The Gang's All Here

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Movie
Original title The Gang's All Here
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1943
length 103 minutes
Rod
Director Busby Berkeley
script Walter Bullock
production William LeBaron for 20th Century Fox
music Hugo Friedhofer ,
Arthur Lange ,
Cyril J. Mockridge ,
Alfred Newman ,
Gene Rose
camera Edward Cronjager
cut Ray Curtiss
occupation

The Gang's All Here (cross-reference The Girls He left Behind ) is an American comedic-romantic musical film directed by Busby Berkeley in 1943. The leading roles are starring Alice Faye , Carmen Miranda and Phil Baker and Benny Goodman . Walter Bullock's script is based on a story by Nancy Wintner, George Root Jr. and Tom Bridges.

The film was 20th Century Fox's most expensive production at the time . It was then one of the ten films that achieved the highest grossing of the year and was also nominated for an Oscar in the category “Best Production Design” .

action

Andrew "AJ" Mason Sr., a wealthy businessman, gets his wealthy friend and neighbor Peyton Potter to join him for a party at the New Yorker club. Potter worries, believing that his wife, Blossom, would not approve of such a visit. Sergeant Andrew “Andy” Mason Jr., AJ's son, is there that evening, who has to fight in his capacity as a soldier in the South Pacific the next day . Andy is as good as engaged to Potter's daughter Vivian, whom he has known from an early age. While Potter dances with the Brazilian dancer Dorita, Andy is fascinated by the entertainer Eadie Allen. His father warns Andy that Eadie, who dances on Broadway Canteen, won't go out with him. Andy looks at her performance there and introduces himself to her under the name "Pat Casey" because he does not want to reveal which rich family he belongs to. Although Eadie doesn't actually want to have anything to do with soldiers outside of the canteen, she is impressed by Andy and agrees to meet later. On this, their first evening together, they fall in love. The next day Andy has to move out and Eadie says goodbye at the train station. He promises to write to her every day.

In the battle of the Pacific War, Andy distinguished himself in particular and was allowed to go on holiday home with a medal in his luggage. His father AJ is thrilled and wants to host a welcome party for his son at the New Yorker club. However, since the club is closed for two weeks , according to the impresario Phil Baker, because a new show is being rehearsed, AJ invites the show people to rehearse on his and Potter's property and to support him with his planned garden party for his son. Mason senior also wants to sell war bonds there .

Potter is somewhat concerned about Mason's arrangement when he learns that Blossom knew Phil Baker from her days as a dancer. His anger grows when Tony De Marco's partner cannot perform and asks Potter's daughter Vivian to dance with him. However, Blossom gets her husband to agree to an appearance by Vivian when she tells him Phil threatened to reveal her wild past if Vivian wasn't allowed to appear on the show. But there are also problems with the singer and dancer Dorita, who followed Potter because of the common dance in the club. It is Dorita who finds out that Vivian has a boyfriend named Andy and that he and the so-called Pat Casey are one and the same person. It becomes problematic when Dorita interferes, especially since Andy and the actually existing real Pat Casey appear in the club, through which Eadie learns the truth.

Although Andy assures Eadie that he does not want to marry Vivian but her, Eadie ends the relationship believing that it would hurt Vivian. During the show, however, Eadie learns from Vivian that she has decided to go to Broadway with Tony as his partner. She also assures her that there was never any love between her and Andy.

At the end of the show there is a reconciliation between Eadie and Andy and together they all sing the last song.

production

Production notes

The working title of the film was The Girls He Left Behind . On April 25, 1943, the production work began, for which William Goetz was responsible. They lasted until mid-August 1943, although some recordings were made at the end of September 1943. Since Darryl F. Zanuck , who was originally in conversation as a producer, fell out, William LeBaron took over this task. He had previously worked as a producer and songwriter for other studios. After he and director Berkeley got along well, tensions arose between them as the budget of the film had to be cut due to the war, as cost reductions were sought in all areas at the time, for which Berkeley had little understanding.

occupation

The Hollywood Reporter read that Linda Darnell, originally slated for the role of Vivian Potter, sprained her ankle during dance rehearsals in her first role in a dance film. After recovering, she hooked up with cinematographer J. Peverell Marley and asked 20 Century Fox for temporary leave. She was then replaced in the role by Sheila Ryan. Fred Sersen was responsible for the special photographic effects, and George Leverett and Roger Heman for the sound effects .

