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Former vaudeville dancer Tony West (George Raft) finds Hollywood stardom when he teams with Gloria Vance (Vera Zorina), but their success is interrupted by the outbreak of WWII. Tony devotes his energy to organizing USO shows for troops both stateside and overseas, but it causes strain with his partner. Also appearing are dozens of film and radio stars as themselves, including Marlene Dietrich, Orson Welles, Jeannette MacDonald, Donald O'Connor, Peggy Ryan, Dinah Shore, the Andrews Sisters, Sophie Tucker, Arthur Rubinstein, Martha O'Driscoll, Maxie Rosenblum, W. C. Fields, and many more.

I'm a sucker for these WWII-era all-star revue type pictures. They're positive and up-tempo looks at the tastes of the time, and the best-foot-forward showmanship is a delight. I thought the same of this one, as the Raft-Zorina plotline is a big nothing, but the various music performances are very enjoyable. Outside of the songs, I also liked a stage-magic performance by Welles with an assist from Dietrich. Fields makes his final film appearance, looking sick and old, performing some of his old billiards gags, a nice callback to his first film appearance in 1915's Pool Sharks.

The film has several subtle but poignant looks at then-current race relations. During a big confab featuring execs and stars from all of the major Hollywood studios, we see various stars stand up and pledge to help out in the USO-style efforts. At one point we see Louise Beavers declare that she'll do what she can to help, and I noticed that all of the black actors and actresses were segregated into their own section of the auditorium, separate from the white attendees. Later, Raft's character is approached by a black soldier asking for entertainment for his fellow troops. Raft vows to do so, and we cut to Louis Jordan and his band performing for an all-black regiment. Unlike the previously seen white troops, who were seated on bleachers in an amphitheater setting, the black soldiers are all seated on the ground, with the band performing in the back of a pickup truck. It's a stark reminder of the advancements made since this period. This scene does contain one of the film's best moments, though, when it begins to rain and Raft jumps up into the back of the truck and does some exuberant dance moves. The movie earned one Oscar nod, for Best Song ("I Walk Alone"), performed by Dinah Shore.

It is difficult in the modern world of mega-entertainment to comprehend how little was available in 1944, especially for troops stationed in remote regions, at least if movies made during World War Two are any testimony. This movie is loaded with talent, singing what the "boys" wanted to hear. The plot is typical of USO movies, lots of entertaining and lots of appreciation. Dinah Shore's "I Promise You" and the Andrew Sisters' "Apple Blossom Time" must have put many minds at ease, at least for a short time. The film is worth seeing, especially when George Raft dances in the rain.

This is a very good movie to see for the entertainers who are really the stars here. Plus you get a real good feel for the organization that went into getting all of the stars to the troops. This is a good look at history from the standpoint of getting to see the stars of the 1940s. Good music too. 7/10

It seems to take forever to get through a plodding build-up, including a stiff performance by George Raft as a dancer, with Norwegian ballerina Vera Zorina as his partner, but there is no better example of how Hollywood rallied to entertain the troops during World War II than this impressive parade of celebrities, showcasing some of the most popular acts of the time: Sophie Tucker talk- singing "The Better the Loving Will Be," the Andrews Sisters doing a string of their hits, Jeanette MacDonald singing "Beyond the Blue Horizon," Dinah Shore with "I'll Walk Alone," and virtually the entire roster of contract actors at Universal Pictures. The footage of actual soldier audiences is nearly as interesting as the studio performances with which it is interspersed.

1944's "Follow the Boys" was hardly the first entry in the studios' rush to provide wartime entertainment in the form of a musical revue featuring contract players going all out for victory. Universal didn't have the kind of stars that the majors had, so they resorted to borrowing George Raft and Vera Zorina to kick off the initial storyline, vaudeville hoofers lamenting its demise only to find new life in serving the armed forces by performing on a worldwide scale. W.C. Fields drops by to play out his ancient (circa 1903) pool routine, done earlier in 1915's "Pool Sharks" (his screen debut) and 1934's "Six of a Kind." Jeannette MacDonald reprises her greatest triumph, "Beyond the Blue Horizon," as do The Andrews Sisters (they sing a medley of their hits), while bandleaders Charlie Pivak, Freddie Slack, Ted Lewis ("is everybody happy?"), and Louis Jordan round out the musical portion. There is an amusing dog act that ends in breathless fashion, and Orson Welles indulging in one of his favorite pastimes, prestidigitation, with gorgeous Marlene Dietrich an assistant that any magician would literally die for (being sawed in half just about does it!). Around the half hour mark Raft addresses an assembly of actors making up most of Universal's stable, mostly silent and observing, some granted a line or two - Andy Devine, Lon Chaney, Randolph Scott, Evelyn Ankers, Alan Curtis, Turhan Bey, Nigel Bruce, Lois Collier, Peter Coe, Susanna Foster, Gloria Jean, Thomas Gomez, Elyse Knox, Maria Montez, Robert Paige, and Gale Sondergaard. For Lon Chaney fans, it's enough to see him sitting right behind Sophie Tucker, wearing the same mustache from his just completed "Calling Dr. Death," since a few months earlier he was definitely absent from Olsen and Johnson's "Crazy House" (this was the last time he was unbilled on screen).