Thousands Cheer

This is one of those WWII era musicals where a studio assembles all their top talent for an all-star extravaganza. The stars' appearances are incorporated via a very thin plot. The plot doesn't matter, because the real point in watching this film is to see the musical talent.

This film stars Kathryn Grayson who is the daughter of military colonel John Boles and Mary Astor. Grayson is a singer who is performing onstage with Jose Iturbi. Grayson decides to put her musical career on hold in order to entertain the troops on her father's base. One of her father's new recruits is acrobat Gene Kelly, who is drafted into the Army, but would rather be in the Air Force. Kelly and Grayson end up falling in love (of course). Things are complicated when Astor wants to take Grayson back home because she doesn't want Grayson falling in love with a soldier. Astor tells her that being the wife of a soldier is undesirable because the army will always be a priority. There is also another subplot where Grayson tries to get her parents back together. The highlight of the first half, IMHO, is Gene Kelly's "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" dance with a broom.

However, all of that plot is meaningless, because the second half of the film is where all the action is. Mickey Rooney appears as himself. He emcees the show and also provides some impressions along the way. The best performances in the second half are Eleanor Powell, Lena Horne and Judy Garland's. Lucille Ball, Ann Sothern and Marcia Hunt appear in a skit with Frank Morgan, and Donna Reed and Margaret O'Brien appear in a routine with Red Skelton. Virginia O'Brien does another of her awful deadpan routines with Gloria de Haven and June Allyson providing support. Gene Kelly's stunt double performs a trapeze act. Kathryn Grayson come out to sing another song while, almost literally, "thousands cheer" - the soldiers that is.

Thousands Cheer is an average film viewed from today, although it is fun to watch for Kelly, Garland, Powell, and Horne. As little as they gave Kelly to do here, you can tell MGM just didn't know what to do with the fellow yet After all he had only been on the MGM lot for about a year. However, they did give him some great comic bits.

I guess you have to view this one from the wartime perspective of when the world was a canteen and morale boosting on the home front was the order of the day.

Thousands Cheer had a lot going for it from the get go, the biggest selling point being the amount of talent involved. While it is not a great film there is still plenty to enjoy and on the most part the cast are well-used.

Thousands Cheers' story is very thin and very contrived with the lead in to the film's second half feeling rather abrupt and the script is even thinner with a lot of hokey dialogue and too many moments where it sags in energy. A vast majority of the cast are great and are well-utilised, but Mary Astor is wasted with not very much to do and Red Skelton is more irritating than funny.

It is on the other hand very well-made with lavish sets and gorgeous photography while the Oscar nomination for the music score was deserved, it's very characterful and lush. The songs are not exactly memorable, apart from Honeysuckle Rose, but they are very pleasant and don't bog the film down at all, they are also very well-choreographed. Of all the show segments the highlights were Gene Kelly's dance with the mop, Eleanor Powell's tap dance, Lena Horne's beautiful rendition of Honeysuckle Rose and Judy Garland's uproarious The Joint Is Really Jumpin' in Carnegie Hall. You do wish that Gene Kelly had more dancing to do but he is dashing and very watchable and Kathryn Grayson is charm personified and sings beautifully.

All in all, not a great film but I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Rats! Not only are the numerous actors and actresses good looking they are also talented. Gene Kelly's dance with a broom is as good as anything he ever did on film. But the World War Two message of this movie is that talent and good looks are not enough to win a war, one must also have high moral character. Bad boy Kelly says that he can get himself into trouble and that he can find his way out of trouble--but can he? There are some great Vaudeville lines that keep one amused while Kelly is trying to find out what a good soldier should be. For example, the doctor says he "only did appendix operations on the side" and that he did grafting "only because his salary was so small." The movie is great fun at a time in United States history when there was not much to laugh about. Song and dance does take the edge off war, if only temporarily.

Tonight was the first time I'd seen this one. I thought I had seen most of Kathryn Grayson's work.It was enjoyable. Of course there's not much plot as I believe it was made to take the civilian's mind off the tension of WWII.

I'm a big Kathryn Grayson fan (along with Jane Powell and Deanna Durbin), and take umbrage to Dreamer36's reference to her singing as "chirping". While I realize that not everyone likes coloraturas, you have to give credit for the sheer talent alone. After all, where is that kind of talent in the movies they put out today? It gets tiring seeing a flick where's there's an obligatory scene where someone or something get blown to h*** and back and every other word is f***.

Gene Kelly's dancing was fantastic as usual, especially the scene with the broom and it's always a pleasure to see what classical treats José Iturbi has in store.

And because it clicked, MGM did what all the other major studios were doing--hiring their big stars to do cameos in a picture obviously aimed at entertaining the troops overseas. Paramount did it with STAR SPANGLED RHYTHM, Warners with THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS, Universal with FOLLOW THE BOYS, so it was only a matter of time before MGM came up with THOUSANDS CHEER.

If nothing else, it serves as a good showcase for the talents of KATHRYN GRAYSON (their newest singing bird) and GENE KELLY (although his dancing is limited here). For good measure they gave them MARY ASTOR and JOHN BOLES for parents, a story about a girl who wants to get her mom and dad back together again (where have we heard that one before?), and a whole bunch of MGM's brightest stars or character players in a "let's put on a show for the boys" routine.

Too bad the only thing missing is a good script. Otherwise, just sit back and enjoy the gorgeous Technicolor, the dreamy close-ups of Kathryn Grayson at her musical best, and guest stars like LUCILLE BALL, JUDY GARLAND, LENA HORNE, FRANK MORGAN, VIRGINIA O'BRIEN, RED SKELTON and MICKEY ROONEY to perk up interest in a sagging script for the second half of the movie.

Summing up: Could have been a lot better. If this is your kind of ticket, check out THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS for a better star-filled time.