Customer Reviews

There's No Business Like Show Business (Widescreen)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I don't have time to give a review that it at least 20 words long. What's wrong with just giving a star rating?

Ok Ok. I have been a lifelong Marilyn Monroe fan since childhood, I love her. But when you are a Marilyn fan you have to put up with hit and miss movies. No Business is one of them. When Marilyn is on the screen singing and dancing, the movie is all hers. Who doesn't love the Heat Wave number? The rest of the movie is a drag and unless you are a huge Ethyl Merman fan (?) this film doesn't have much to offer.

This is a musical with a very light plot; the story of the Donahue Family in show business. The two sons grow up to be a couple of dorks. The one who wants to be a priest is just scary. He acts like a Peter O'Tool derelict with a murderous smile. The other one is driven over the edge by Marilyn's lack of interest and joins the Navy.

Like I said, if you are a Marilyn fan, there are scenes in this film that you must have. If youare not a Marilyn fan, well you got Ethyl and Berlin music.

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.

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.

Opening text: "Back in 1919, Vaudeville was a very big part of Show Business. Our story is about the Donahues, a very little part of Vaudeville."

Yes, the trials and triumphs of the Donahues are examined from 1919 to World War II. They go from being the Two Donahues to The Five Donahues, with variances inbetween. There are the parents, Molly and Terrance, and their three offspring, Steven, Katy, and Tim, whose adult careers are also covered.

However, the real drama involves the two sons. Steven decides to become a priest, which upsets the father. However, his mother and Katy are supportive. It's all a matter of perspective. For Steve, it's a change in venue, only the church has had a pretty long run. Tim becomes romantically involved with aspiring blonde singer Vicky Parker, played by (guess who?) and runs into all sorts of ups and downs. However, he gets jealous when he suspects he's having an affair with the producer, Lew Harris.

The musical numbers vary from extravagant and splashy to simplistic, and it's the latter that play better, such as the "Lazy" number featuring Monroe, Gaynor, and O'Connor. However, the "Heat Wave" number, with Latin rhythms fused with the usual big band stuff and MM's hot costume, is a highlight. And the lengthy "Alexander's Ragtime Band" may offend those of German, French, and Scottish ancestry who don't like this glossy cariacaturing of their ethnicity, i.e. costumes and bogus accents. Still, the bright colours are praiseworthy.

The interractions between Ethel Merman and Dan Dailey work the best, as the parents who want the best for their children and struggle. At one point, they buy a house in Jersey, but what a time for a mortgage, especially during the Depression. Most people gave up the theatre, with the theatres in turn giving up the Donahues.

As for MM, she sings three solo numbers, "After You Get What You Want You Don't Want It", the languid "Lazy", and the scorching "Heat Wave", which has her in a suggestive costume, black and white on the outside, red on the inside, with a full open skirt revealing her underthings. She felt denigrated by the number, upset, saying, "I did what they said and all it got me was a lot of abuse...Big breasts, big a--, big deal. Can't I be anything else? The dance people kept making me flash the skirt wide open and jump around like I had a fever...it was ridiculous."

This would be the last time MM would play a supporting role in a picture. The reason was 20th Century Fox, which agreed to give her the starring role in The Seven Year Itch if she did this movie. For this reason, the natural stars of the show are Ethel Merman and Donald O'Connor, two years after he made it big in Singin' In The Rain. Merman plays her usual brassy self--after all, as Dan Dailey tells her, she isn't exactly Whispering Jack Smith.

However, Mitzi Gaynor (Katy) is the real one to watch. Four years away from her biggest hit, South Pacific, she's more congenial and lovable than Monroe in this picture, and her graceful and slender figure is an asset. Her bright face is very expressive in the "A Sailor Isn't A Sailor Until He Gets A Tattoo" number. Johnnie Ray (Steven), who had a hit with "Cry" three years earlier, has a good personality in this film, but his voice does not compare with the others.

All splash and no substance is kind of accurate in depicting this film, although there are a few saving graces. Come on, Irving Berlin deserved a better tribute than this, surely.

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.

They don't make 'em like this any more ! Of course, some will say "Thank Goodness" ! Still , it's a pleasant enough musical yarn and worth a look if only for the production numbers which are some of the best ever filmed .. not so much "Spectacular" or expansive as in your Busby Berkley /Ester Williams variety but just very "Classy" with a "Rich" and sumptusous look about them. Johnnie Ray's performance of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" is an absolute knock out. I've never been a huge fan of Marilyn's but you can't take anything away from her in regard to her contribution to this movie. She did her "Bit" with alot of panache and turned in one of her best performances. I really , honestly believe that this is a much under rated picture. "Sunset Boulevard" it AIN'T but it's one hell of a good show . It remains a wonderful piece of 1950s Hollywood smaltz and I love it !

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 Langï¿ 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 hadnï¿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

One of the great musicals of the 50`s. All star cast and great numbers. Ethel Merman at her finest singing the title song. Worth buying the DVD just for that. Marilyns Heatwave number makes the mercury jump to 93. Dan Dailey always one of my favorites overshadowed by Astaire and Kelly. Donald O Connors finest hour was of course Make Em Laugh from Singing In The Rain but this is close second.The lovely Mitzi Gaynor and of course a man sadly forgotten by some nowadays. The Prince of Wails himself. Johnny Ray proving that he was better that most pop singers who turn to acting.I remember seeing this at a young age in our local theatre and thinking it was great all these years later i still feel the same...The question now is when will Call Me Madam appear on DVD also starring Ethel and Donald. A treat indeed for anyone who enjoy`s a good musical.

This movie has something for everyone. Watched it for the first time today, then read reviews here on Amazon and elsewhere on internet. Marilyn fans think she is the best thing in the film. Ethel Merman fans rave about her performance. Hollywood musical fans rave about the extravagant production numbers. Johnny Ray fans rave about his only film appearance. Technical reviews(of DVD version) rave about the sharpness of the image, color rendition, sound reproduction and restoration process. Of course, Pseudo-Intellectual-Sophisticates like Tom Reynolds panned this film ... but pay no attention to the naysayers. This is a really fun film to watch, a gem, a blast from the past, non-stop singing and dancing from the Golden Era.