Discount Star Spangled Rhythm (1943)

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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!

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It's wartime, and this film is tailor made for the troops missing the good old USA! A few soldiers return home on leave to visit family. Eddie goes to a famous movie studio to meet his father under the assumption that his father is the head of the studio. In fact, Pops (Victor Moore) is just a security guard, but he doesn't want his son to be disappointed so he enlists secretary Polly's help (Betty Hutton). They gain access to the head cheese's office and in the process, accidentally promise Eddie to get major stars from the studio to star in an all-star revue just for the military.

There are so many wonderful stars in this film, all of them playing themselves. Bing Crosby and his son Gary appear. Bob Hope takes over as MC in his bits. Paulette Goddard, Veronica Lake, and Dorothy Lamour sing a song about their trademarks. Dick Powell and Mary Martin sing about Dreamland. Franchot Tone, Fred MacMurray, and Ray Milland put on a skit. On top of these cameos, Hutton steals the show as an enthusiastic star in her own right.

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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.

Honest reviews on Star Spangled Rhythm (1943)

It's hard to believe, in these days of media over-kill, that people some 70 years ago stood in long lines at movie theaters to watch films like this. But when you consider it was WWII (1942) and folks were happy to experience anything that took minds off of the war (in which EVERYBODY participated) during it's darkest days, it's understandable. Here we have the top stars from Paramount Studios trying hard doing their bit to give at least 100 minutes of relief. Only a few of the 'stars' will be at all familiar to today's younger audience ... Bob Hope, Bing Crosby ... but 'old-timers' will be happy (and, perhaps, even a little sad) to see some of the faces who lit up the silver screen and filled the movie magazines of those days. The humor is innocent and broad and the music is up-beat, patriotic, escapist and topical. Sexism was put (ever so slightly) on hold, since women were allowed to work in defense factories to replace the men who had gone off to war as depicted in the 'Working on the Swing Shift' number but racism was still in full flower as shown in the 'Hit The Road To Dreamland' and 'Belt in the Back' Zoot Suit numbers, even though the finale, 'Old Glory', tries hard to mitigate it. If you can ignore those 'historical' national blunders, you might get a few 'kicks' out of a song like 'A Sweater, A Sarong and a Peek-a-boo Bang' (Paulette Goddard, Dorothy Lamour and Veronica Lake) and the several 'comedy' sketches found throughout the film.

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I love musicals, but this one went a little overboard and I never finished watching it. Betty Hutton and Eddie Bracken are two of my favorites, but this one was missing something.