Epopeia da Alegria

Former vaudeville dancer Tony West (George Raft) finds Hollywood stardom when he teams with Gloria Vance (Vera Zorina), but their success is interrupted by the outbreak of WWII. Tony devotes his energy to organizing USO shows for troops both stateside and overseas, but it causes strain with his partner. Also appearing are dozens of film and radio stars as themselves, including Marlene Dietrich, Orson Welles, Jeannette MacDonald, Donald O'Connor, Peggy Ryan, Dinah Shore, the Andrews Sisters, Sophie Tucker, Arthur Rubinstein, Martha O'Driscoll, Maxie Rosenblum, W. C. Fields, and many more.

I'm a sucker for these WWII-era all-star revue type pictures. They're positive and up-tempo looks at the tastes of the time, and the best-foot-forward showmanship is a delight. I thought the same of this one, as the Raft-Zorina plotline is a big nothing, but the various music performances are very enjoyable. Outside of the songs, I also liked a stage-magic performance by Welles with an assist from Dietrich. Fields makes his final film appearance, looking sick and old, performing some of his old billiards gags, a nice callback to his first film appearance in 1915's Pool Sharks.

The film has several subtle but poignant looks at then-current race relations. During a big confab featuring execs and stars from all of the major Hollywood studios, we see various stars stand up and pledge to help out in the USO-style efforts. At one point we see Louise Beavers declare that she'll do what she can to help, and I noticed that all of the black actors and actresses were segregated into their own section of the auditorium, separate from the white attendees. Later, Raft's character is approached by a black soldier asking for entertainment for his fellow troops. Raft vows to do so, and we cut to Louis Jordan and his band performing for an all-black regiment. Unlike the previously seen white troops, who were seated on bleachers in an amphitheater setting, the black soldiers are all seated on the ground, with the band performing in the back of a pickup truck. It's a stark reminder of the advancements made since this period. This scene does contain one of the film's best moments, though, when it begins to rain and Raft jumps up into the back of the truck and does some exuberant dance moves. The movie earned one Oscar nod, for Best Song ("I Walk Alone"), performed by Dinah Shore.

This is a very good movie to see for the entertainers who are really the stars here. Plus you get a real good feel for the organization that went into getting all of the stars to the troops. This is a good look at history from the standpoint of getting to see the stars of the 1940s. Good music too. 7/10

During the World War II year every major studio contributed at least one all star extravaganza for the movie going public. Many times that portion of the movie going public that was in the Armed Services and over there got to see some of this stuff first. Universal Studio's entry into this field was Follow the Boys.

The first twenty five minutes of the film consists of how screen team and married in real cinema life team George Raft and Vera Zorina got together. Raft plays one of the members of an old vaudeville show business family who after vaudeville dies, goes to Hollywood to continue his career. He meets up with Vera Zorina and they meet and fall in love and get married. Their joint careers are going good until Pearl Harbor.

Here's the part of the plot I cannot understand. Raft tries to enlist and gets turned down because of a bad knee. He wants it kept quiet for reasons I absolutely can't figure out. A few Hollywood stars like Gary Cooper (a broken hip that never mended properly) and Ward Bond (another broken hip and epilepsy) were quite legitimate 4-Fs. Why this was so embarrassing for Raft didn't make sense to me.

But what he does is start organizing shows under the USO auspices and at that point all the stars playing themselves came in. Another thing about Follow the Boys I don't understand is that several of Universal's biggest musical and comedy stars that were there at the time never appeared. I'm talking about folks like Abbott&Costello, Deanna Durbin, Allan Jones and Nelson Eddy. And they even got Jeanette MacDonald over from MGM as one of the guest stars.

But it's still a good group that's here. Sophie Tucker, Dinah Shore, Donald O'Connor, Peggy Ryan and the incomparable W.C. Fields. This was Fields's farewell appearance and he does his famous pool room bit that he perfected in vaudeville long before he became the screen's number one misanthrope.

Dinah Shore sang I'll Walk Alone, one of the World War II era's biggest song hits and Follow the Boys only nomination for an Academy Award. It lost that year to Swinging on a Star from Going My Way. Dinah's rendition will moisten the eyes I guarantee. She sold a few 78 platters back in the day off this.

Orson Welles is in this one and in it he gets to show off in his number two avocation, prestidigitation. Mr. Welles performs a few feats of magic, something he did when he was not acting, writing, directing, etc. And he had the loveliest of assistants in Marlene Dietrich.

Although George Raft was known for his gangster portrayals, back in the day before Hollywood he was a dancer. He showed that talent off in such films as Rumba and Bolero for Paramount in the Thirties and he was pretty good. He and Vera Zorina made a fine dance team and Raft himself does a nice soft shoe routine to Sweet Georgia Brown.

Jeanette MacDonald got to reprise one of her early screen hits Beyond the Blue Horrizon and that was a treat indeed. Too bad no one thought to team her with Nelson Eddy or Allan Jones, but I see the fine hand of Louis B. Mayer here who probably didn't want them singing together for anyone else but Leo the Lion.

I have a weakness for these all star extravaganzas so there's no way I ever give one a bad review. Despite a story line that defies belief, Follow the Boys should not be missed.

It is difficult in the modern world of mega-entertainment to comprehend how little was available in 1944, especially for troops stationed in remote regions, at least if movies made during World War Two are any testimony. This movie is loaded with talent, singing what the "boys" wanted to hear. The plot is typical of USO movies, lots of entertaining and lots of appreciation. Dinah Shore's "I Promise You" and the Andrew Sisters' "Apple Blossom Time" must have put many minds at ease, at least for a short time. The film is worth seeing, especially when George Raft dances in the rain.

In a great tribute to all the performers who have entertained American Fighting Forces, Follow the Boys assembles a nifty all-star group to let the folks on the home front see what the soldiers are getting. The film combines real footage in the field mixed with performers recreating their USO acts.

The result is a bit like a training film for the USO, but it does help us appreciate how so many performers went above and beyond the call of duty. From the wonderful Andrews Sisters to magical Orson Welles, it is an eclectic revue. There is a particularly touching section in the middle, from Artur Rubinstein to a montage underscored by beautifully melancholy songs from Dinah Shore.

Of course to get to all this, you must wade through a negligible plot about a husband-and-wife dance team (George Raft and Vera Zorina) who split over one of those obnoxious movie misunderstanding as he wants to put all his efforts into entertaining the troops. The dialogue is pedantic, Zorina is a cold fish, and Raft is stiff - until he's dancing.

Though he seems to be enjoying himself ONLY when he's dancing, Raft had an emotional investment in the film. In real life, he was among the troop entertainers, and he had also been very close to Carole Lombard, who had died earlier engaged in exactly that work. Perhaps it was his personal tribute to her. He is in one of the best numbers of the film: Louis Jordan and his orchestra perform "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby" and then accompany Raft as he dances "Sweet Georgia Brown" in the rain for a group of black soldiers. Though Raft was at his peak weight here, he was still nimble afoot.