1h 18min | Musical | 2 September 1946
Director: Lewis Seiler
Stars: Vivian Blaine, Perry Como, Harry James, Carmen Miranda, Phil Silvers, Edgar Buchanan.
Kenny Williams ... choreographer
Well, it's an original plot, or at least it was in Thanks a Million (1935). Here: 30-piece big band comes to town to audition for a radio show, but loses before they play a note. They see free food offered at a political rally, so they eat. When the crowd won't settle down to hear the speech, they play a song and hand off the attention to the candidate (EB), who then hires them to go campaigning statewide.
When it looks like EB has a shot at defeating the incumbent, the political machine pulls out the dirt they have on him, and persuade him to quit. But he doesn't announce his decision, he gets drunk backstage at a rally. So PC goes onstage to announce he's indisposed, and makes some good remarks about him. The crowd loves the local boy, and when EB does officially resign, the political machine decides PC should run instead. They want the incumbent to stay, they just want it to "look" like a fair contest.
We get 6 songs performed along the way. Notice CM's all-white costume on the poster; it's a lot more spectacular than it looks there. And since the film is b/w, nice that she didn't taunt us with colors we can't see. Also noteworthy: one of her numbers had a big ensemble dance, where they were in costumes with (probably) 2 colors in large stripes, as was the floor, but those stripes were curved. Even in b/w, the brief overhead shot where the dancers were turning and turning was a bit dizzying.
Just found the antecedent online, so I think I'll take a trip back to '35.
Fox, dir. Seiler; 6+
