SHOW BUSINESS (RKO - 1944)
SHOW BUSINESS is a grand little vaudeville musical, akin to so many original film musicals of the 1940s, but this one seems special in some way. It was the first of two pairings of Eddie Cantor and Joan Davis - a match made in heaven - and the songs are so earnestly and robustly performed, as to give the appearance of having their first airings here, in spite of them all being standards.
The quartet of players are all at their peak. Cantor and Davis perform their personal shticks with aplomb, while Murphy always delights as the perfect combo of actor and song and dance man (ala Cagney.) The only one to come off weaker than the rest is Constance Moore, who is pretty and who can act, sing and dance, but who lacks star quality. Nancy Kelly makes a beautiful temptress and home breaker and acts the role well.
All the lead players' characters sport the same first names as those who play them. Saves having to retake a scene when someone flubs a line addressing the other characters. Oddly, Constance Moore's character is named Constance Ford, a film actress in her own right, who at the time of release was only 20 and a stranger to Hollywood.
The plot is a simple tale of two duos who become a quartet to storm vaudeville and Broadway. Cantor's character (Eddie Martin) ends the show with Makin Whoopee, from his Ziegfeld stage and film success, Whoopee!, although the studio here (RKO) and that of the original film version of Whoopee! (Goldwyn) had to make a deal to allow the use of the song.
The show is nearly stopped early on when the two boys meet the two girls in a bar and Murphy leads Moore into a song and tap dance number to It Had To Be You, which becomes the couple's love theme. It is an inspired piece of choreography, style, grace and charm. The other numbers are all energetic and top-notch. The film's pacing is quite brisk and the 90 minute playing time just whizzes along. There is a dramatic hitch to the film, involving unfounded jealousy and divorce, but I won't go into details here. All comes right in the end.
Musical Numbers: 1. They're Wearing Them Higher in Hawaii (Murphy); 2. The Curse of An Aching Heart (Cantor); 3. It Had To Be You (Murphy, Moore); 4. Strolling In The Park One Day (instrumental); 5. I Want A Girl (Quartet); 6. Lucia Sextette (Quartet); 7. Alabamy Bound (Cantor); 8. Dinah (Quartet); 9. You May Not Remember (Kelly); 10. I'm In Love With A Beautiful Nurse aka I Don't Want To Get Well (Cantor, Murphy); 11. You May Not Remember (Kelly); 12. Why Am I Blue? (Moore); 13. Waiting In Vain (Murphy); 14. It Had To Be You (reprise) (Murphy, Moore); 15. Makin Whoopee! (Cantor); 16: It Had To Be You (reprise) (Murphy).
A highly recommended film for lovers of musicals. It is to be noted that Cantor and Davis would appear again in Cantor's last film, If You Knew Susie, which is an unofficial continuation of Show Business. Whereas in the latter the couple spar, romance and marry, in Susie, they are already a couple retiring from the stage and deciding to run an inn (shades of Holiday Inn/White Christmas). Susie would be Cantor's last film and Davis would have only four more before both turned to the television medium for their further performances.
SHOW BUSINESS is a grand little vaudeville musical, akin to so many original film musicals of the 1940s, but this one seems special in some way. It was the first of two pairings of Eddie Cantor and Joan Davis - a match made in heaven - and the songs are so earnestly and robustly performed, as to give the appearance of having their first airings here, in spite of them all being standards.
The quartet of players are all at their peak. Cantor and Davis perform their personal shticks with aplomb, while Murphy always delights as the perfect combo of actor and song and dance man (ala Cagney.) The only one to come off weaker than the rest is Constance Moore, who is pretty and who can act, sing and dance, but who lacks star quality. Nancy Kelly makes a beautiful temptress and home breaker and acts the role well.
All the lead players' characters sport the same first names as those who play them. Saves having to retake a scene when someone flubs a line addressing the other characters. Oddly, Constance Moore's character is named Constance Ford, a film actress in her own right, who at the time of release was only 20 and a stranger to Hollywood.
The plot is a simple tale of two duos who become a quartet to storm vaudeville and Broadway. Cantor's character (Eddie Martin) ends the show with Makin Whoopee, from his Ziegfeld stage and film success, Whoopee!, although the studio here (RKO) and that of the original film version of Whoopee! (Goldwyn) had to make a deal to allow the use of the song.
The show is nearly stopped early on when the two boys meet the two girls in a bar and Murphy leads Moore into a song and tap dance number to It Had To Be You, which becomes the couple's love theme. It is an inspired piece of choreography, style, grace and charm. The other numbers are all energetic and top-notch. The film's pacing is quite brisk and the 90 minute playing time just whizzes along. There is a dramatic hitch to the film, involving unfounded jealousy and divorce, but I won't go into details here. All comes right in the end.
Musical Numbers: 1. They're Wearing Them Higher in Hawaii (Murphy); 2. The Curse of An Aching Heart (Cantor); 3. It Had To Be You (Murphy, Moore); 4. Strolling In The Park One Day (instrumental); 5. I Want A Girl (Quartet); 6. Lucia Sextette (Quartet); 7. Alabamy Bound (Cantor); 8. Dinah (Quartet); 9. You May Not Remember (Kelly); 10. I'm In Love With A Beautiful Nurse aka I Don't Want To Get Well (Cantor, Murphy); 11. You May Not Remember (Kelly); 12. Why Am I Blue? (Moore); 13. Waiting In Vain (Murphy); 14. It Had To Be You (reprise) (Murphy, Moore); 15. Makin Whoopee! (Cantor); 16: It Had To Be You (reprise) (Murphy).
A highly recommended film for lovers of musicals. It is to be noted that Cantor and Davis would appear again in Cantor's last film, If You Knew Susie, which is an unofficial continuation of Show Business. Whereas in the latter the couple spar, romance and marry, in Susie, they are already a couple retiring from the stage and deciding to run an inn (shades of Holiday Inn/White Christmas). Susie would be Cantor's last film and Davis would have only four more before both turned to the television medium for their further performances.