Busby BerkeleyCritiques

Good actors who can sing and dance, but it's composed so-so routines, clichéd plot, and bland dialogue.

2023 movie #62. 1948. Funny film. Romance and mistaken identity on a cruise ship. Doris Day, in her first film (they wanted Judy Garland), was so good she got a 7-yr contract from WB. "It's Magic", her song in the film was a big hit for her and was nominated for Best Song Oscar.

A film starring Ethel Waters and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson (MGM, 1943).

A dead gambler is given six more months to live to try to get into Heaven.

C+ (Okay).

There's some good music, and some great dancing, but surprisingly little of either. I understand Lena Horne's solo number and Louis Armstrong's only number were both cut from the movie. Meanwhile, the dialog is written in exactly the style you'd expect from a 1943 Hollywood movie with an all-black cast.

(Feb. 2023)

Garfield has charisma to burn playing a boxer framed for a murder who heads West and ends up at a ranch where the Dead End Kids have been sent to un-degenerate themselves. Ann Sheridan makes a big impression in a brief role at the beginning of the film. And Claude Rains is a disgraced detective with a weird accent. Not to mention peril in a big irrigation tank. Enjoyable! Despite the director, there is no dancing, however.

Some chorus girls mess with their friend's fiancee's rich brother.

Good. The comedy parts are fun and very Pre-Code. The musical numbers are boring, but I've seen worse.½

Fun title, mediocre drama, sappy-bad (as opposed to sappy-fun) songs

Fifty B movies -- including some classics like Detour and Algiers -- to play as background while working at the computer.