Rating: NR
Genre:
Musical
Release Date: 05/29/2001
SubTitles: English/Espanol
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD4.0/DDS2.0
Run Time: 118 Minutes
Distributor/Studio: 20th Century Fox
Like
Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938),
20th Century-Fox's
There's No Business Like Show Business is a "catalogue" film, its thinnish plot held together by an itinerary of
Irving Berlin tunes. The story chronicles some twenty years in the lives of a showbiz family, headed by
Dan Dailey and
Ethel Merman. Two of the couple's three grown children --
Donald O'Connor and
Mitzi Gaynor -- carry on the family tradition, while the third,
Johnny Ray, decides to become a priest. There are a few tense moments when
O'Connor falls in love with ambitious chorine
Marilyn Monroe and loses all sense of perspective, but the family reunites during a splashy production-number finale. Highlights include
Dailey and
Merman's
Play a Simple Melody duet,
O'Connor's
A Man Chases a Girl solo, and
Monroe's tempestuous rendition of
Heat Wave (her delivery and stage presence both compensate for her unflattering bare-midriff costume). Of historical interest,
There's No Business Like Show Business was
Fox's first CinemaScope musical; as such, it is best viewed on TV in "letterbox" format.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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