Don Ameche , who had previously starred in six films with Alice Faye, was also intended for this film, but was too busy, for whom he was currently filming the literary film A Heavenly Sinner with Ernst Lubitsch , James Ellison was, so to speak, his replacement. In the film, Alice Faye made the sentence to Ellison: "Stop acting like Don Ameche!", An inside joke, as most of the viewers knew about it.

Although Alice Faye still had a cameo in the 1944 film Four Jills in a Jeep , that film marked her final appearance in a musical film up to the 1962 version called State Fair . Faye was pregnant with her second child while filming and withdrew from the film for the time being. In 1945, however, she shot the film noir Murder on their wedding night under the direction of Otto Preminger .

Juni Haver, Jeanne Crain and Jo-Carroll Dennison , Miss America of 1942, made their debut in this film. For Berkeley, it was the first full-length color film he shot, for which he was not only praised. In Brazil, the film was banned because of the huge bananas carried by the dancers in The Lady in the Tutti-Frutti-Hat .

Music in the film

Although the composer Harry Warren and the lyricist Mack Gordon were intended for the film music, it came to a collaboration between Gordon and Leo Robin .

The vocal and dance number The Lady with the Tutti-Frutti-Hat had issues with censorship as the Hays Code said the way the giant bananas were held by the dancers was viewed as too phallic. The problem was alleviated by the fact that the dancers then held the bananas at waist height and no longer at hip height.

According to The Hollywood Reporter of March 30, 1943, the song Pickin 'on your Momma should be seen and heard in the film. Later sources reported that, like Sleepy Moon and Drums and Dreams , it had been cut before final release.

  • Hail! Hail! The Gang's All Here
  • Brazil ( Aquarela do Brasil )
    • Music: Ary Barroso , text: SK Russell
    • Lecture: Nestor Amaral, Carmen Miranda and choir
  • You Discover You're in New York
  • Minnie's in the Money
    • Music: Harry Warren, lyrics: Leo Robin, arrangement: Eddie Sauter
    • Lecture: Benny Goodman and band as well as a Jitterbug choir
  • Soft winds
    • written by Benny Goodman (instrumental)
    • played by Benny Goodman and his orchestra
    • danced by Alice Faye and James Ellison
  • The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat
    • Music: Harry Warren, Text: Leo Robin
    • Lecture: Carmen Miranda and choir
  • A journey to a star
    • Music: Harry Warren, Text: Leo Robin
    • sung by Alice Faye (and a surprise guest)
    • danced by Tony De Marco and Sheila Ryan
  • The jitters
    • Music: Gene Rose, played by Benny Goodman and his orchestra
    • danced by Charlotte Greenwood and Charles Saggau
  • No love, no nothin
    • Music: Harry Warren, lyrics: Leo Robin, arrangement: Benny Carter
    • sung by Alice Faye
    • danced by Tony De Marco and Sheila Ryan
  • (I've Got a Gal in) Kalamazoo
    • Music: Harry Warren, lyrics: Mack Gordon
    • played by Benny Goodman and his band
  • Paducah
    • Music: Harry Warren, Text: Leo Robin
    • played by Benny Goodman and his orchestra
    • sung by Benny Goodman and Carmen Miranda
    • danced by Carmen Miranda and Tony De Marco
  • The polka dot polka
    • Music: Harry Warren, Text: Leo Robin
    • sung by Alice Faye and dancers
  • The Polka Dot Ballet
    • Music: Harry Warren
    • Lecture: Busby Berkeley and dancers
  • A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight
    • Music: Theodore A. Metz, text: Joe Hayden
  • Silent Señorita
    • Music: Harry Warren, Text: Leo Robin
  • Valse des rayons from - Le Papillon aka La Valse chaloupée
  • P'ra Que Discutir
    • written by Nestor Amaral
  • Diga o Ella
    • written by Nestor Amaral
  • Let's dance
  • The Flower Song by Gustav Lange

Publication, revenue

The film was released in the United States on December 24, 1943. It was first seen in Portugal, Sweden, Australia and Mexico in 1944 and in Finland in 1945. It was first published in the Federal Republic of Germany on March 9, 1962 and in France in December 1974.

On September 25, 2005 the film was presented at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival and on April 2, 2006 at the Wisconsin Film Festival.

