Ameriatch One of the best films i have seen

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Allissa .Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

JohnHowardReid As an ardent fan of Alice Faye, I can give this well-dressed Fox musical only 7/10. For Louise Hovick's fans of course, it's a most definite 10/10. Gypsy Rose Lee/Louise Hovick has all the best lines, the best songs, the best costumes, the best camera angles and she handles the most important character in the plot with such a handsome dose of sexy charisma, we don't really believe that she's as selfish as the scenario paints her. And so far is footage is concerned, Alice is also undercut by the noisy and way-too-ebullient Ritz Brothers who soon out-stay their cautious welcome but keep on carrying on with their extremely tiresome and totally unfunny business anyway. Why director Norman Taurog let them get away with it was that – as he told me – they seemed extremely funny on the set: "In fact, we were all laughing so much, it was difficult to get a clean take. And, would you believe, the brothers didn't mind. In real life, they were always clowning around, trying out new routines, just as they do in the movie." Although this was the first of no less than six films in which Faye was paired with Don Ameche, he seems to lack his usual charisma here. True, he's poorly photographed and made up and the script doesn't treat him well, but if I was the Faye character, I wouldn't tolerate him for one second, let alone be saddled for six pictures with the guy!

weezeralfalfa Alice Faye and Don Ameche were both rather young Fox contract players, both with acting and singing talent. So, it made sense to put them together as the stars of a musical comedy. This was the first of 6 films they made together over the next 5 years, 5 of them musical comedies, although Tyrone Power would usurp Ameche as Alice's main romantic interest in two of them. In terms of music and star power, no doubt the most famous of this series was the Irving Berlin-scored "Alexander's Ragtime Band". As with the often quoted summation of the appeal of the Astaire & Ginger musical team, Ameche gave the Hell's kitchen-bred Alice class, and Alice gave Ameche additional sex appeal. Of course, it was actually more complex than that. Alice was then the more famous to movie goers, having costarred in two Shirley Temple films the previous year, where she got to sing solo or with Shirley. The team of Harry Revel and Mack Gordon composed most of the songs for those films, as well as the present one. While not as memorable as many of Berlin's songs, they are certainly generally adequate in the context of the screenplay. Beginning in 1940, when Harry Warren moved from Warner to Fox, Mack would write the lyrics to some more enduring songs, including Alice's best remembered song: " You'll Never Know", and a number of Glen Miller's hits.Here, we have additional musical and comedic talent in the supporting players. The Ritz Brothers were signed by Fox for the last years of the '30s, and usually were first or second -billed. They permeate this whole film. most viewers today, including me, don't find them terribly amusing. However, as some others have noted, they are at their most tolerable in this film. Who else could carry a musical comedy production about long underwear? They aren't the only featured male trio. The African American gymnastic dance team of Tip, Tap, and Toe are featured in one number. They were one of several AA groups of 2, 3 or 4 gymnastic dancers featured in the occasional musical, long before Michael Jackson. The Nicholas Brothers, no doubt, were featured in the most films. The Four Step Brothers were also impressive in their performances in Universal's "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (see on You Tube).Gypsy Rose Lee, in one of her few film appearances, is another major character, cast as 'the other woman', trying to hold onto Ameche in the face of his obvious infatuation with Alice's character. Blond Phyllis Brooks takes on the thankless role of Alice's unpleasantly snooty established stage rival. Phyllis comes across as much more appealing in the contemporary Shirley Temple-starring "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm", where she was allowed to show that she could sing as well as Alice, and be appealingly sexy, even if she was again 'the other woman'.Veteran vaudeville and film character actor Charles Winninger is given a subdued straight role as the Broadway producer of musicals, and associate of Ameche, not allowing him to exhibit his comedic talent seen in some other films of the '30s and '40s(example: "Pot of Gold"). Noted violin player David Rubinoff is given several opportunities to show his talent. Tony Martin, Alice's new husband, shows off his considerable singing talent in several numbers, albeit without commensurate acting talent. Band leader and singer Louis Prima also gets several chances to strut his stuff. Stiff Arthur Treacher does his usual British butler role. He is probably best remembered for his contributing roles in several Shirley Temple films. The film begins with Alice entering a NYC Italian restaurant, ordering several plates of spaghetti, then announcing that she has no money, and strangely requesting that the waiter call a policeman to arrest her. Why?? The nearby tipsy Ameche offers to pay her bill. She refuses, but it's discovered she has singing talent, in rendering the (so-so) title song. Ameche inquires why she can't get a job as a singer.She replies her ambition is to be a playwright of serious dramas, being a descendant of Edgar Allen Poe. Ameche arranges with Winninger to pay for the rights to Alice's poor play "North Winds", to help further his hoped-for romantic relationship with her, never mind that he already has a serious girlfriend and maybe wife in Gypsy. Gradually, he warms her up to the idea that she could make an excellent lead play actress and singer. However, she backslides periodically, especially when she discovers who he really is, and that her serious drama has been totally redone as a musical comedy. However, as expected, all are smiles at the end, after Winninger points out that, with this success, her future serious plays are more likely to be accepted.The musical productions and fashion walk portions of the film would certainly have benefited by being filmed in 3 strip Technicolor, just recently commercialized. The women are sometimes decked out with outrageously huge ornate headpieces.After the Ritz Brothers' "Long Underwear" production, Tony Martin later warbles the romantic "The Loveliness of You", with accompanying fashion walk. Alice later follows with the jazzy "Danger, Love at Work". Ameche, and later Martin, follow with the romantic "Afraid to Dream", then Alice, with the swing-styled "Please Pardon Us, We're in Love". Martin dominates the romantic singing, and the Ritz brothers the comedy in the final big production: no great shakes. Presently available on a minimalist DVD.

