Aí Vem o Amor

I never understood the appeal of the Ritz Brothers when I saw them do an occasional specialty number in a movie. But in this movie, they don't have just a specialty number. They are on the screen for number after number, some of them fairly elaborate. And even after all those numbers, I have to say: What was the deal?

Granted, the material is never very good. But the Marx Brothers could do great stuff with second-rate material. These guys don't do anything interesting with any of their material here. They just weren't very talented.

As for the rest of the movie: Faye sings some forgettable numbers nicely. Amiche is hidden behind terrible eye makeup. You would never believe from what you see here that Gypsy Rose Lee was a star.

It's pleasant, but forgettable.

Starving artist Alice Faye cops a free spaghetti meal at an Italian restaurant and offers to work it off. Broadway director Don Ameche a little tipsy from a night's partying offers to pay her check, but she sings the title song for her supper instead.

Alice could make a good living singing and dancing, but she's carrying a family burden. Her character name is Judith Poe Wells and her grandfather is none other than Edgar Allen Poe. She fancies herself a playwright. Therein lies a big problem for Ameche who's kind of gone goofy on the woman.

Of course Ameche's other problem is Louise Hovick, later known as Gypsy Rose Lee. She's his demanding fiancé who even though she likes to play around on the side holds a marriage certificate over his head even though Ameche may have been blotto when he did the deed in Connecticut.

All this is plot for a very charming backstage musical that also employs the talents of the Ritz Brothers and Alice's current husband Tony Martin. They sing a charming duet Called Afraid to Dream.

However the title song of You Can't Have Everything was the big hit from this show and because studio boss Darryl Zanuck frowned on his stars recording their material for vinyl, Alice never did a contemporary record. The song as the rest of the material in the film is done by Harry Revel and Mack Gordon.

Charles Winninger has a nice role as Ameche's producer. How they con poor Alice into doing what comes naturally is absolutely unmerciful.

You Can't Have Everything is a great Alice Faye vehicle. And wait till you see who Gypsy Rose Lee ends up with. And I'm not sure how that final line from her new betrothed got past the censors.

I guess I'm in a minority, but I found the results tepid, at best. The Ritz Brothers have no real act except to bounce around in tandem, and are more annoying than funny. Then too, the production numbers appear cut-rate, certainly not up to anything memorable. I kept hoping we'd get an eccentric styling from bandleader Louis Prima, but no such luck. Maybe he needed Keely Smith to play off of. The plot's boilerplate, but then who tunes into musicals for the plot. It's something about Faye finding her real place in show business, at the same time she and writer Ameche try to find a way to get together.

On the other hand, Faye's delightful, sparkling one minute, soulful the next. She really deserved better musical backup. Ameche's lively and a handsome foil for Faye. No wonder they were a natural movie twosome. Their first scene together in the spaghetti emporium is a peach. Too bad the remainder doesn't equal that initial scene. Then there's the amazonian Gypsy Rose Lee who could easily have stolen the movie against someone less compelling than Faye. Too bad Lee didn't make a career of movies; she would have made a heckuva villainess. Nonetheless, in my little book, the musical's mainly for fans of the great Alice Faye, and little more.

"You Can't Have Everything" is a splendidly tuneful, enormously entertaining Fox musical, directed by Norman Taurog, starring Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Charles Winninger, and, of course, the Ritz Brothers. This is one of three splendid & spirited musicals Alice Faye made at Fox in 1937. The other two are "On the Avenue" and "Wake Up and Live".

Faye, sweet and vulnerable, plays an impoverished playwright named Judith Poe Wells, a descendant of Edgar Allan Poe, who writes plays livid with social significance and realism. She is convinced that it is her sacred duty to live up to the talent her family inherits. As the film opens, Judith accidentally meets a handsome Broadway insider named George Macrae (Ameche) in a Romano Italian restaurant when she fails to pay her plate of spaghetti. Macrae falls in love with Judith and persuades her to turn her into a showbiz sensation. But Judith is not interested in musical comedies or what she calls "usual George Macrae tripe". Rather, she wants serious dramas that depict life's struggles and harshness. Much to Judith's dismay, Macrae nevertheless tells his boss Sam Gordon (Winninger) about her play "North Winds" ("a play about the vital problems that confront womanhood in the frozen north") and ways of turning it into a musical comedy. Macrae's former girl Lulu (Gypsy Rose Lee) shows up and spoils the show by revealing something about Macrae's past and one night while he was drunk.

The Ritz Brothers, for once, are immensely enjoyable as their perform their remarkable comic acts and musical numbers. Their acts are perfectly integrated with the story. It was really a hoot to watch them. Also the film features a fantastic dance specialty by Tip, Tap, Toe, which anticipate those by Nicholas Brothers in the later Fox musicals.

Among the musical highlights, my absolute favorites are Faye's poignant rendition of the title tune (which kind of reminded me of her unforgettable "You'll Never Know" number in the classic 1943 musical "Hello, Frisco, Hello"), and the lively "Danger, Love at Work". But that's not all. Also look for "Afraid to Dream" and "Please Pardon Us We are in Love".

Don't miss "You Can't Have Everything" if you love all-time classic musicals.

Director Norman Taurog has a witty script and the top musical performers on the Fox lot to direct, and he delivers. The plot is all too familiar and implausible, but the dialogue sparks it. Leads Alice Faye and Don Ameche are at their most charming and natural, and Faye has a couple of solid hit songs. Too bad Ameche wasn't as lucky. The Ritz Brothers have integrated roles in the plot, ample screen time and deliver several excellent numbers. Tip, Tap & Toe wow with a fine eccentric tap number just before the production number (a clinker) at the end of the film. Character comedian Charles Winninger is somewhat wasted in a largely straight role, but Gypsy Rose Lee (billed under her real name, Louise Hovick, gets a break as a playing the snarky "other woman." Tony Martin has fine pipes but comes off a bit smarmy and mannered in his numbers, and Rubinoff on screen is proof why he was better on radio. Phyllis Brooks and Wally Vernon also deliver snappy bits. Definitely one of the better of 20th Century Zanuck's musicals, although he can't resist his cheesily costumed chorus cuties whose talents are best on display without moving or talking. One chorine with a platter on her head traipsed pigeon-toed down a staircase in a Tony Martin number--at first I thought she was Harry Ritz. I'll watch this film again just to see the Ritz Brothers and Tip, Tap & Toe.