Aggiungi una trama nella tua linguaAn idealistic shipyard worker interests a beautiful Hollywood star in staging a musical tribute to the war industry, but they disagree on some important issues.An idealistic shipyard worker interests a beautiful Hollywood star in staging a musical tribute to the war industry, but they disagree on some important issues.An idealistic shipyard worker interests a beautiful Hollywood star in staging a musical tribute to the war industry, but they disagree on some important issues.
- Regia
- Sceneggiatura
- Star
Rags Ragland
- Mr. Smith
- (as "Rags" Ragland)
Steven Geray
- Uncle Felix
- (as Steve Geray)
Harry Adams
- Shipyard Executive
- (non citato nei titoli originali)
Recensioni in evidenza
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).
Let's put on a show for the war effort...or some arrogant playwright or something. Dick Powell plays a pompous jerk who somehow finagles a famous actress (Lucille Ball) into not only falling in love with him but also getting his play produced. The movie is basically the struggle to get the play made. The struggle, by the way, is only such because of Powell's temper tantrums. Good grief who thought this character was appealing? Powell is a likable actor but here he sulks his way through the whole film. "My show! My show! My show!" Shut up already you whiny baby. This guy wants his precious play to be authentic to real working class people, but he never seems real or working class himself.
Powell also has poor romantic chemistry with Lucille Ball. For her part, Lucy is a bit wooden and lacking the brilliant spark we all know she possessed. The supporting players like Virginia O'Brien, Bert Lahr, and June Allyson are the best part of the cast. There's also an annoying guy doing bad impressions. I'm not going to bother looking up the actor's name. Just know he's awful.
The movie is way too long for such a thin plot and commits the cardinal sin for any musical comedy: it's hardly ever fun. The musical numbers are so-so, with O'Brien's "Say That We're Sweethearts Again" being the standout. It's probably the only thing that you walk away from this film remembering.
Powell also has poor romantic chemistry with Lucille Ball. For her part, Lucy is a bit wooden and lacking the brilliant spark we all know she possessed. The supporting players like Virginia O'Brien, Bert Lahr, and June Allyson are the best part of the cast. There's also an annoying guy doing bad impressions. I'm not going to bother looking up the actor's name. Just know he's awful.
The movie is way too long for such a thin plot and commits the cardinal sin for any musical comedy: it's hardly ever fun. The musical numbers are so-so, with O'Brien's "Say That We're Sweethearts Again" being the standout. It's probably the only thing that you walk away from this film remembering.
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!
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.
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.
The movies I choose to watch are sometimes suggested by events. Recently. I encountered yet another incomprehensible act by the American War Department and took refuge in this.
It is from an era of justified involvement in a war. Death camps, master race.
It is rank propaganda, subsidized by political leaders. It has other offenses. Blacks are shown twice: a man as a yassa porter and women happily picking cotton.
And yet its charm is in the thing it celebrates. You likely will never see this. It is dated and not very good as a film. The strings it pulls... well, they're broken. So let me describe it.
It features Lucille Ball before she made herself a joke. In this era, she was a desirable pinup, even at 33. She parades her legs and glamor as a famous stage actress. She meets and falls in love with a wartime shipworker who aspires to be a playwright. He, it turns out, has written a play featuring the good souls of the shipyard representing all the "ordinary people" of America who labored for the war effort, which at root was a competition of manufacturing infrastructures.
That play is the device around which all sorts of narrative effects are folded. There's the bit which forms the plot: she likes the play and attempts to put it on. But it gets too glamorized for the author. It isn't "real" enough and rather than demean the subject, he forgoes wealth and fame and closes it down. She follows him back to work in the shipyard to charm him into letting the show go on. As scripted, she discovers and comes to appreciate the goodness of the honestly laboring people.
At the end, she puts on the play as he intended it to be, at the shipyard. Inside the play's performance, he literally enters the play and reconciles with our girl. End of story.