It has also been published in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Italy, the Soviet Union, Spain and the United Kingdom. In several countries the film is called Banana Split or Tutti frutti .

The film was one of the 25 highest grossing films in 1943/1944.

reception

criticism

At Rotten Tomatoes , the film received 68% approval in the audience rating of 591 reviews, the Tomatometer showed 100% approval in seven reviews.

Most of the reviews were positive, with the exception of the criticism in the New York Times , which took offense at Berkeley's number with the giant bananas and said that primarily The Gang's All Here offers a number of long-running and elaborate production numbers produced by Busby Berkeley as if money didn't play the slightest role. Some of the dance numbers would also be distinguished by the fact that they could come directly from Freud .

Philip French wrote in The Guardian that the film offers an escape from the fears and renunciations of war into an extravagant, fantastic world. Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune said whatever this film was, it was worth watching.

The MPH reviewer praised the highly effective color combinations, which are opulent and the finale in the cubist and modern pace, which differs from anything that has been seen since Walt Disney's Fantasia . Wanda Hale wrote in the New York Daily News that the film was colossal, it was amazing and one of the most artful productions ever made - a technicolor dream, the nightmarish proportions or the aspects of a Dali drawing in motion display.

James Agee said of the film: One of the highlights of the film is Alice Faye with her song No Love, No Nothing . There is also a number with giant paper mache bananas that dig into the thighs, then into the feet, and then into the toes. This sequence definitely deserved to survive the next century. The Chicago Reader said that this was an unusual film, that there was nothing like it. While it is a routine musical film from the 1940s with a convulsively romantic plot from the wartime, it offers these amazing production numbers from Busby Berkeley.

Time Out magazine emphasized that Busby Berkeley's first color film with Carmen Miranda's Lady with the Tutti-Frutti-Hat, accompanied by a choir parade with oversized bananas, achieved a kind of apotheosis .

Variety, on the other hand, wrote that a weak script would be tempered by the number of melodic musical numbers. It was also said that Alice Faye had never been shown so excitingly, and that Carmen Miranda played a large part in the film and mastered both the one and the other genre of music.

John Soltes, Hollwood Soapbox , concluded: The climax of the film is actually Faye's wonderfully dark rendition of the song A Journey to a Star , a rare moment of calm in the middle of a storm of strangely hectic creativity. It was also said that Berkeley was able to meet our expectations and to embark on an unforgettable musical journey with us that had neither a beginning nor a middle or an end - just a lot of bananas.

The Alt Gilm Guide page states that the film plot is actually as exaggerated as Berkeley's fancy musical numbers. But no matter how crazy the plot is, the highlight of the film is a musical number with giant bananas, while Carmen Miranda sings the song The Lady with the Tutti-Frutti-Hat .

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b Heloisa de Freitas Valle, Marcia Camargos: Yes, nós temos bananas , Editora Senac São Paulo, 2002–251 páginas (Portuguese)
  2. The Gang's All Here Original print information see TCM (English)
  3. Jeffrey Spivak: Buzz - The Life and Art of Busby Berkeley (The Life and Art of Busby Berkeley) , The University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky.
  4. a b The Gang's All Here sS horrorfilms.co.uk (English)
  5. a b c d e f The Gang's All Here see Notes at TCM (English)
  6. The Gang's All Here sS journeysinclassicfilm.com (English)
  7. The Gang's All Here sS dvdclassik.com (French)
  8. The Gang's All Here sS thespinningimage.co.uk (English)
  9. The Gang's All Here sS tvguide.com (English, including numerous film clips)
  10. The Gang's All Here sS rottentomatoes.com (English)
  11. TS: The Gang's All Here In: The New York Times , December 23, 1943 (English). Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  12. Philip French: "The Gang's All Here" review - Philip French on Busby Berkeley at his most delirious sS theguardian.com (English). Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  13. The Gang's All Here sS yorku.ca (English). Retrieved January 7, 2019 (PDF document).
  14. The Gang's All Here sS criticsroundup.com (English). Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  15. The Gang's All Here sS chicagoreader.com (English). Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  16. The Gang's All Here sS timeout.com (English). Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  17. The Gang's All Here sS variety.com (English). Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  18. John Soltes: Thank goodness "The Gang's All Here" sS hollywoodsoapbox.com (English). Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  19. Danny Fortune: The Gang's All Here! Best Carmen Miranda Musical? sS altfg.com (English). Retrieved January 7, 2019.