville.

Tony (Raft), Kitty (McDonald), and Nick West (Grapewin), a brother-sister-father trio, have just finished doing their turkey of an act at the Palace in New York, and Tony suggests that they try their luck in Hollywood. Once there, Tony soon hits it big, teaming with Gloria Vance (Zorina) in several hit movies.

They fall in love and marry, but WWII drives them apart as Tony, refused induction because of a bad knee, takes on the task of organizing entertainment for the fighting men going overseas.

It's perhaps unfair to criticize FOLLOW THE BOYS for its hackneyed story line, considering that the real purpose of the film is to show off the assortment of legendary performers herein assembled.

The odd collection consists largely of established talent on its way down or notable personalities on their way up, but one cherishes the film for what it records for posterity.

Jeanette Macdonald reprises one of her earliest song hits, "Beyond the Blue Horizon" and Sophie Tucker is on hand to belt out her signature "Some of These Days." W.C. Fields, meanwhile, though clearly not in the best of health, commits another performance of his famous pool routine to celluloid, and the Andrews Sisters do a fun medley of several of their hits. Perhaps most priceless of all, however, is Orson Welles, who, assisted by Marlene Dietrich, does a marvelous six-minute magic act.

In this occasion all the stars hired by the Studio made a parade before the cameras in order to assist to a meeting of the Victory Committee in Hollywood and Maria Montez was one of the luminaries, so her fans had the chance of watching her real aspect. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

COLOURFUL BUT PONDEROUS
A lavishly corny confection. In this one, producer Adolphe Menjou seeks the advice of an average American girl (Andrea Leeds) concerning the qualities of his shows. The pluses this film has to offer include the ballet sequence, which is definitely a matter of taste, some fairly comical lines and the colour photography, which was the best yet in its day, because it wasn't considered "obtrusive". A rather inane script has Leeds fall in love with a greasy spoon cook and wannabe singer (Kenny Baker, who warbles LOVE WALKED IN about a dozen times) Leeds says zestfully: "I love hamburgers".........The very fact that Goldwyn put his name in the the title of a movie indicated that he considered it an extravaganza and a masterpiece (if not the greatest movie-musical ever made). Wrong. Granted, the musicals that were churned out at an alarming rate by Fox were fast and cheap, studded with vaudeville; they simply collapsed from sheer overkill. In his search for a formula, Samuel Goldwyn first paid three writers, including Dorothy Parker, $125,000; he then tore up their script and hired Ben Hecht. A curiousity from the thirties.

Entertaining but disjointed
"The Goldwyn Follies" has not fared well with critics even from the time it was first released, some of whom have called it one of the worst films ever made. My own personal opinion of this film isn't quite so jaundiced as that.

Part of the problem seems to be that Samuel Goldwyn attempted to out-Ziegfeld Ziegfeld, and in the process released a film that, while entertaining, seems rather disjointed. In certain respects "The Goldwyn Follies" stumbles & staggers like a car with a bad transmission. Perhaps it would have been better had this film been done in a revue form similar to the Ziegfeld Follies style.

Having said all this, "The Goldwyn Follies" is still worth viewing for all the varied & various entertainers who appear: ballerina Vera Zorina, Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy, the Ritz Brothers with their own particular brand of insanity, popular singer Kenny Baker (a regular on Jack Benny's radio show at the time), opera star Helen Jepson, vaudevillian Bobby Clark (who for some reason was not permitted to use his trademark painted-on glasses), and radio comic Phil Baker.

The film's plot involves film producer Oliver Merlin (Adolphe Menjou) whose movies fail consistently at the box office. While shooting a film on location with his temperamental star Olga Samara (Zorina), Merlin overhears Hazel Dawes (Andrea Leeds in her first film following her triumph in "Stage Door"), a young woman who watches the film shoot with a friend & comments about how less than human the characters seem to be. Mr. Merlin follows Hazel to a drugstore soda fountain where he hires her to be "Miss Humanity" and critique his ideas for film scenes but not to associate with actors so as to lose her down-to-earth qualities. Eventually Hazel meets a prospective movie singer (Baker) who runs a lunch counter, and a love interest develops between them.

"The Goldwyn Follies" features music by George & Ira Gershwin as well as choreography by George Balanchine. The former's contributions include the song "Love Walked In" while the latter's include a "Romeo and Juliet" sequence resembling a competition between "The Nutcracker" and "West Side Story" as well as a ballet featuring Vera Zorina as a water nymph who ascends & descends from a pool.

For all the problems this film may have had, in the end it isn't a total washout.

P.S. Keep your eyes open for an appearance by a young Alan Ladd in a bit as an auditioning singer.

VERA ZORINA`S FIRST FILM
When Ingrid Bergman published her memoirs in 1981, Vera Zorina found herself unfavourably mentioned... In 1942 she was up to do Maria in FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS, but was replaced because of tip-toing through the mountains... In an un-authorised biography of Bergman, Paul Henreid quoted Bergman saying "Zorina can`t act... I hope they find out how terrible she is..."

However. Such greats such as Richard Rodgers, Leonard Bernstein and Bob Hope have all praised her acting gifts. In 1946 the great GRETA GARBO saw her in "The Tempest" on stage and was spellbound. In THE GOLDWYN FOLLIES she stars as the love-sick temperamentel Olga Samara - and indeed - it is a a Russian Scarlett O`Hara we are given.
The film is a great comedy and satire of the Hollywood system and the music and performances are all great.
But it is Vera`s picture.
Look for her in ON YOUR TOES, I WAS AN ADVENTURESS and LOUISIANA PURCHASE also:)(:

Wonderful Classic
Being a fan of old movies, I've watched too many to name. This one in particular is one of those you'd like to go back and watch again and again. As you can see, it's out of print at the moment, but I believe it's well worth your money. It's very extravagent, music oriented, and has much comedy in it to keep you laughing throughout the entire movie. If you appreciate old movies/musicals you'll enjoy this one. It has a lot going on and I'd recommend it for all ages. Happy viewing! =D

More of an extravaganza than the script merited
11/6/02 I've seen this extravaganza thanks to "BlockBuster'video as it was before my time....I felt than it was too much of an extravaganza...of muscial renditions with a minor story plot;however based on when it was meant to be seen (in the late 1930's) when movies had more domainance than audience's financial ability to be entertained by musicians at the better clubs or renown theatres, as time goes by more and more we will apreciate the efforts of our first movie moguls,movie entities and movie actors,actresses and the studios's 'cast of 1000'..we're considered lucky when they clone certain scenes in animations with & thanks to modern technology(e.g. movies on dinasours).11/6/02 ... Read more

Reviews (1)

GET MUSICAL
This musical is a very moving and insparational movie. Great for any age. ... Read more