Meet the People

Although the war industry in the United States during WWII produced huge amounts of weaponry, you'd never think so if you watched "Meet the People"! Although it's supposedly set at a shipyard, you never see anyone work at all! Instead, they sing, dance and put on shows all the time...or at least that's what I learned from this movie!

The story begins at the shipyard and a famous actress, Julie Hampton (Lucille Ball), is there for a bond rally. Naturally, the ship builders are a very loyal lot and they invest heavily in the bonds. What they also have is a soon to be discovered playwright and singer, William Swanson (Dick Powell). Soon he and Julie are working on getting his play produced but soon Swanee stomps off and refuses to allow them to put on the play. The director is sure Swanee will change his mind but when he doesn't, Julie returns to the shipyard to convince Swanee to change his mind.

What follows is essentially a giant talent show spread throughout the rest of the film. Folks are breaking into song and dance numbers every few minutes (complete with costumes that appeared from no where) and practically ANYTHING encourages them to perform. As for me, it felt like a showcase for MGM's second and third stringers....and I felt as if they should have pared down the number of numbers and emphasized the plot more than they did as it was a bit tedious at times. Back when it debuted, films like this were not that uncommon and it probably did well at the box office. Today, however, it seems a bit dated and is more a time-passer than anything else.

This is typical wartime let's-pull-together propaganda, and it's very entertaining. A tour-de-force with a great cast, leading to a riotous "Heil, Schicklgruber!" sequence with the fabulous Spike Jones entourage, and a sieg-heiling chimpanzee as Adolf Hitler! It holds up well today as both great entertainment and as a glimpse into the national mood of the time. Highly recommended to all!

I went into this movie hoping for the best. I like wartime musicals in general. Dick Powell and Lucille Ball did good jobs with their roles; however, the writers gave them boring dialog. The love-interest between the two of them was not given any real growth; just suddenly it was there. I did not think much of the music; the best number was the snippet we heard of Spike Jones with "Der Fuhrer's Face." The one complete number that Spike Jones did had little of his great musical comedy; pretty tame stuff,even with the monkey. Bert Lahr's comedy skits were interminable.

There were parts to enjoy: Lucille Ball was quite a looker, and there was a good selection of bit players who really deserved more time on screen.

Personally I think several of the opinions here are awfully harsh and take unfair advantage of 20/20 hindsight. Yes, WW2 was horrible--- and you've got innumerable references to topical characters that've faded from the average person's knowledge. But a Ken Burns documentary this ain't! Valid criticism: it suffers from being an MGM musical shot in black & white with a 40-year old Dick Powell who'd had his more than his fill of such stuff. But there's a lot it on the plus side too: Virginia "The Shynx" O'Brian is terrific, June Allyson (possibly where she first met Dick?), Bert Lahr doing some of his finest signature work (it left me wondering why he was never in the running for the Fred Mertz role--- the cast seemed to love him) and honestly, Lucille Ball looks amazing, dubbed voice and all. And there's also the seemingly incongruent mix of Spike Jones and Vaughan Monroe. The stage version was already several years old and several of the (admittedly unremarkable) songs were updated for the war effort. Look for MGM-contract star Mickey Rooney's dad, Joe Yule, in the role of "Shorty," Bobby Blake doing his best to remain on the Metro lot during the waning days of Our Gang and Rags Ragland, less than two years away from his very premature death. This is an entertaining, very loose stage adaption of a modest Broadway hit geared to wartime audiences just wanting to be entertained. Far from a classic but worth watching.

Forget the period propaganda or the corny jokes. This movie has some sensational music in it, great arrangements & great singing, especially one of the greatest songs written by one of the greatest teams: Rogers & Hart's "I Like to Recognize the Tune". A gorgeous rendition by one of the most beautiful pop songs ever written or performed. Worth reviving this movie (& then there's Spike Jones).