Brelan d'as

I decided to watch "You Can't Have Everything" because it stars Don Ameche and Alice Faye...two very pleasant and enjoyable Fox Studio actors. However, I did not realizes it also stars the Ritz Brothers....possibly the most annoying and untalented 'comedians' any studio possessed. They were far LESS subtle than Columbia's Three Stooges!! I know they were reasonably popular in their day (at least studio head Darryl Zanuck liked them), but today they are about as enjoyable as a bout of Ebola! After all, they aren't funny but try to make up for it by being loud, brash and obnoxious....and they are their BEST qualities! On balance is it worth seeing despite these hellish brothers?

When the story begins, Judy (Faye) is out of work and hungry. She meets up with George (Ameche) when she cannot pay her bill at a local restaurant. He offers to help but she's too proud to accept his help. And, throughout the story, he tries to help her, as she's a playwright and he's one as well. But, since she is so proud, he has to do his kind acts on the sly.

The film is part story and part talent show. In addition to the 'comedy' from the Ritz Brothers, you have a violin solo, song and dance numbers and more...all, ostensibly part of George's new play. Some might like this, but I would have preferred a stronger story without all the distractions. Without the Ritz's and the music, I might have given this one a 7 or higher.

I guess this was to come in later movies, but I kept waiting for the musical pairing of Alice Faye and Don Ameche, which never came. Everything else happened, but this musical needed a stronger anchor. Those in charge should have realized the talent they had in Faye and Ameche and driven the plot from there.

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.

As clichéd as this sounds, while there are better film musicals out there than 'You Can't Have Everything' there are also much worse as well. 'You Can't Have Everything' is patchy but also enormously enjoyable.

While it is said often that people don't see musicals for stories, or shouldn't expect too much from them, the story here is unlikely and over-stretched, sometimes going overboard with the silliness. Not everybody in the cast come off as well as they could. There is too much of the Ritz Brothers, and a few of their scenes do go on for too long and bog down the film. Their material is also a mixed bag, sometimes entertaining and sometimes too noisy and tiresome.

Tony Martin is too stiff and mannered in his role, never looking very comfortable, but he does undeniably sing gloriously (he always did in his films but rarely came off well as an actor). Charles Winninger is rather subdued in an under-utilised and blandly written role, though he does get one very funny line. Violinist/radio personality David Rubinoff plays beautifully but didn't really see the point to him being there personally.

However, Alice Faye is just delightful, having so much energy but also giving a lot of substance to her acting. Don Ameche is a very charming and witty partner, and Gypsy Rose Lee's hoot of a performance comes very close to stealing the show. Louis Prima is tremendously exuberant, and Tip, Tap and Toe have an electrifying tap dance routine that is choreographically 'You Can't Have Everything's' highlight. Phyllis Brooks and Wally Vernon give snappy support and Arthur Treacher is amusing.

'You Can't Have Everything' also looks very pleasing, very nicely shot and well designed. The songs are both sparkling and gorgeously romantic, especially the title song, "Please Pardon Us We're in Love", "Danger Love at Work" and "Afraid to Dream". Norman Taurog directs efficiently, with his one fault being that he could have done more to reign in the Ritz Brothers, and the script sparkles with wit and energy. Two of the best lines coming from Gypsy Rose Lee, but Ameche's quip likening exercise to going to the funerals of his athletic friends is a scream.

On the whole, so much to enjoy but patchy. 7/10 Bethany Cox