The Gang's All Here (1943) User Reviews

Pure '40s - Benny and Carmen

[gbheron · 7/10 · 2 April 2001]

"The Gang's All Here" is just pure entertainment in the old-school musical style (before Oklahoma!). There's essentially no plot, and what story there is, is full of plot-holes. It's propaganda dressed up in a musical. Don't get negative about this; music and dancing predominate and, of course, the cause is good. Made during WWII it almost subliminally reinforces home front practices during wartime, such as buying war bonds, and staying true to your man in uniform. A lot of this is probably lost to most viewers fifty years later. But think about it, and remember that when this movie was made, the Allied victory was not a sure thing.

And what about the music and dancing? Carmen Miranda in her tutti-frutti hat. Benny Goodman's swing band. Alice Faye. Busby Berkeley. If these people mean any thing to you, they are here in fine form.

enjoyable, vintage 20th Century Fox musical

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 7 January 2006]

20th Century Fox pulled out all the stops for this Technicolor musical, "The Gang's All Here," directed by Busby Berkeley. There is a song at least every few minutes, wonderful singing, dancing, and comedy galore, and an absolutely threadbare plot. The story is of no consequence - the music is the thing, along with Carmen Miranda's gaudily-costumed numbers and delightful butchering of the English language.

This film was made to bolster spirits during the war and to sell war bonds, which is dealt with in part of the plot. I can't imagine anyone walking out of the theater with anything but a smile on their face.

Alice Faye is lovely and sings beautifully in her contralto, her main number being "A Journey to a Star." Miranda's big number, of course, is the classic "The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat" with the fabulous illusion at the end. Charlotte Greenwood gets to dance in "The Jitters" and she, Edward Everett Horton, and Eugene Palette provide excellent support. Benny Goodman's band is a standout, and I've always been a sucker for Benny's smooth, relaxed singing voice. Busby Berkeley's numbers are spectacular, particularly the finale - but somehow, I can't see it being done on someone's lawn! I agree with one of the posters, these Fox musicals need to be packaged into a collection and put out on DVD. They're too much fun to miss.

Camp Technicolor musical...

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 1 February 2023]

... from 20th Century Fox and director Busby Berkeley. The meager plot concerns Army sergeant on leave Andy Mason (James Ellison) who falls for nightclub performer Edie Allen (Alice Faye). The only problem is that Andy's already engaged to Vivian Potter (Sheila Ryan). Edie's flamboyant friend and co-worker Dorita (Carmen Miranda) tries to help, to mixed results. Also featuring Eugene Pallette, Edward Everett Horton, Phil Baker, Charlotte Greenwood, Tony De Marco, Dave Willock, Frank Faylen, June Haver and Jeanne Crain in their debuts, and Benny Goodman and His Orchestra.

The plot is naturally secondary to the musical numbers, several of which are bizarre, most notably "The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat", featuring chorus girls running around with giant bananas. Berkeley's camera moves around, under and above the action, shattering the pretense that these numbers are designed for a nightclub or theatrical audience, taking them strictly into the realm of cinema. The costumes are also eye-popping, even those worn in the non-musical scenes, and Miranda wears an assortment of outlandish hats. This marked the end of Alice Faye's star period. She had a cameo in the following year's Four Jills in a Jeep, and then a non-musical part in 1945's Fallen Angel, before entering into screen retirement for 17 years. The movie earned an Oscar nomination for Best Color Art Direction.

Yes, they have some bananas

[skad13 · 9 July 2003]

I'll get to the plot of "The Gang's All Here" in a minute, because the plot isn't the most memorable part of this movie. The most memorable part is the bananas.

About 20 minutes into the movie, a towering hat of Technicolor fruit appears on the screen, followed by its owner--'40s "Brazilian bombshell" Carmen Miranda. She proceeds to do a number called "The Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat," accompanied by chorus girls who bear bananas. Six-foot-tall bananas that continuously droop and sprout until number's end, when the chorus girls, worn out by the burden of this mutated fruit, lay down for a long siesta on a stage dressed up like an island.

There's a reason this number occurs so early on: It takes you the rest of the movie to convince yourself you actually saw this in a 1943 movie.

But then, this is Busby Berkeley, a director who staged his musical numbers as though he was declaring war. And next to kitsch, war is pretty much the motivator here.

The wafer-thin story involves Andy (James Ellison), a soldier who woos and wins Edie (Alice Faye), a canteen dancer, the night before Andy goes off to World War Two. In what seems an instant, Andy gets decorated and returned home to a victory party thrown by the family of Andy's childhood sweetheart and fiancee--who, unfortunately for Edie, is not Edie.

