Copyright 7 July 1939 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Paramount: 28 June 1939. U.S. release: 7 July 1939. Australian release: 30 September 1939. Sydney opening at the Prince Edward (as the top half of a double bill with Robert Florey's "B", The Magnificent Fraud) where the movie failed so miserably it was replaced in the middle of its third week by Death of a Champion. 9 reels. 85 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: An American producer is in love with the leading lady of the show he is staging in London. Unfortunately, his love is not reciprocated. He decides to make her jealous by romancing other women.
COMMENT: Lavishly produced, beautifully mounted musical displaying the superlative ability of comedians Jack Benny (who is in every scene of the movie but one) and Rochester to overcome the restraints of an indifferent, old-hat plot cooked up by Morrie Ryskind (a gag-writer for the Marx Brothers). Benny and Anderson manage to keep the fur flying magnificently right through a series of long, long openings until the first musical number finally comes along. It's the most tuneful in the movie, "That Sentimental Sandwich", and nicely rendered by Lamour with a bit of skilful assistance from Harris and Rochester.
Those deservedly popular crowd-pleasers Monty Woolley, Edward Arnold and Binnie Barnes (and E.E. Clive) then come on to bolster the comic endeavors of our heroes until the next stand-out interlude, "Fidgety Joe", somewhat tepidly sung by Betty Grable (also with a bit of strong assistance from the omnipresent Phil Harris) and most vibrantly danced by the delightfully gifted Rochester.
The Merriel Abbott Dancers are wisely saved for a spectacular musical climax where they disport themselves in colorful costumes through the melodic "Strange Enchantment" (sung by Lamour), whilst Rochester shuffles up a storm in another standing-ovation solo spot. The pin-wheeling Merriel Abbotts then return for "Bluebirds in the Moonlight", whilst Benny encores with the Pina acrobats in a tangled routine of mishaps which Danny Kaye later reprised in Knock on Wood.
Although just about everyone hated it, I found this entry a delightful show, featuring great stars and some great support players including Cecil Kellaway and Charles Coleman, directed with panache by Mark Sandrich and lustrously photographed by that master of black-and-white texture, Ted Tetzlaff.
In my opinion, the Paramount gloss was never finer. And the Edith Head costumes are wonderfully slinky. Lamour never looked more glamorous.
SYNOPSIS: An American producer is in love with the leading lady of the show he is staging in London. Unfortunately, his love is not reciprocated. He decides to make her jealous by romancing other women.
COMMENT: Lavishly produced, beautifully mounted musical displaying the superlative ability of comedians Jack Benny (who is in every scene of the movie but one) and Rochester to overcome the restraints of an indifferent, old-hat plot cooked up by Morrie Ryskind (a gag-writer for the Marx Brothers). Benny and Anderson manage to keep the fur flying magnificently right through a series of long, long openings until the first musical number finally comes along. It's the most tuneful in the movie, "That Sentimental Sandwich", and nicely rendered by Lamour with a bit of skilful assistance from Harris and Rochester.
Those deservedly popular crowd-pleasers Monty Woolley, Edward Arnold and Binnie Barnes (and E.E. Clive) then come on to bolster the comic endeavors of our heroes until the next stand-out interlude, "Fidgety Joe", somewhat tepidly sung by Betty Grable (also with a bit of strong assistance from the omnipresent Phil Harris) and most vibrantly danced by the delightfully gifted Rochester.
The Merriel Abbott Dancers are wisely saved for a spectacular musical climax where they disport themselves in colorful costumes through the melodic "Strange Enchantment" (sung by Lamour), whilst Rochester shuffles up a storm in another standing-ovation solo spot. The pin-wheeling Merriel Abbotts then return for "Bluebirds in the Moonlight", whilst Benny encores with the Pina acrobats in a tangled routine of mishaps which Danny Kaye later reprised in Knock on Wood.
Although just about everyone hated it, I found this entry a delightful show, featuring great stars and some great support players including Cecil Kellaway and Charles Coleman, directed with panache by Mark Sandrich and lustrously photographed by that master of black-and-white texture, Ted Tetzlaff.
In my opinion, the Paramount gloss was never finer. And the Edith Head costumes are wonderfully slinky. Lamour never looked more glamorous.