The Gang's All Here

There were quite a slew of these ensemble efforts made in 1943, but this one stands out a little more for having an actual plot. “Andy” (James Ellison) is about to be deployed to Australia when he meets up with “Edie” (Alice Faye) and telling her his name is “Casey” spends a whirlwind of an evening with her, out on the town. When it comes to the parting, he pleads with her to regularly write to him and they are soon falling in love. Meantime, his wealthy father (Eugene Pallette) comes up with a wheeze to stage a show to try and raise $1 million for war bonds. Guess who is going to perform at the show? “Edie” is all excited that “Casey” is returning home, and “Vivian” (Shiela Ryan) is equally excited that childhood sweetheart “Andy” is coming home. The two women don’t yet know each other, nor that they share something in common! Now the course of true love never runs smoothly in Hollywood, so we can expect some bumps in the road - but it is a fairly predictable road as we follow their romantic shenanigans. The story really only serves to remind everyone of the difficulties of maintaining a loving relationship in the middle of war. The remainder of this film is a professionally put together showcase of colourful song and dance routines that aren’t especially memorable in themselves, but do give Carmen Miranda a chance to show she can sing, dance, and mix her thickly-accented metaphors with the best of us. The denouement is quite an artistically creative piece of cinema and though it is unlikely you would ever watch it twice, it has a more natural feel-good sentiment to it and the avuncular Pallette is always good for chivvying things along.