Will the heartbreak be resolved? Do you really care? The plot is mostly an excuse for some snappy repartee between major '40s stars (in particular, Eugene Pallette and Edward Everett Horton are hilarious), and the kind of musical numbers that seem to drop out of thin air. (In a couple of scenes, Benny Goodman and his orchestra stroll by and do some songs just for the heck of it.)

"The Gang's All Here" is really a 1943 time capsule, but an eye-popping rouser of one. They don't make 'em like this anymore. They didn't make 'em much like this back then, either. It's not out on video or DVD, so look for its sporadic broadcasts on cable TV.

Musicals brightened the dullness of wartime Britain

[smiley-39 · 7/10 · 22 November 1999]

It was called "The Girls He Left Behind", when first released in Britain in 1944. In this movie I think Busby Berkeley reached the pinnacle. It was his finest effort. Carmen Miranda, wearing that tutti frutty hat was a mouth-watering revelation; along with her ability to murder the English language. Roly poly Eugene Palette, trying to get the worrisome Edward Everett Horton's mind off his wife. Handing their hats to the hat-check girl, who was the lovely June Haver. (If you blinked you would have missed her). Alice Faye? A dream in Technicolour. James Ellison in the leading romantic role. Where was John Payne? He was the usual romantic lead in these Twentieth Century Fox musical capers of the early nineteen-forties.

Weak plot? Who the hell really cared! The Benny Goodman Orchestra; those songs, and the rich Technicolour, plus the Lanky Charlotte Greenwood, blindly reaching for the telephone and answering with the cat instead, brightened this teen-aged English boy's life in those wartime years of long ago. I have watched it on television more than once. The big question though. Why oh why, has it not been released on video or, better still, DVD? Can anyone explain?

Old Hat

[writers_reign · 7/10 · 30 July 2007]

For some reason I've never seen this movie on television though it's reasonable to assume it's been shown over the years so when it surfaced as part of an 8 Fox Musicals boxed set at a silly price (£30, which works out at £3.75 a throw) I snapped it up, especially since 1) it was selling elsewhere at £50 and 2) out of 8 titles I only owned one (Daddy Longlegs). You can't copyright a title, of course, and this was the third movie since 1939 (the second appeared in 1941) called The Gang's All Here and since the other two seem to have sunk without trace this is probably the most substantial. I doubt if anyone went to see this, either at the time or subsequently, looking for a solid plot; chances are they went to see Alice Faye who was just about to abdicate as 'Queen' of the Fox lot, and hear the score though in 1943 they wouldn't necessarily have been aware of Harry Warren and Leo Robin. What Faye did was warmth - as opposed to glamor laced with cynicism (Betty Grable, her immediate successor as 'Queen') or dumb (Marilyn Monroe, who succeeded Grable) - which is not to say she was chopped liver, in fact she was lovely rather than beautiful and the warmth embraced not only her personality but also her voice which she put to good use in her nine-year musical career at Fox during which time she introduced 23 'hits', in fact in the same year (1943) as The Gang's All Here she had already introduced another Harry Warren hit song, You'll Never Know in Hello, Frisco, Hello, a song which, of course, went on to win the Best Song Oscar. She supplemented 'Know' with two more fine ballads in this movie, A Journey To A Star and No Love, No Nothing and the score also included Paducah, Minnie's In The Money - a solo vocal for Benny Goodman? and two typical Busby Berkeley Production Numbers, Carmen Miranda's The Lady In The Tutti-Frutti Hat and Faye's Polka-Dot Polka in which everyone joined in as a grand finale. June Haver popped up as a hat-check girl and Jeanne Crain had one line but the support included - apart from Benny Goodman and his band - Charlotte Greenwood, Eugene Palette and Edward Everett Horton all of whom contributed to a pleasant diversion. Faye, who was pregnant at the time, made one more film two years later, it was a 'straight' role in Otto Preminger's Fallen Angel and in the wake of what she considered Darrell Zanuck's inept editing of what Faye herself considered a fine acting performance she retired from the screen resurfacing some twenty years later in the remake of State Fair. As swan songs go The Gang's All Here isn't bad at all.

You've Never Seen Anything Like It

[sandy-32 · 9/10 · 30 July 1998]

Something between a fever-dream and a screwball comedy, THE GANG'S ALL HERE is the Fox Musical at its most extravagant. With everthing from Charlotte Greenwood doing her trademarked high-kick routine to Carmen Miranda in a ten-story banana headdress, there's never a dull moment (that might let you concentrate too closely on the plot, which can most charitably be described as serviceable). The picture is a carnival of character bits, ridiculous shtick, and mind-boggling transitions. Edward Everett Horton gets covered with Carmen's lipstick and claims it's ketchup -- "Yes, and from a Brazilian tomato!" ripostes his wife (Greenwood, who really is terrific here). Eugene Pallette growls "Don't be a square from Delaware!" when he wants his pal Horton to get hep and join in the latest dance sensation. A New York nightclub has a stage large enough for what looks like all of a tropical island (for Carmen's immortal "Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat" number, truly a Freudian nightmare), and a number set in a Westchester backyard features more trick fountains than two Esther Williams epics.

