A Filha do Comandante

OK Plot begins to bog down, then gets completely interrupted by a parade of stars, some of them annoying, some great. Highlight of stars is Judy singing, Mickey's impressions and Eleanor Powell seen in color. Highlight of movie is Gene Kelly's only dance number (the famous one with the mop). Really good actress Mary Astor is once again wasted.

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.

This 1943 Classic film clearly showed how Hollywood supported our Armed Forces during World War II and there are so many talented actors appearing in this film who all gave great performances with their talented gifts.

Always enjoyed the great singing talent of Lena Horne who appeared in many Musicals during the 1940's and one of her famous songs was "Stormy Weather". I use to live in St. Albans, Queens, New York and she was a neighbor. Lena was the pioneer of Black entertainers who started to break into the Hollywood scene and finally it was accomplished.

Naturally, the War was going on and this was a picture that was created to cheer our Fighting Men and it also was a propaganda film to cheer up the American Citizens with a cast of hundreds of famous actors. Enjoyed seeing a very little known actress who is now 91 years of age, Marsha Hunt who was very young and attractive in the film, she was only 26 years of age.

Don't miss this film, it is really a gem of a gem. Enjoy

Not a great movie, but it has a few high spots. The first half is a mediocre patriotic musical. The second half is a cobbled-together "variety show" performed for an army camp. Grayson sings sweetly, if you like that sort of thing (opera style + show tunes). As for Jose Iturbe's jazz piano, the less said the better. But Lena Horne sings "Honeysuckle Rose" beautifully, Judy Garland does her number well, and Eleanor Powell does a fun boogie-woogie routine. In the first half, there's a rarely seen Gene Kelly dance that's pretty good. The rest is modestly diverting, and MC Mickey Rooney's impression of Lionel Barrymore (in the variety show) is pretty funny.

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.