I hate to be the sole spoilsport in this group of unanimous adulation, but I thought "Rose of Washington Square" was slightly disappointing. Perhaps I had high hopes for it since I'm one of Alice Faye's biggest fans and I love almost all of the classic Fox musicals, but "Rose" ranks with one of Faye & Fox's weakest musicals.
Exhaustingly directed by Gregory Ratoff, this wispy, half-tolerable biography of Fanny Brice turns out to be a less successful attempt by Darryl Zanuck to repeat the magic and splendor of Henry King's "Alexander's Ragtime Band" with Faye and her leading man Tyrone Power. What made King's classic memorable, aside from the luminous presence of Faye, was Irving Berlin's endlessly melodious music. Here, except Faye's singing of "My Man" and Al Jolson's "Mammy", the songs are not only unmemorable, but dismal.
See it only for the stars but don't expect anything as remotely magical as "Alexander's Ragtime Band".
Exhaustingly directed by Gregory Ratoff, this wispy, half-tolerable biography of Fanny Brice turns out to be a less successful attempt by Darryl Zanuck to repeat the magic and splendor of Henry King's "Alexander's Ragtime Band" with Faye and her leading man Tyrone Power. What made King's classic memorable, aside from the luminous presence of Faye, was Irving Berlin's endlessly melodious music. Here, except Faye's singing of "My Man" and Al Jolson's "Mammy", the songs are not only unmemorable, but dismal.
See it only for the stars but don't expect anything as remotely magical as "Alexander's Ragtime Band".