In the end, it all just stops, with a 30-second plot resolution ("oh, yes, didn't I tell you? He's loved you all along!" or some such) in order to make room for the finale, the most dizzying number yet: a paean to the polka-dot (featuring Alice Faye's most effortful emoting ever on the line "...But the Polka Dot...Lives...On!") that segues into a ballet featuring neon hoops, vast rolling dots, kaleidoscopic trick photography, and, finally, an endearingly primitive blue-curtain effect that shows the heads of all the principals (and hundreds of chorus girls) bouncing along to a reprise of the hit ballad "A Journey to a Star." Well, THE GANG'S ALL HERE may not be quite that, but it's certainly a journey into a different era in filmmaking.

it's the lady in the tutti-frutti hat!

[didi-5 · 7/10 · 9 July 2007]

Basically plot less, and a vehicle for some mind-boggling Busby Berkeley numbers ... those bananas!!! ... and two leading ladies at 20th Century Fox, Alice Faye and Carmen Miranda. Both ladies have strong personalities and buoy this film up. It needs it, as there is no story to speak of, the characterisations are slight, and even Benny Goodman stretches the goodwill a bit.

Family rivalries, chequered pasts, wartime romances, and a show of shows, and you have 'The Gang's All Here' in a nutshell (or a banana skin).

Berkeley chorus girls were of course known for partaking of outlandish formations and musical numbers shot from all angles including above, but those rising and falling bananas, and Carmen Miranda cavorting about covered in fruit ... absolutely preposterous!

Great Movie Musicals are made of this

[david-1976 · 10/10 · 22 October 2006]

Wow! I have never seen so many interesting trivia points, nor so many errors of fact, reported about any film on IMDb.

This film is what could happen when Busby Berkeley was given full rein and a lot of money to spend, and the results are incredible. Like the "Big Broadcast" musicals, this one is for the most part a series of vaudeville acts, but this time it's in Technicolor and Busby has a really big crane!! The plot is silly, negligible, and a reductio ad absurdum of the "gee kids, let's put on a show" genre, except this time Eugene Palette's kid, James Ellison, is coming back a decorated hero from the South Pacific, and Palette talks his neighbor, Edward Everett Horton, into putting on a benefit in his rose garden to sell war bonds. Both Palette and Horton are rich. their neighbors are rich, and they intend to make a pile of money. They convince comedian Phil Baker (a radio phenomenon also featured in the incredibly underrated "Goldwyn Follies" where he does a great number with Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy) to participate, along with Carmen Miranda, Alice Faye, Ted DeMarco, Benny Goodman (playing incredible knockoffs of some of his best numbers, as well as original ones for the show), Charlotte Greenwood (doing her vaudeville shtick: this is her most characteristic film appearance, "Oklahoma" notwithstanding) to participate. This in spite of the fact that the Horton character ("Peyton Potter") is trying to hide the fact that he married a showgirl, Greenwood, and trying to keep his daughter stuck on James Ellison (Pallette's decorated son, "Andy Mason") in spite of the fact that she really has a yen to follow Mama's steps in show biz, and in spite of the fact that "Andy" is really stuck on Alice Faye, who has been called "the blondest of all baritones," and a sexy baritone she is. People are running in all directions in this movie, and they all play themselves, regardless of their characters' names. The plot is as complicated and as silly as a Feydeau farce--and just as inconsequential.

The opening of the film is as striking a use of Technicolor as you will ever find. It's a lead-in to that great tune, "Brasil," and features Aloysio DeOliviera (who? don't ask me!) dressed in an exquisite black gown and wearing chartreuse above-the-elbow gloves that create a breathtaking effect--which leads into a silly number starring Camen and Phil and commenting on the 1943 scarcity of coffee.

Later in the show you also get Carmen doing one of the greatest of Busby Berkeley numbers, "The Lady in the Tutti-Fruitti Hat," featuring hundreds of cute toes digging into studio beach sand, an incredibly suggestive bit with girls dancing with giant phallic bananas--a play, I'm sure, on the horniness of long-distance wartime love--and culminating in the bananas growing out of Carmen's hat. You also get Benny Goodman and "Paducah," a song so inane that when I am in a really bad mood my wife will start singing it, and I will burst into giggles:

"Paducah, Paducah, if ya wanna you can rhyme it with bazooka/But you can't pooh-pooh Paducah: it's a little bit of paradise--/Paducah, Paducah, just a little bitty city in Kentucky/ But to me the word means lucky, when I'm lookin' into two blue eyes..." believe me, the lyrics get worse from here.