Along the way, there are an amazing number of other excuses pulled to have song and dance numbers. Its purpose, after all was to mix entertainment and "the message."
So you have:
lunchtime shows at the shipyard (with Spike Jones and Hitler played by a chimp). Also, an evening show with several elaborate numbers.
a love song when the two go on their first date, the song half him demonstrating the song to her and half wooing her in the story by song.
a bit as if the movie were a musical comedy. In this case, the story itself bends into comic song as Burt Lahr's character christens his boat.
imitations of famous war leaders, performed randomly whenever a certain character appears. Some of these are unrecognizable today.
And that's in addition to seeing bits of the title show in New York and the shipyard.
A lot of entertainment. All the shows, every one, are miniature versions of the larger movie: celebrations of ordinary folk and then American values.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.
It is from an era of justified involvement in a war. Death camps, master race.
It is rank propaganda, subsidized by political leaders. It has other offenses. Blacks are shown twice: a man as a yassa porter and women happily picking cotton.
And yet its charm is in the thing it celebrates. You likely will never see this. It is dated and not very good as a film. The strings it pulls... well, they're broken. So let me describe it.
It features Lucille Ball before she made herself a joke. In this era, she was a desirable pinup, even at 33. She parades her legs and glamor as a famous stage actress. She meets and falls in love with a wartime shipworker who aspires to be a playwright. He, it turns out, has written a play featuring the good souls of the shipyard representing all the "ordinary people" of America who labored for the war effort, which at root was a competition of manufacturing infrastructures.
That play is the device around which all sorts of narrative effects are folded. There's the bit which forms the plot: she likes the play and attempts to put it on. But it gets too glamorized for the author. It isn't "real" enough and rather than demean the subject, he forgoes wealth and fame and closes it down. She follows him back to work in the shipyard to charm him into letting the show go on. As scripted, she discovers and comes to appreciate the goodness of the honestly laboring people.
At the end, she puts on the play as he intended it to be, at the shipyard. Inside the play's performance, he literally enters the play and reconciles with our girl. End of story.
Along the way, there are an amazing number of other excuses pulled to have song and dance numbers. Its purpose, after all was to mix entertainment and "the message."
So you have:
lunchtime shows at the shipyard (with Spike Jones and Hitler played by a chimp). Also, an evening show with several elaborate numbers.
a love song when the two go on their first date, the song half him demonstrating the song to her and half wooing her in the story by song.
a bit as if the movie were a musical comedy. In this case, the story itself bends into comic song as Burt Lahr's character christens his boat.
imitations of famous war leaders, performed randomly whenever a certain character appears. Some of these are unrecognizable today.
And that's in addition to seeing bits of the title show in New York and the shipyard.
A lot of entertainment. All the shows, every one, are miniature versions of the larger movie: celebrations of ordinary folk and then American values.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.
Lo sapevi?
- QuizDaws Butler, the voice actor for Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters, patterned the voice of the lion Snagglepuss after Bert Lahr, who played the Cowardly Lion in Il mago di Oz (1939). Butler took Snagglepuss's catchphrase "Heavens to Mergatroid" from Lahr's having said it in this movie.
- BlooperDirector Charles Reisner's name was incorrectly spelled in the main credits as "Riesner".
- Citazioni
The Commander: You must come up and launch with me sometime.
- ConnessioniFeatured in The Big Parade of Comedy (1964)
- Colonne sonoreMeet the People
(1940)
Music by Jay Gorney
Lyrics by Henry Myers
Played during the opening credits
Sung by Dick Powell and chorus in his daydream
Reprised by Lucille Ball (dubbed by Gloria Grafton) and chorus at dress rehearsal
Sung by a chorus at the end
I più visti
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- How long is Meet the People?Powered by Alexa
Dettagli
Botteghino
- Budget
- 1.302.000 USD (previsto)
- Tempo di esecuzione1 ora 40 minuti
- Colore
- Proporzioni
- 1.37 : 1
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