2h 4min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 31 December 1944
Director: Delmer Daves
Stars: Bette Davis, John Garfield, The Andrews Sisters, and on and on.
LeRoy Prinz ... musical numbers created and directed by
Own on AmazonVideo.
The original Stage Door Canteen ('43) had a romance between a service man and a canteen hostess which paired a couple of unknowns (who remained that way) who could act very well. Lots of longing and loneliness between 2 people who just met. Plus you got a non-stop stream of stars, both H'wood & B'way. It really took you to the experience of these departing servicemen and the hostesses who might empathize too much.
This one has a familiar-faced soldier who has a crush on Joan Leslie, whom he gets to kiss and date from his visits to the H'wood Canteen. Robert Hutton plays Slim (with the crush) and Dane Clark plays his cynical buddy, Janice Paige his hostess target. Don't get me wrong: RH & JL do an excellent job. But commoner/movieStar versus 2 commoners is not a contest. I don't imagine JL will "wait" for the soldier to come home with any plans for a long-term future. (Nor was it promised in the script.) But Stage Door Canteen got it very right, and arrived first. So I'm actually downgrading this to a 6 from prior 7.
~1:30 We get a dance number which justifies the price of buying (accidentally) the film. The boys are visiting a movie studio, and they witness the filming of a dance number starring Joan McCracken (with at least 20 other dancers). She's splendid, of course. She has only 3 film credits: this, Good News ('47) and Main Street to Broadway ('53) where she's credited as herself, a "first nighter," so she likely doesn't dance. I'm very glad to have this one.
~1:50 Is a good flamenco dance.
Warner, dir. Daves; 6