Alice Faye gets to sing her hymn to wartime celibacy, "No Love," and everybody gets to take a whack at what they do best. Some of the film's moments may be lost upon those who fail to see it not only as film but in its historical context. Unlike filmmakers today, nobody in 1943 made movies that approached the war from a pro-Axis point-of view. (John Wayne discovered that, by the 1970's, few were making films that weren't, when he tried to celebrate the Green Berets in Vietnam!)

Alice also gets to sing "The Polka Dot Polka," which leads into Busby's most incredible number, featuring hundreds--or at least tens--of gorgeous girls dancing with day-glo (and it hadn't even been invented yet!) discs or better yet, circles made of neon tubes. My first wife and I saw this film, aided by cigarettes filled with a controlled substance, on the campus of the University of Minnesota in the early 'seventies. The controlled substance was superfluous, but the movie's images were burned into my brain.

There is no route this film takes that doesn't call for a willing suspension of disbelief, and yet its total is one that makes a person feeling better walking out of the movie theatre than he did when he walked in. This is a movie conceived as a movie, using the right people playing themselves, and without pretense.

Like much of Paramount's output in the musical department, it's underrated--just as are the terrific "Road" pictures of Hope and Crosby, which never fail to tickle me. I have a copy I taped off of Turner Classic Movies. If Fox doesn't bring this out as a DVD, I guess I'll have to buy a DVD recorder so I can get a copy that doesn't degrade with each viewing the next time TCM shows it. I have a feeling that this great movie is just what Joel McCrea was talking about at the end of "Sullivan's Travels."

glorious performance from Carmen Miranda

[christopher-underwood · 7/10 · 7 March 2017]

The colour rendition is wonderful (at least on my Blu-ray copy) and the film looks incredible throughout. There is barely a pause and we go from one musical number to another (well, sometimes back to the same number) with for example coloured fountains spurting up to close one scene and move to another. I had hoped for more of the extravagant and surreal Busby Berkeley routines but the two we get are amazing and, as they say, worth the ticket price. There are more modest dances that work well and Benny Goodman is always on hand to keep things moving well. I don't share the enthusiasm of some for the antics of high kicker Charlotte Greenwood and partner in crime, Edward Horton and I was very underwhelmed with the leading duo of Alice Faye and James Ellison. Ellison would later appear in I Walked With a Zombie which was probably more appropriate and maybe Faye had sung better in her early years. Still worth it for the technicolour extravaganzas and a glorious performance from Carmen Miranda.

... but not Busby Berkeley's brain

[dimplet · 2/10 · 26 September 2013]

Plot? What plot? Busby Berkeley don't need no stinkin' plot! ("Stinkin'" being the operative word.)

But it would have helped if there had been some memorable music, as in the old days of 42nd Street, Gold Diggers, etc. The dancing wasn't even attractive, the visual effects numbers were sloppy, as was the camera work.

The final number was the best, as is always the case with BB movies. But this time he resorts to trick photography to get his famous effects. You finally get to hear Alice Faye's voice at its best. She sings earlier on the Staten Island Ferry with magical orchestral accompaniment, a recycled BB gimmick.

The surrealism of the older black and white BB movies was cute, within the context of an otherwise coherent storyline. But here there is no story, no decent script to diverge from -- the whole thing is one long divergence.

Frankly, I suspect he was burned out from doing too much drugs. Look at his stuff: it is obviously psychedelic, especially the final number here. Sure, this was the 30s and 40s, but we're talking Hollywood, just up the road from Mexico, mescaline and psilocybin. Yes, the old folks knew about that stuff. Look at some of those movies from the period, like W.C. Fields' stuff and Hellzapoppin'. They were playing mind games. And as we know all too well today, drugs only take you so far toward creativity in the arts; you need some real talent and work, too.

I think Busby Berkeley's brain was fried by this time. (Paducah - bazooka???) That might be why MGM dumped BB on RKO (that, plus the fact that he had already killed four people while intoxicated in a car accident and driven Judy Garland into a nervous breakdown).

Of course, if it is you who is high, this movie might actually be interesting, or at least the final number. But the final number would have worked better if it somehow expressed the girls love for the boy, in a swirly sort of way. Instead, it is about polkas and polka dots. And we never get to see boy say to girl: I love you.

I'm looking at this wondering what Oscar Hammerstein would have thought as he sat in the theater. There were probably a few things that got laughs that he might have noted, plus a lot of patrons squirming in their seats. But mostly Rodgers & Hammerstein tried to do the opposite of this musical, striving for integration of story and music. Here, the songs were written for a different, unmade film, so there is no true integration -- it is also the beginning of the end of an era of these ad hoc sort of musicals.

Hammerstein evidently noticed Charlotte Greenwood (though he would have known her from Broadway): he cast her as Aunt Eller in the movie version of Oklahoma!, already on Broadway by this time.