blanche-2 Alice Faye, Don Ameche, The Ritz Brothers, Louise Hovick (Gypsy Rose Lee), Charles Winninger and Tony Martin star in "You Can't Have Everything," a 1937 musical from 20th Century Fox. MGM musicals were glamorous; Fox musicals were down to earth, glitzy, and just plain fun. This is one of them. Faye is a playwright, Judith Poe Wells, a distant relative of Edgar Allan Poe's, who takes herself very seriously. She meets a man (Ameche) at a restaurant while eating food she can't pay for and doesn't realize he is a major Broadway producer, George Macrae. He options her play, North Winds. In the meantime, his musical's ingénue (Phyllis Brooks) walks out of the show, and Judith is talked into replacing her by Sam Gordon (Winninger), George's business partner. Though there's another woman (Hovick), Judith falls in love with George and he with her. Complications ensue.Faye sings the title song and "Pardon Us, We're in Love" and she's wonderful - pretty, vivacious, and she sounds great. Ameche sings in a heady tenor, but the real male pipes in the film belong to Tony Martin, the star of the Broadway show, who sounds glorious. I admit to finding the Ritz Brothers annoying, especially because their numbers seem to go on and on. However, they do have funny moments here.Enjoyable film and a good example of a prime Fox musical.

Frank Cullen Director Norman Taurog has a witty script and the top musical performers on the Fox lot to direct, and he delivers. The plot is all too familiar and implausible, but the dialogue sparks it. Leads Alice Faye and Don Ameche are at their most charming and natural, and Faye has a couple of solid hit songs. Too bad Ameche wasn't as lucky. The Ritz Brothers have integrated roles in the plot, ample screen time and deliver several excellent numbers. Tip, Tap & Toe wow with a fine eccentric tap number just before the production number (a clinker) at the end of the film. Character comedian Charles Winninger is somewhat wasted in a largely straight role, but Gypsy Rose Lee (billed under her real name, Louise Hovick, gets a break as a playing the snarky "other woman." Tony Martin has fine pipes but comes off a bit smarmy and mannered in his numbers, and Rubinoff on screen is proof why he was better on radio. Phyllis Brooks and Wally Vernon also deliver snappy bits. Definitely one of the better of 20th Century Zanuck's musicals, although he can't resist his cheesily costumed chorus cuties whose talents are best on display without moving or talking. One chorine with a platter on her head traipsed pigeon-toed down a staircase in a Tony Martin number--at first I thought she was Harry Ritz. I'll watch this film again just to see the Ritz Brothers and Tip, Tap & Toe.