Broadway en folie

This movie has always been one of my very favorites. The songs (by Harry Warren) are lovely, especially the classic "the More I See You". Anyone watching the picture can see why Grable was a huge star. Dick Haymes sings like a dream and makes a terrific leading man. Although it centers on Grable and Haymes getting together, the story is not one of the silly boy meets girl plots so typical of the 40s. Many of lines still have a bite more than fifty years later. Anytime this picture is on TV, I'll treat myself to it.

I have loved this movie since the first time I saw it on TCM years ago. I love classic movies and when I found out that this one isn't even available on VHS I was heartbroken. I can never seem to catch it on television anymore and I as such haven't seen it in years. Also, I love sharing my favorites with friends and family, but am not able to do so with this one. I desperately want it in my collection. If you're as much a fan of this movie as I am, please go to the following websites and put in your request to have it released for purchase. Hopefully, fans of the movie will eventually be able to have it in their collection!

E-mail Universal Studios and request that it be released.

Vote at Turner Classic Movies. Search for The Diamond Horseshoe and on the side of the page will be an icon to click on and vote!

There needs to be some explanation for the context for this film...something which would have been known back when it was made but which would confuse viewers today. Billy Rose was a Broadway showman much like Flo Ziegfeld. He became famous for putting on lavish stage musicals and they were apparently VERY spectacular. He also eventually opened a combination restaurant and stage show called 'The Diamond Horseshoe' on Broadway...where folks would see one of Rose's megaproductions while eating fancy food...kind of like a much fancier form of dinner theater. This restaurant is the setting for the film.

Joey (Dick Haymes) is the son of a lifelong Broadway performer. But his father wants a better life for Joey and sends him to medical school. However, Joey is a knucklehead and wants to quit just before graduation in order to perform on Broadway. He's a very talented doctor-to-be AND has a voice like an angel...and he insists on using that voice.

Joey has fallen in love for a rather unlikable showgirl, Bonnie (Betty Grable). He's interested but she has zero interest and only begins showing him interest when she's offered a mink coat IF she can seduce him and keep him busy. Nice, huh?! Well, as time passes, she actually does fall for Joey...so perhaps it MIGHT work out after all.

How much you like this film will depend a lot on what you think about this sort of musical. I like ones where the songs are integrated into the story. However, most of Twentieth Century-Fox's featured big production numbers on stage...and this one is even bigger and more over-the-top than other films by the studio. Lavish costumes, lots of lovely ladies and formality is what you'll see...and that frankly bored me at times. I even wanted to skip over many of these numbers...mostly because it is NOT what I like. By contrast, an RKO Astaire-Rogers film has some of the formality but is more intimate and not stage-bound...which I love. Same with a film like MGM's "Meet Me in St. Louis" where the songs are integrated into the story. Because of this, I felt a bit cold about this one but must also admit that Dick Haymes' singing was VERY impressive...what a lovely voice.

Overall, an okay film which would have benefitted from more story and less staginess for me. You, on the other hand, might like this...and there's nothing wrong with liking this style of musical.

The best thing I like about Diamond Horseshoe is the original songs that Mack Gordon and Harry Warren wrote for the score, interpolating it with some old standards. The More I See You and I Wish I Knew were mega hits in 1945 bigger for Dick Haymes than Betty Grable because Haymes was a big selling recording star for Decca Records and Darryl Zanuck kept Grable as he did many of his stars away from the record studios.

The backstage plot is simple enough and doesn't get in the way of the extravagant musical numbers for Grable, Haymes and the rest. Haymes is the son of veteran performer William Gaxton who doesn't want Haymes going into show business. He might become the victim of golddigging dames so Grable is supposed to make Haymes fall for her and dump him. Then Haymes will go back to medical school and become a doctor as he's supposed to.

Of course best laid plans never quite work out in these situations and in Diamond Horseshoe that's no exception.

It was nice to see William Gaxton who did most of his work on Broadway in this, one of his rare screen appearances. According to a recent biography of Betty Grable she was one of the very few of his co-workers to have a kind word for Dick Haymes. He was not one of the most savory people out there in spite of having one mellow singing voice. She did do The Shocking Miss Pilgrim with him a couple of years later.

Darryl Zanuck spared no expense with Diamond Horseshoe, one of the bigger budget items for 20th Century Fox that year. It holds up very well and a must for fans of its leads.

This wonderful 1945 musical has a terrific plot. Dick Haymes, 6 months away from being a doctor, wants to chuck it all and join his widowed father, Bill Gaxton, in show business.

His appearance is a threat to Beatrice Kay, who is about to tie the knot with the widower Gaxton. She enlists the help of Betty Grable to fall for Haymes and then dump him so that he will go back to medical school and she can resume her life with the Gaxton character.

Naturally, Grable falls for Haymes, but eventually comes around to the idea that he should finish medical school.

The songs are wonderfully staged and Grable does well as the girl disliked by Gaxton, but comes around to do what's right.

Of all people, Margaret Dumont appears in a one scene dream sequence and actually sings part of her lines! Wonder what Groucho thought about that. Naturally, she is an upper crust matron in the dream.

A blend of great music, good story and all enhances this well done 1945 film.