Look for what looks like a video blue screen effect near the end. As it was strictly film, this, I believe, was an early example of film blue screen, pioneered by RKO.

Wikipedia: "In filmmaking, a complex and time-consuming process known as "travelling matte" was used prior to the introduction of digital compositing. The blue screen method was developed in the 1930s at RKO Radio Pictures."

So, why did I watch this wretched movie? I was curious about the song "Brazil," used extensively in the eponymous movie. This song opens the movie, but as it is sung in Portugese, it has no discernible meaning to the film, a portent of things to come. The title also makes zero sense: What gang? All where?

Watching this seemingly endless stream of inanity, I whiled away the time contemplating which movie was worse: "The Gang's All Here," or "Too Many Girls." I think the prize goes to "The Gang." I cracked a smile and may actually have laughed once during "Too Many Girls." On the other hand, The Gang actually triggered my gag reflex several times, mainly scenes with Carmen Miranda. It's not every day you see a movie that makes you physically nauseous.

And, as I watched, I actually felt pity for the poor professional movie reviewers of the day, who had to sit through the whole thing. I don't know how much they got paid, but it wasn't enough. On the other hand, they got their revenge in print.

Spoiler alert:

Oh, the "plot": Boy meets girl. Boy says something about love, but lies about his name for some mysterious reason. Boy goes off to war. Girl thinks he is going to marry Girl #2. Boy comes back from war. Girl #2 says, "Nevermind, you take him." The end. Except it takes more than 100 long minutes to get to the end ... and pretty much the end of Busby Berkely.

The Gang's All Here may be the worst movie with real actors from a real studio I have ever seen, or ever want to see.

Dreamy Faye and the genius of Busby Berkeley in vintage lavish musical...

[Doylenf · 8/10 · 24 August 2006]

Some of ALICE FAYE's close-ups in THE GANG'S ALL HERE convince me that Technicolor was made to show off the charms of certain actresses--as Fox well knew with such beauties as Betty Grable and Linda Darnell under contract. Faye's blue eyes get all misty-eyed when she sings a ballad--and when she's supported by someone like CARMEN MIRANDA for colorful contrast, well--you can bet it's a musical worth seeing and hearing.

In this case--mostly worth seeing because of Busby Berkeley's magical treatment of all the musical numbers. Who can ever forget CARMEN MIRANDA and all those waving bananas??? Or the kaleidoscope effect of several top numbers in an imaginative use of color and camera effects, the kind that only Berkeley was a master of.

The flimsy plot is strictly by the numbers and practically non-existent in a boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl sort of way. JAMES ELLISON is a poor substitute for Fox's contract player John Payne, who must have been busy on another assignment when the cast was assembled. And PHIL BAKER is totally wasted.

But it's not too much of a distraction when the gaudy splashes of color, music and just downright fun provided by Faye, Miranda, Eugene Palette, Edward Everett Horton and Charlotte Greenwood come to the fore.

This is typical Fox escapism made for entertainment during World War II when the troops were all salivating over the Fox pin-up girls. Alice Faye is at her most attractive with her warm contralto voice showcased in a couple of hokey ballads and when she gazes heavenly toward some unseen spirit she practically melts the camera lens. She's luscious and so is the film.

And if you're a CARMEN MIRANDA fan, you can't afford to miss this one. Her "Tutti Frutti" number is a knockout and Benny Goodman and his band provide solid musical back-up. Just don't expect reality to butt in at any point during the silly plot.

Trivia note: That's ADELE JERGENS in the background of girls.

Polka dots and kaleidoscopes

[AAdaSC · 6/10 · 2 January 2016]

Soldier James Ellison (Andy) meets singer Alice Faye (Edie) and they fall in love on the eve that he goes off to war. He returns a hero and has a party thrown in his honour where he has 2 women waiting for him - his childhood sweetheart Sheila Ryan (Vivian) and Faye. Who does he end up with?

The story is irrelevant as the film is an excuse to churn out musical numbers and the songs are pretty good. Benny Goodman sings a couple of decent songs despite looking like he's a retard. We also get a treat in singer Carmen Miranda (Dorita) who is completely bonkers and steals every scene that she is in. Set against this, I found the leading man annoying and Alice Faye's songs are a bit dreary.

There are a couple of Busby Berkeley set pieces that stand out. The first is set on a tropical island where girls dance with 6 foot bananas while Carmen Miranda sings "The Girl in the Tutti-Frutti Hat". The other spectacle occurs at the end.....if you think psychedelia started in the 1960's.....well, you're wrong......

Overall, the musical numbers and crazy Carmen Miranda make this film worth keeping on to for another viewing.

Just the sort of musical I don't like...

