There's No Business Like Show Business

Rating:
Summary: A glorious DVD
Review: A fine piece of entertainment, There's No Business has however also sides that prevent it from being brilliant. The script is acceptable, though lacking any originality (we follow the career of the Donahues, a family of vaudeville artists) but Walter Lang's direction reveals that this survivor of the still movies era was completely lost with the wide screen that was assigned to him by 20th Century Fox. Throughout the movie his actors are nicely aligned in front of us, sitting or standing next to each other in order to fill the screen and photographed in full or medium shot. The song and dance numbers are exclusively photographed from a theatre spectator's point of view facing the stage. This was only Cinemascope's second year and many directors had problems in finding how to use this large screen space that was assigned to them. But even so, the musical numbers are brilliant and it is a pleasure to watch them. All of the songs are not of a Berlin top level, but Alexander's Ragtime Band, A Simple Melody and Heat Wave are by all means among his best.
The cast has it's better and it's lesser performances. Ethel Merman is as always a force of nature even if she is less dominating than she had been a year before in the same Walter Lang' Call me Madam. Marilyn Monroe is brilliant, as she often was, and so is Donald O'Connor as the funniest character of the whole bunch. Lovely Mitzi Gaynor isn't given much of a chance and Dan Dailey is a little on the stiff side, his real talent only showing when he starts dancing. As to Johnny Ray, one soon understands why his career in the movies was so short. But with the role he attributed, he hadn't been given much of a chance.
What makes this DVD really worthy is its quality. The transfer to the DVD media was made with utmost care and the result is a beautiful, sharp picture . The comparison with the video version can be seen in the special features and the difference is astounding. We really rediscover here the richness of technicolor, quite different from that of most MGM-musicals, how great they ever were. The quality of the transfer is one of the major reasons why one should buy this DVD

Rating:
Summary: Lousy story, great production number.
Review: A plot that has Johnny Ray playing a priest torn between his vows and his bows--and it only gets worse from there. But some of the production numbers are deliciously extravagant even by Hollywood standards. The "Alexander's Ragtime Band" montage--a musical workout that incorporates a variety of musical styles and ethnic costumery and dance--is easily worth the price of admission all by itself. It alone testifies to Berlin's importance to American music and consequently to the universe. (But as a fan of Marilyn Monroe, I must say her performance is not indispensable viewing.) For a more aesthetically satisfying tribute to Irvin Berlin, check out the movie entitled "Alexander's Ragtime Band," starring Tyrone Power and Alice Faye--or, for that matter, "Top Hat" with Fred and Ginger.

Rating:
Summary: The restored soundtrack from a gem of an old musical
Review: After only being available as a mono recording, this restored stereo soundtrack CD is just great. Plus you get a couple of tracks that were never available on the original...including Monroe's original tracks, a couple of bonus tracks with Merman and the full track of "A Sailor's Just A Sailor." This was Merman's last film musical as well as the last film musical from Irving Berlin. Great songs with great performances by the above as well as dazzling Mitzi Gaynor along with Donald O'Connor and Dan Dailey. I give it 4 stars rather than 5 due to one track which sounds, to my ear, out of sync. Johnny Ray's "If You Believe" seems to place the vocal a split second off from the musical track. The plot of the film is just a framework for the music and it's the music that's front and center. Kudos to Varese Sarabande for doing the tech work to make this available.

Rating:
Summary: BETTY GRABLE WHY DID'NT YOU DO THIS MOVIE?
Review: Betty Grable was supposed to play the Ethel merman part , but looked to young to be a mother of grown ups Donald O'Conner , Mitzi Gaynor and Johnny Ray so they hired Merman.

Rating:
Summary: Great movie!
Review: I recently introduced my daughter to this movie and she likes it as much as I do. Ethel Merman sings no better than usual, but she is fun anyway. Marlyn and Donald O'Connor make a wonderful couple. The movie is charming and clean, something most of todays movies can not claim.

Rating:
Summary: A must Have Musical
Review: I think this is one of the best musicals available. And- if you're into musicals this one you need to get. Since Hollywood refuses to make musicals you better latch on to this one while you can. I think the color and the musical numbers are wonderful! And in those days they used better color for films than they do today! For color films and for tv viewing they use cheap color. Many people has told me that they thought their tv was fading out and had a foggy color to it. I've told them it's not their tv at all. The best color was always used back in the 40's and 50's. I see nothing ethnically wrong in the film that would be wrong. People are just too too sensitive these days and now they are picking the old films apart. They need to learn how to get over it. I am so glad that they have not destroyed these old films because 98 per cent of the films today are trash and will never become classics such as this one. When all the great producers and directors and screenwriters pass away there just seems like no one can take their place. They knew what they were doing back then. The craftsmanship has been lost.

Rating:
Summary: This movie is like an old friend to me
Review: I watched this movie when I had not yet seen all Marilyn Monroe movies, so I was disappointed that she was in it for such a short time. Yet in time, I quickly grew to love every scene of this movie. Yes, it looks great and the songs are great too, I have to say that Ethel Merman seems to steal every scene she's in, and I regret that she did such few movies. She has a great voice too. There are a lot of great one-liners, and one of my biggest ever dreams was to see this movie in Cinemascope. Now this dream seems to have come true. I am ordering the DVD set right now and can't wait to get it. I am even buying the DVD player only for this occasion. Thinking about it, Marilyn has nothing to work on, and looks like an average actress to fill the movie. Her part isn't that big anyway. But it's still her. Her 'After You Get What You Want You Don't Want It' is fantastic, as she is. The title tune is fantastic, I love it! Especially when Ethel starts singing it at the final performance, and then she sees that her son has come back and she stops in the middle of the songs, tears come to my eyes every time, and then all the cast sings it and WOW. You have to see it. I love this movie!

Rating:
Summary: Overblown but tremendous fun!
Review: It's wonderful to have these recordings available in true stereo and the version of the title song belted out by Merman remains her most definitive recording of the song. A few oddities: Johnny Ray's vocal track for "If You Believe" is wildly out-of-synch (and re-listening to the original Decca album it does sound as if they manipulated the track with some editing. Ray was deaf.. perhaps he could not hear the click track? At any rate, Varese should have tried to edit the song so that it sounds the same as in the film) and there are a few other places where the orchestra comes in too early. Minor quibbles. More curious was the decision to drop some musical segments that were in the film: Gaynor adn O'connor doing a wicked parody of (parents) Merman and Daily; Dailey's "You'd be surprised"; Merman's "Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee" and the deleted songs "Anything You Can Do" and Marilyn Monroe's unused vocal of "You'd be surprised" - but what is on the disc is great! And the set comes with good liner notes.

Rating:
Summary: Has it's moments, but mostly DULLSVILLE
Review: Of all the Marilyn Monroe DVDs I've seen (about 7) this was the only one I didn't take to. Of course when Marilyn's on the screen, it's great, but the rest of the time I found it to be forced and Ethel Merman just seemed annoying. The family was dullsville and I never want to see it again! It wasn't awful, just not worthy of Marilyn.

Rating:
Summary: Has it's moments, but mostly DULLSVILLE
Review: Of all the Marilyn Monroe DVDs I've seen (about 7) this was the only one I didn't take to. Of course when Marilyn's on the screen, it's great, but the rest of the time I found it to be forced and Ethel Merman just seemed annoying. The family was dullsville and I never want to see it again! It wasn't awful, just not worthy of Marilyn.