While at first though, a musical version of "Room Service" seems unnecessary, once the songs are added, it all comes together. Not all the songs are good, and a few of the production numbers (particularly one with an Arabian setting) have a sense of awkwardness even with special effects impossible on a Broadway stage. What is surprising here is the pacing of the film, a bit faster moving than its original 1938 film version with the Marx Brothers and more appropriately cast.
George Murphy is a broke Broadway producer who has been keeping his cast of 22 and production team in his brother-in-law Walter Slezak's hotel, that is until the hotel's auditor (Adolph Menjou) arrives to examine the books. A potential investor send his representative (Eugene Palette) and gal-pal (Anne Jeffreys) to check out the potential success, and a playwright (Frank Sinatra) also shows up, believing that Murphy is producing his play. To keep these squatters from being evicted, Murphy gets Sinatra plastered, since hotels apparently are not allowed to throw out a sick guest whether they've paid their bill or not. But hangovers don't last forever, investors can change their mind, and playwrights, no matter how good they sing, don't always want to perform in a show that they know they didn't write.
There's a lot to admire in this lavishly filmed musical, but their best songs are actually the ballads, not the big numbers. "As Long as There's Music" and "Some Other Time" will stick in your ear more than "Ask the Madame", "Why Must There Be an Opening Song?" and the annoying Arab production number which leads into a reprise of "Where Does Love Begin?". Grant Mitchell is very funny in a cameo as the hotel doctor whom Murphy locks out on a balcony in order to prevent him from reporting that Sinatra isn't sick. The lovely Gloria De Haven's beautiful soprano and Sinatra's smooth big band trained voice mix well together, but sadly Anne Jeffreys isn't given much good material and her character seems unnecessary other than to give the two leads a love interest for the finale fade-out.
George Murphy is a broke Broadway producer who has been keeping his cast of 22 and production team in his brother-in-law Walter Slezak's hotel, that is until the hotel's auditor (Adolph Menjou) arrives to examine the books. A potential investor send his representative (Eugene Palette) and gal-pal (Anne Jeffreys) to check out the potential success, and a playwright (Frank Sinatra) also shows up, believing that Murphy is producing his play. To keep these squatters from being evicted, Murphy gets Sinatra plastered, since hotels apparently are not allowed to throw out a sick guest whether they've paid their bill or not. But hangovers don't last forever, investors can change their mind, and playwrights, no matter how good they sing, don't always want to perform in a show that they know they didn't write.
There's a lot to admire in this lavishly filmed musical, but their best songs are actually the ballads, not the big numbers. "As Long as There's Music" and "Some Other Time" will stick in your ear more than "Ask the Madame", "Why Must There Be an Opening Song?" and the annoying Arab production number which leads into a reprise of "Where Does Love Begin?". Grant Mitchell is very funny in a cameo as the hotel doctor whom Murphy locks out on a balcony in order to prevent him from reporting that Sinatra isn't sick. The lovely Gloria De Haven's beautiful soprano and Sinatra's smooth big band trained voice mix well together, but sadly Anne Jeffreys isn't given much good material and her character seems unnecessary other than to give the two leads a love interest for the finale fade-out.