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 30 August 2012]

"The Gang's All Here" is the sort of musical that I have never liked and probably never will like. That's because the film is almost all singing--and the plot is really not very important. The production numbers are amazing to watch and for the first time Busby Berkeley films in color--but without a story, who cares?! Perhaps you will--I just know I need story and characters more than anything else.

Alice Faye falls in love with some guy--while not realizing who he really is. In reality, the guy's family assumes he's going to marry his childhood sweetheart and it sure looks that way. In addition, there is some comic relief from Edward Everett Horton, Carmen Miranda (who inexplicably wants Edward) and Eugene Palette. I really wanted to see more of these comic actors, but again and again, any momentum they's created is derailed by HUGE Busby Berkeley production numbers. These are NOT naturalistic numbers but huge stage productions--in full color and with LOTS of expensive sets. It's really pretty--but nothing more. The plot is weak and I found myself quite challenged to pay attention to this one! If you watch this one (and I DON'T recommend it), look for the banana dance--it is weirdly entertaining. It features Carmen Miranda at her wildest and weirdest.

To me, this film is like a very, very beautiful wedding cake--one that is sweet and pretty but whose flavor really isn't very important.

Worth watching for the dance sequences

[kos2 · 11 May 1999]

There are films whose plots are much worse. At least this film has funny moments with Charlotte Greenwood and whenever Carmen Miranda is on the screen.

But this film is a showcase for the two sequences choreographed by Busby Berkeley. Much has been written about them, but watching them never ceases to stimulate and amaze my senses. Berkeley's sense of space is so elastic -- you feel as if he could pan and zoom through miles of space and fill it with people, trees, bananas, anything! I don't think any of his Warner Bros. films used the zoom camera with as much daring (supposedly Carmen Miranda almost got knocked off the painted donkey during rehearsals of "The Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat").

What is so special for me in these dance sequences is that the images and music are so well-constructed that you loose interest in following the plot and just revel and enjoy the images. People cease being human forms and become elements of color on a painted canvas, and then resume being human once again. It's all incredibly magical and more abstract than Berkeley had been or was able to achieve in the future. Stunning!

"Got any coffee on you?"

[richardchatten · 7/10 · 5 September 2022]

Of great historical interest for Busby Berkeley's first work in colour since 'Whoopee' in 1930, this time photographed by Technicolor veteran Edward Cronjager.

For much of it's time there's far too much talk, but Phil Baker has a quietly cynical persona and there's ample compensation in a scene with Freudian giant bananas that somehow got past the Hays Office, Carmen Miranda in a turban with pom poms that make her look like Minnie Mouse and a kaleidoscopic finale with chorus girls in green leotards and tights waving pink fluorescent hoops above their heads and a sea of singing faces that makes you wonder if someone spiked your popcorn with acid.

Berkely On Blu-ray

[kirbylee70-599-526179 · 7/10 · 14 September 2016]

If you're a fan of classic Hollywood films then now is one of the best times to be alive. Many of those classics are finding their way onto blu-ray via companies like Kino Lorber, The Film Detective, Olive Films and Twilight Time. And if you're a fan of movie musicals then this latest from Twilight Time should put a smile on your face. While not the most famous or the best thing from director Busby Berkeley there is plenty to enjoy here.

The story is incredibly simple and for today's audiences far-fetched and yet it works. Andy Mason (James Ellison) is the son of a hot shot business man Andrew Mason (Eugene Palette) who has enlisted in the military and about to ship out. One night he finds his father and his father's best friend/partner Peyton Potter (Edward Everett Horton) at a New York nightclub filled with music and dance hall girls. The star of the show is Dorita (Carmen Miranda) but it is another singer who catches Andy's eye, Edie Allen (Alice Faye).

Following her from the nightclub to a dime a dance club where she spends time with military men before they ship out he tries to pick her up. But that's not what she's there for, she's just interested in moral support. He eventually talks her into spending some time with him, gives her a false name of Casey and the two fall in love before he leaves.

Fast forward to Andy's return home after becoming a hero in the Pacific. As he gets ready to visit his father at home Andrew plans a huge party for him, complete with a show put on by Phil Baker, the man who ran the nightclub we saw at the beginning of the film now in search of a rehearsal location. The plan is to use Peyton's home which should hold everyone much to his consternation. Also in attendance will be Peyton's wife (Charlotte Greenwood), who has a hidden past performing with Baker and their daughter Vivian (Shelia Ryan), the girl both families plan to marry to Andy.

Who is the new star of this show? Why Edie of course who becomes fast friends with Vivian as they both talk about their guy in the way, one named Andy and one name Casey. What will happen when they eventually discover he is one in the same? The laughs are supplied by Miranda at her riotous best, Horton who plays the fussbudget of the bunch, Palette who is all bluster as usual and the situations the characters find themselves in. Greenwood nearly steals the show as the ex-showgirl turned society matron, more inclined to follow her past than present. Filled with a number of musical numbers, Benny Goodman and his band, solo performances and dancing galore the movie is a prime example of the classic musical comedy found just as the genre was coming into its heyday in the fifties.

