TheLittleSongbird As someone who really likes musicals, a genre with a lot of great ones, a lot of good ones but also some mediocre ones and some bad ones. It is easy to see why people don't like musicals, but to me they are a much better genre than given credit for.'Hollywood Canteen' is one of the good and enjoyable musicals, it has some big caveats and could have been much better, also a little disappointing considering the calibre of talent involved. However there are a huge number of strengths here, and it is easy to get much enjoyment from it.One of 'Hollywood Canteen's' biggest problems is the story, which is very thin on the ground and lacks energy in places when not a musical number. The dialogue is far too corny and sappy, and often cringe-worthy. There are also two problems that don't make the grade. Robert Hutton is very wooden and quite a big blank in his role. Worse is Dane Clark, who is a non-entity as an actor and generates little charm or likability.Conversely, 'Hollywood Canteen' looks great, being very nicely filmed and with beautiful black and white. The songs are simply terrific, with the enormous entertaining "Don't Fence Me In", the heartfelt "Sweet Dreams Sweetheart" beautifully performed by Kitty Carlisle and the energetic "The General Jumped at Dawn".The dancing and choreography has real verve and energy, that more than makes for the story and scripting flaws. The ending is very heartfelt. The film is mostly solidly directed, and with the exception of Hutton and Clark there is little to dislike about the cast. Joan Leslie and Kitty Carlisle are particularly strong, and there is great value generated by the Andrews Sisters and The Golden Gate Quartette. The cameos are a lot of fun too, with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford looking wonderful.In summary, enjoyable stuff that could have been better. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Michael_Elliott Hollywood Canteen (1944) *** (out of 4) The Hollywood Canteen club was started by Bette Davis and John Garfield as a way for Hollywood to show support to U.S. Troops who were heading overseas. The club offered the service people a chance to meet, dance and be waited on by various celebrities from Hollywood. This movie here gathers up some of the biggest people in the business and we're given a side story of a soldier (Robert Hutton) getting a three day pass and spending it at the club where he meets and falls in love with Joan Leslie. If you're looking for a film with a story then you're not going to find it here. Many people have attacked this film for being stupid and I understand that but at the same time this thing offers up a chance to see the actual club and we also get some of the biggest stars every put together for a film. A lot of the cameos are rather silly and of course everyone is introduced by name but it's still quite fun seeing so many people in one film. Not only do we get Davis, Garfield and Leslie but there's dozens of other stars including the likes of Crawford, Stanwyck, Lorre, Greenstreet, Rogers (and Trigger), Benny, Parker, Alexis Smith, Ida Lupino, Henried, Brown and countless others. Seeing these stars in one picture is reason enough to check it out and there are also some musical numbers to keep you entertained. I think the film works best during the first hour when we're inside the club and the various stars are just making cameos. Once the love story kicks in things gets extremely silly and obviously staged but both Hutton and especially Leslie are charming enough to keep you slightly entertained. At 124-minutes the film does run out of gas before it's over with but film buffs should still enjoy it.

Gary Lewin Hollywood Canteen is a real gem of a movie. But despite all the music and delightful cameos, it's really the love story between the movie star and the soldier that keeps this movie together. Others have said it's preposterous that a famous movie star would be likely to become so involved with a simple Joe average soldier on a few days leave during the war. But I don't agree. At the time Joan Leslie's character is very young and beautiful. But also appears to be no Dumbo. Plus she's human like everybody else and see's in the young good natured if star struck soldier, a young man who is sensible, kind, generous and caring. In short,somebody she could actually fall in love with.The chemistry between Joan Leslie and Robert Hutton in this movie as the lovers is there for all to see. So why could it not have happened in real life? There is also the tale of Hutton's friend, the Sergeant played by Dane Clark. He's a bit of a rough diamond but well-meaning and definitely funny. And he too finds love with the beautiful Janis Paige playing the ambitious studio guide who is quite delightful in the way she handles the ebullient Sergeant.All in all this is a wonderful movie that I would recommend to anybody interested in seeing how it used to be done.

bkoganbing I've got a weak spot when it comes to these all star extravaganzas which can never be again. With the old Hollywood studio system gone there's no place where all this talent can gather under one roof for the same picture. Put a film like this today it would have the budget of a second world country. The plots of these things are invariably silly, in this one it's GI Robert Hutton becoming the one millionth serviceman to enter the Hollywood Canteen and he gets an all expense weekend there with the girl of his dreams, Warner Brothers star Joan Leslie. That was part of the mythology of the day, if the film were done at Columbia Rita Hayworth might have been the object of Hutton's desires. That one I can believe a little more.The Hollywood Canteen in real life was the inspiration and personal project of Bette Davis and John Garfield and they preside over the film and it's many guest stars, mostly from the Warner Brothers lot.One exception to the rule was Roy Rogers who came over from Republic Pictures and brought the Sons of the Pioneers with him. I wonder what Herbert J. Yates got out of Jack Warner for Rogers's services? Anyway Roy gets to introduce the Cole Porter classic Don't Fence Me In in this film.Later on the Andrews Sisters sing it and they had a big hit record with Don't Fence Me In with Decca though they sang it with a well known crooner from that other studio Paramount for Decca Records.Joan Crawford made her first appearance at Warner Brothers in this film after leaving MGM. She dances with GI Dane Clark who after seeing combat in the Pacific faints at the realization he's dancing with JOAN CRAWFORD. Those were the days.Still I love these films so.