dougdoepke I hope they paid Powell triple. That rope dance she does is maybe the most demanding gauntlet of timing I've seen in years of viewing. I'm not surprised the rehearsal for it "knocked herself out cold", (IMDB). Then too, she's got the movie's comedic highpoint where Skelton has to bend her upside down and sideways while she's knocked out with sleeping pills. And catch that climactic top-like spin in front of the mock battleship that had me dizzy for a week. To me, the movie's really her showcase. On the other hand, Red's routines pick up slapstick momentum toward the end, but the first part has him do little more than wear a goofy grin. As a Skelton fan, I don't think it's the comedian's best showcase.On the whole, the 100-minutes amounts to a rather unwieldy package, with a few over-stretched routines and an awkward Nazi subplot. But then this is 1943 and everybody's got to do their part. Note, for example, how class differences—a pants presser vs. a Broadway star—are overcome, while Blacks are presented in a non- demeaning way. It's like we've all got to pull together to defeat the Axis. And catch that last sequence where Red battles the Nazi Hodiak. Judging from the screen environs, I'll bet it was filmed in MGM's prop room with the lifts, props and catwalks all doing their part.Overall-- as another reviewer points out—it's more a movie of parts than a whole. But some of those parts are fairly memorable. Most of all, however, hats off to the fearless Elinor Powell.

calvinnme This movie has lots to enjoy - great wartime entertainment by some of the big names in music at that time, good if recycled comedy, and great dancing by Eleanor Powell. However, its main problem is all of what I just mentioned. It can never seem to figure out if it is a romantic comedy, a musical, or a movie about wartime sabotage, but it does grow on you.The comedy is mainly recycled from Buster Keaton's last silent film, "Spite Marriage", and in fact Buster was a gag writer on this film and most of Red's other movies for MGM. Here Red Skelton plays Joe Reynolds, reprising Buster's part as a worker in a laundry enamored with stage actress Constance Shaw (Eleanor Powell). He manages to show up at the same places Shaw shows up at by borrowing his customers' formal attire. Just like in the original, the leading lady is jealous of her leading man because he is romancing someone else - a potential backer for a show. Shaw marries Joe without knowing or caring what he does for a living, and there is the repeat of the "putting the unconscious bride to bed" scene that there was in Spite Marriage. When the day after the wedding she learns he does not in fact own gold mines but is a "pants presser" the newlyweds separate, at least for awhile. The situation in which Joe plays the hero here has to do with a plan to blow up a munitions storehouse next door to the theater where Constance Shaw is working. "Spite Marriage" had seafaring bootlegging gangsters as villains, which, of course, would have made no sense in 1943.There are some great numbers by Powell if you are a fan of her dancing - I am. The disappointing part is that a couple of the numbers are lifted from other films. The finale is lifted from 1936's "Born To Dance" and there is another number that was shot for the film "Honolulu". Part of the reason for this is that the lasso number towards the beginning of the film was so difficult that Miss Powell knocked herself unconscious while performing it, and thus other numbers were substituted for the originals planned.Finally there are some great musical numbers by the Dorseys and "Jericho" performed by Lena Horne.

heathentart If you adore Red Skelton... If you adore Eleanor Powell... If you adore Swing music and ballads... If you enjoy just kicking back and letting the experience take hold...,This is a terrific movie to enjoy with a bowl of popcorn. It's especially good when it's on TCM because there are no nasty cuts or commercials.It's fluff, make no mistake. No Tarantino gore, no Stone conspiracies, no angst... just pure fun watching some of the best talent Hollywood ever had.Lena Horne, Hazel Scott, Jimmy Dorsey, Bob Eberly, Helen O'Connell for the music. Eleanor Powell's magnificent dancing, Red Skelton's brilliant slapstick and his heart-felt sweetness. Then there's the rest of the cast - Thurston Hall, Sam Levene, John Hodiak, and Richard Ainley as Larry West, for whom this would be his last picture.The plot has its nuttier moments, none of it meant to be taken seriously. It has plenty of eye-appeal in the costumes (magnificent gowns) created by Irene Sharaff, inarguably one of the greats in the history of design. There are jewels to glitter and shine and, if they were fakes, they were great fakes.The plot gives Red Skelton plenty of opportunity to do what he did best. Just check out the "beard" scene - you'll know what I mean.OK, so it ain't "Gone With The Wind," or "Of Human Bondage," but it's not supposed to be, even with the Civil War play going on.One of the funniest parts for me was the sound effects guy doing the "hoofbeats" with the coconut shells, even though YOU know that the sound was being made by a Foley guy in post production. But it's a sound made within a picture by someone outside a picture... ahhh, now I'm confusing myself, and probably you, poor reader.Leave your troubles behind. Tune out the kids, the phone, the interruptions, the beds can be made later. Have fun!

Robert J. Maxwell Relaxed and enjoyable musical comedy. (There are some nefarious Nazis here with evil plans but forget them.) It's not Red Skelton's funniest comedy but he's still pretty amusing as his usual tall hick, with his goofy smile, falling over chairs, a pants-presser who impersonates someone else and gets rattled when threatened with exposure.The musical numbers are pretty well done and efficiently integrated into the plot -- direction by Vincent Minnelli. Eleanor Powell is the major musical star and her tap dancing is so vigorous, and her body so limber and supple, and the tempo so fast, that just watching her spins for thirty seconds gave me chest pains.We are given an extended version of the song "Star Eyes". It was a big hit during the war years. The lyrics are loony, but the song is pretty and amenable to all kinds of variations, as the film demonstrates. It's still part of the Great American Songbook. You can catch it on the occasional recent CD if you keep your ears open. Nick Brignola did it on baritone sax some years ago. The version in the film is of the period, with Helen O'Connell and Ray Eberle, with Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra.Some of the jokes may get by younger viewers -- that is, younger than about 60. Red Skeleton is listening to a recording by Jimmy Dorsey at a shop window. He turns to the man standing next to him and makes some complimentary remark about Jimmy Dorsey. The man makes a snotty comment and walks away. The man is Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy's brother, and the two were notorious rivals at the time.Someone pointed out in another comment that this was an updating of a Buster Keaton movie and I can believe it because Keaton's influence seems apparent in some scenes. (Skeleton trying to lift the limp body of the unconscious Eleanor Powell and stretch it out on the bed.) Keaton was gag adviser on another Red Skeleton comedy, "A Southern Yankee", and turned some of the scenes (eg., a dentist's chair) into comic gems."Star Eyes" was nothing more than ordinary pop music at the time. Whatever happened to vernacular music? Now I have to listen to some gangsta who can't sing threaten to wrench my head off and pour beer down my neck cavity. (Sob.) Where did it all go?