Berkeley was known for his musicals and the style with which he shot them. His famous kaleidoscopic used of cameras and dancing girls is on display here in seemingly effortless fashion. Much has been said about the subtle use of giant bananas in one segment but to watch it you never really consider the Freudian implications of it all. Instead you marvel at the images on screen and just enjoy the combination of music, dance and cinematography that combine to offer a treat.

It's sad to note that this was Berkeley's only color film done with his famous style of choreography combined with camera work that made him a household name. But fortunately we do have this on hand to enjoy. I didn't find it to be one of his best works nor one of the greatest musicals I've watched but it was pure entertainment from start to finish. As is always the case Twilight Time offers a presentation that is second to none. As well as the movie itself we get an isolated score track, audio commentary with film historian Drew Casper, audio commentary with film historians Glenn Kenny, Ed Hulse and Farran Smith Nehme, a documentary on Busby Berkeley, Alice Faye's last film (a short she made), a deleted scene and the original theatrical trailer. Old time movie fans will want to add this one to their collection as will Busby Berkeley fans.

Superlative musical scenes

[ac4aq · 10/10 · 20 September 2005]

One of my ten all-time favorite films, primarily for the superb musical scenes, including the opening 'Brazil' and the closing 'Polka-Dot Polka' but the 'Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat' is just fantastic! The plot is simple, just enough to string together the musical scenes, a few laughs and some unintended poignancy. Of those young soldiers and sailors who gathered to listen to Benny and Carmen sing, which of these bright young lives were cast into the dustbin of war? For anyone who enjoys musicals, for anyone who appreciates psychedelia this film is the ne plus ultra.

jHh

"You're in the kind of an atmosphere/That would set a Latin heart a-flutter"

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 14 March 2024]

Filmed on three-strip Technicolor, "The Gang's All Here", directed by Busby Berkeley (on loan from MGM to Twentieth Century Fox), is a nonstop barrage of colorful activity. It's a movie that looks good enough to eat (and with all that fruit being passed around, that's not as far out as one might think!). James Ellison plays a lovestruck soldier who ventures into the "sinful" Club New Yorker and falls for the newest showgirl, played by Alice Faye. Also there, Ellison's jolly father (Eugene Pallette) and his assistant (Edward Everett Horton, as a whipped married man who needs wife Charlotte Greenwood's permission to have fun). Down the street at the Broadway Canteen, where Faye moonlights and Ellison catches up with her, "King of Swing" Benny Goodman and His Band play for teenagers and randy servicemen. Meanwhile, Carmen Miranda sings "The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat" and Faye sings "No Love, No Nothin'" and "The Polka Dot Polka" by composers Harry Warren and Leo Tobin. It's a lot of frenetic fun, despite dull lovebirds Ellison (a hole in the screen) and Faye (as always, an acquired taste). **1/2 from ****

That's Right, the Gang's all here!

[willrams · 9/10 · 12 November 2002]

Great enjoyable and entertaining vehicle for Alice Faye. The comedy of Carmen Miranda and Edward Everett Horton is so funny, and she is the delight of the banana girls, and Busby Berkely's direction. They worked their butts off and it shows, really fantastic dancing routines in the Berkely fashion. The music is by that King of Swing, Benny Goodman and his orchestra. And, fabulous dancing by the Nicholas Brothers.

Don't bother with the plot. Fast forward to the bananas and 'No Love, No Nothing'

[Terrell-4 · 7/10 · 13 August 2008]

The only problem with The Gangs All Here is the plot. It keeps getting in the way of the production numbers. Busby Berkeley manages to shoehorn four major numbers in the just the first 30 minutes, and he doesn't let up much after that. These numbers include everything Busby Berkeley could think of, from Benny Goodman swinging "Minnie's in the Money" to Alice Faye singing "No Love, No Nothing'" to some bizarre extravaganzas featuring lots of thighs, bananas and Carmen Miranda. You'll want to hit the fast forward button at regular intervals to get past the dull parts between them. The story is corny, the romantic misunderstanding is...yawn... and the acting is often weak (James Ellison as the male lead) or prissily unfunny (Edward Everett Horton). Still, the Technicolor is as garish as you could want and the songs by Harry Warren and Leo Robin work well. There's little time to think of anything except the numbers and what Berkeley does with them. Says a commentator in one of the DVD's extras, "He was a dance director who couldn't dance. In a Berkeley production it was the camera that danced." I'm not sure anyone could watch "The Lady with the Tutti Frutti Hat" and not be in awe of how Berkeley not only made use of all those chorines with the giant fruit, but how he kept the action going using his camera in intricately plotted movement. If you watch the Tutti Frutti number a second time, see how many of the chorus dancers you can spot with grim determination, not smiles, on their faces as they lug those giant bananas around and struggle to hit their marks while the camera swoops and turns.

