NFR Project: 'The Gang's All Here' (1943)

 

NFR Project: “The Gang’s All Here”

Dir: Busby Berkeley

Scr: Walter Bullock

Pho: Edward Cronjager

Ed: Ray Curtiss

Premiere: Dec. 24, 1943

103 min.

A really weak effort from the redoubtable Busby Berekeley. This Technicolor extravaganza is a musical that tells the story of a young soldier (James Ellison) who falls for singer Alice Faye. They are accompanied by stalwart players such as Eugene Pallette, Edward Everett Horton, Charlotte Greenwood, and Phil Baker.

The two young lovers are a tad star-crossed, but get together at the end in a flimsy and anemic plot that does little to hold the attention. The real star of the show is Carmen Miranda, the Brazilian bombshell whose outrageous outfits and comic style enliven the movie. She is featured in the “Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat” number, in which chorus girls wave giant phallic bananas from the stage. Benny Goodman and his band are on hand, but they don’t help much.

Berkeley’s use of color is garish and over-the-top, but it’s all in the service of a very perfunctory project. A very ordinary outing, which begs the question: why was this film chosen for the National Film Registry?

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: George Stevens’ World War II footage.