Montmartre à New York

Anyone looking for the Greenwich Village of bygone days will be sadly disillusioned by this film. The area known for all time for its Bohemian atmosphere and now for its outrageously overpriced just about everything will not be found here. Club owner William Bendix isn't even fond of bootleg whiskey in his joint as he's continually throwing out bootlegger Tom Dugan from his place. Of all the places in New York State during the Twenties where Governor Alfred E. Smith stated publicly he would not enforce prohibition, Greenwich Village was the area that flouted the Volstead Act the most with impunity and flare.

The score for Greenwich Village is made up mostly of old standards and the film was an opportunity for Darryl Zanuck to launch a new musical star in the tradition of Alice Faye and Betty Grable. Vivian Blaine was 'introduced' in Greenwich Village and in film she never quite got the success the other two ladies did. She did best on Broadway, most unforgettably as Adelaide in Guys And Dolls. The new songs were nothing to remember.

Young Don Ameche arrives in Manhattan from Wichita, Kansas where he was a professor of music there and he's written a concerto. No big market for concertos, but there's a passage in the concerto that sounds promising to William Bendix. It turns out to be the big hit song from the beginning of the Roaring Twenties, Whispering. Bendix has big ideas wanting to put on a big revue and if he can't get Ameche's bankroll which he's carrying, he'd sure like a loan on his talent.

It's all an excuse to put on a lot of numbers, but Greenwich Village seems to lack the creative flair of 20th Century Fox's earlier films with Betty Grable and Alice Faye. William Bendix, borrowed from Paramount where he mostly played good natured mugs, just does not strike one as a would be Ziegfeld. Carmen Miranda is just Carmen Miranda and she's the best thing about Greenwich Village.

Just not the best musical Fox ever put out.

Let me add my voice to those who say we should not judge this piece of Zanuckfluff with the same standard we'd use for The Bard of Avon or even a Gene Kelly movie. Yes, the story is preposterous, pasted together with no other reason than to showcase the talents of some remarkably talented people, all having a great deal of fun, which I suspect anyone with the slightest nostalgia for the Technicolor movies of the war years will share. William Bendix, an actor vastly underrated, is both funny and touching, and Vivian Blaine and her one day to be fellow cast member from "Guys and Dolls," B.S. Pully, are wonderful. Felix Breshart, wearing the same scarf he wore in "To Be or Not to Be," is lovable as always as the musical con man. This is Greenwich Village as it never was and will never be. Sit back, suspend disbelief, and enjoy yourself. They don't make 'em like this anymore, and I for one regret it.

"Greenwich Village" is a musical from Twentieth Century Fox starring Don Ameche, Vivian Blaine, Carmen Miranda, and William Bendix.

The film seems a bit slapped together, especially in light of the fact that one of the numbers was actually footage from "Springtime in the Rockies" that was cut.

There's not much of a story - it concerns a young composer, Kenneth Harvey (Ameche) who meets Blaine and Bendix in a speakeasy. Bendix jazzes up Kenneth's concerto, intending to use it for a show, while Kenneth hopes to have it performed in a classical genre. Kenneth also falls in love with Blaine, whom Bendix considers his girl.

Miranda is a multipurpose performer at the Danny's Den, and has some cute numbers - "Give Me a Band and a Bandana," "I Like to be Loved By You," and "I'm Just Wild About Harry," all energetically performed in some wild costumes.

Vivian Blaine looks absolutely beautiful and sings well. Ameche gives a pleasant performance as someone experiencing New York and the Village for the first time.

A great deal is made here of Greenwich Village as a haven for artists, and the sets are very much like the neighborhood as it must have been in those days - crowded and brightly lit. The street that Danny's Den was on looks like West 8th Street, and it was fun to see.

"The Revuers" who included Judy Holliday, John Frank, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, alas, were cut from the film, and the best number was "It Goes to Your Toes" performed by "untitled black musicians" who were fantastic. They were possibly The Layson Brothers. The DeMarcos turned in some sprightly dancing.

This isn't one of Fox's blockbusters, but it has the tell-tale vibrant Fox colors, likable cast, and good musical numbers normally associated with musicals from that studio.

It amazes me that other postings about films are so critical of movies intended to be entertaining fluff, for being fluff.

And trite? What movie today isn't a rehash of something already done over and over again?

Musicals of the time weren't intended to be "South Pacific" or "Oklahoma". The plots were devised to be excuses to have music or dance performances or comedy bits. You probably noticed that the plots are mostly "backstage" stories and the characters portrayed are singers or dancers.

Technicolor is always pleasing to the eye, and so are the performances of Vivian Blaine and Carmen Miranda in this film.

So just sit back and enjoy.

The film, not surprisingly, is set in Greenwich Village, New York (actually a sound stage at Twentieth Century-Fox) and begins with an eager young composer, Kenneth (Don Ameche), arriving in town--hoping to make it big. Soon, he meets up with Dan (William Bendix) and his friends at Danny's Den--the strangest speakeasy in Hollywood history. At this 'joint', Carmen Miranda and Vivian Blaine perform. After hearing some of Kenneth's music, Danny decides to put on a show to showcase his sweetie. The problem is that this sweetie (Blaine) might just be in love with Kenneth AND some sharpie (Felix Bressart) is interested in having the music performed instead by a big-name director instead of on some stage show in the Village. What's next? See the film....or not.

I am glad I watched this film when I did, as I had just finished watching a GREAT MGM musical, "Anchors Away". Although both films were in color, there weren't too many other similarities. "Anchors Away" had great music, singing, plot--everything. And, by comparison, "Greenwich Village" just looked tired and second-rate...which, is what it was. As for Carmen Miranda, she seemed unnecessary to the film and a bit lost. Additionally, fair tunes and the studio's lesser singers (Alice Faye was out on maternity leave), the film never really hit the mark and is a few steps below the average Fox musical of the period. And, when it was over, I couldn't remember much of anything about it. Adequate and no more.

By the way, I was VERY surprised to see Ernest 'Sunshine Sammy' Morrison in the film dancing and singing a musical number with a number of other black entertainers. While I was VERY familiar with him as a member of Our Gang (since its beginning) and the East Side Kids, I had no idea he was so talented in other ways.