The story? Alice Faye is a showgirl. James Ellison is a soldier, the son of a wealthy family soon off to the Pacific. They fall for each other, but he has a sort of girl friend. His parents and the girl's parents think they should get hitched. Will Alice and Jim work things out? They do after approximately 100 minutes. Among the relatives and friends are Carmen Miranda, Eugene Palette, Charlotte Greenwood and Horton,

There are a number of reasons to watch this movie, especially if you're interested in Busby Berkeley. It turned out to be his swan song as a major force in the movies. For me, the production numbers are a lot of fun, but the best reason is that classic song by Warren and Robin that Alice Faye introduced...

No love, no nothing' / Until my baby comes home.

No fun with no one, / As long as baby must roam.

I promised him I'd wait for him /Till even Hades froze.

I'm lonesome, heaven knows, / But what I said still goes.

This became one of America's great songs of longing during WWII. If you want to hear more of them, you can't do better than Jo Stafford and her CD, G.I. Jo - Songs of World War II.

yes surreal

[ronfernandezsf · 5/10 · 17 January 2021]

Yes, very surreal and inane but great fun. The musical numbers alone are worth the price of admission. Surreal in the fact that a small night club stage could produce dozens of dancers, a ship in water and wide, wide dance numbers that would fill a football field. Then the curtain closes on a the same small nightclub stage!!! Incredible. The end number is even more surreal and dream like. Can't begin to describe it, but it certainly couldn't be done in a garden!!!!! Alice Faye is as always, a delight to look at and listen to. Carmen Miranda, is well, Carmen Miranda and Charlotte Greenwood does her usual double jointed shtick that she does in every movie she's ever been in except Oklahoma. The men are annoying, especially the limp waisted Edward Everett Horton. Hard to believe he was married and had a daughter yet. Go figure. With Charlotte it must have been a marriage of convenience and the daughter probably adopted. Eugene Palette is also annoying and the less said about our here, James Elison, the better. So if you want silly, non sensical entertainment with lavish musical numbers. The Gangs All Here is for you. Otherwise, skip it!!!

Musical Talent on Display Makes It Worth Watching

[LeonardKniffel · 8/10 · 10 April 2020]

The hilarious Carmen Miranda is really the star of this movie, even though she is relegated, as she was for most of her Hollywood career, to a clown role, or as Edward Everett Horton calls her, a "South American savage." Her talent and wit rise above the script, as she sings "Brazil" and "Paducah." With America in the midst of World War II, this patriotic crumpet was directed by Busby Berkeley and features his trademark choreography during "The Lady with the Tuti Fruti Hat" and "The Polka Dot Polka." Watch for the swing dancing as Benny Goodman sings "Minnie's in the Money," which makes TV's "Dancing with the Stars" pale in comparison, and Joan Greenwood's dance number is hilarious. Watch for the dancing Nicholas Brothers and Alice Faye singing the marginally memorable "A Journey to a Star." ---from Musicals on the Silver Screen, American Library Association, 2013

"No girl with understanding would ever let . . . "

[oscaralbert · 6/10 · 6 March 2017]

" . . . another girl down," lies "Eadie Allen" during THE GANG'S ALL HERE. Before branching out into Fake News, Fox MegaCorps churned out Fake Musicals such as GANG. Obviously, all the "girls" with any "understanding" were long gone by the time Kellyanne Conwoman got her clutches into her role as Red Commie KGB Chief Vlad "The Mad Russian" Putin's Dancing Queen. As much as Kellyanne relishes her job as a "Lock her up!" cheerleader, her own High Treason sentence will leave her fully exposed and thoroughly riddled from a Traitor's Post, like Mata Hari, rather than living it up in a cozy Orange-Is-the-New-Black Country Club Cell. Fox saddles once-talented Drill Sergeant Busby Berkeley with six-foot bananas and neon hula hoops during GANG, as well as Carmen Miranda Pigeon English so Racist that they did not dare close caption any of it for their 2008 DVD release of this flick. These Fruity Elements drove Mr. Berkeley past the Edge of Reason, as Fox invented the sadistic sport of hammering nails with a Stradivarius.

Nightmare Inducing

[boblipton · 4/10 · 16 March 2002]

I have nightmares about this one. It's not enough that I walk about, my head pounding with a headache because I can't get Carmen Miranda singing "Paducah" out of my brain, but I keep seeing these bizarre Busby Berkley images in my mind, retreaded musical numbers from SUNNY SIDE UP. Avoid this one if you possibly can!