The Fabulous Dorseys

This black-and-white film seems almost like a documentary, with legendary big band leaders Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey playing fictionalized versions of themselves and delivering many of the hits that made them famous, including "Green Eyes," "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You," and "Marie." Performances by big band musicians and singers from the 1940s, including Art Tatum, Charlie Barnet, Bob Everly, Paul Whiteman, and Helen O'Connell help convey a sense of why this music is such a perfect expression of the American generation that won World War II with its determination and cockeyed optimism. ---from Musicals on the Silver Screen, American Library Association, 2013

The condition of the print that was transferred to DVD was just awful. This was no bootleg, either. It's the commercially available disc. That is a pity. Worse is the ham-handed acting and Irish accents think enough to cut with a dull knife. Even Barry Fitzgerald never laid it on that thick.

However... for me, it as all worth it to see Helen O'Connell sing "Green Eyes." Oh yes! So, I hold with many of the others' views: watch this for the music and skip the rest.

It would be a help if the print could be restored to a decent condition and a disc transfer made from that. However, the overall quality of the movie and, sadly, the lack of general interest in good music of the Swing Era, probably doesn't justify the expense.

I watched this film this afternoon and I am amazed that Janet Blair didn't become one of the great sex symbols of the era. It was only for this beautiful, sexy woman that made me stay with it, (plus the fabulous music). The script was dreadful, the acting (apart from Ms Blair), was embarrasing and the storyline was desperately dull. So in summary if an actress can make me stick like glue to a bomb of a movie like that, she must be something special. Surely we can at least have a headshot!

THE FABULOUS DORSEYS is not fabulous - a B feature with a C-minus script and D-plus dialogue - but the music at least is enjoyable, as I'd expect from a picture starring not one but two big bandleaders.

Laying aside the rickety wooden dialogue and nonexistent love duo, the story is compressed but basically true: poor Irish mining family produces two talented musicians who don't get along, but rise quickly through the band business, start their own outfit, then inevitably break up. As a band nut I'd have liked to see mention of some of the name orchestras of the 20s including the Dorseys - Jean Goldkette? Freddie Rich? - or of Joe Haymes, a forgotten talent who sold Tommy his first band. But that's just me.

Janet Blair (like the brothers a Pennsylvania girl, and one-time vocalist with Hal Kemp's band) just lights up the screen every time we see and hear her, leading us to wonder just what she sees in a stuffed-shouldered cluck like William Lundigan. Other vocal highlights come from ex-JD singers Bob Eberly and Helen O'Connell and TD's then current crooner, Stuart Foster. Instrumental stars Art Tatum, Ray Bauduc and Charlie Barnet add heart to a jam session sequence. Paul Whiteman, gruff, fast-talking and positive, obviously liked playing Paul Whiteman, liaison between fiction and musical reality.

TD and JD are actually OK on screen - they weren't actors but one should not expect them to be. The fault there is with the mawkishly written dialogue that flops out of everyone's mouths. Their real personalities are visible, though toned down: Tommy's natural side-of-the-mouth cockiness, Jimmy's salty dignity of the veteran trouper. (In reality Tommy was profane and given to physical violence; Jimmy was quiet, decent but more than a little bitter, and both had long love-hate relationships with John Barleycorn.)

The real-life Dorseys - their music, their problems, their era - still await a full-dress Hollywood treatment before their names totally fade from the culture. It's easy to imagine, say, Ben Affleck and Ed Burns in the roles of TD and JD, complete with booze, broads, cuss words, flying chairs, and original orchestrations.

(PS: Those commenting about how over-the-top Mom and Pop Dorsey's Irish brogues were should understand that the actors playing them actually were Irish.)

The Dorsey Brothers were great musicians, and I admire their work greatly, but they weren't actors. They could carry off reasonable performances in cameo roles in films, like Tommy Dorsey did in the film "a star is born" but other than that, they were not worthy of a main role.

However, I am not here to dump this film; it has some fantastic music in it, including a great jam session with Art Tatum. We are treated to a fabulous amount of Dorsey hits like Tommy Dorsey's soulful rendition of "I'm Getting Sentimental over you" and Jimmy Dorsey's swingey rendition of "Tangerine".

Also, there are some enjoyable cameo appearances (apart from Tatum) that include the famous bandleader Paul Whiteman and the singer Bob Eberle.

The worst thing about this film is a romantic relationship that occurs between the DB band's pianist and the singer. This relationship has virtually nothing to do with the film, and amounts to an unbearable schmaltz.

"The fabulous Dorseys" isn't a bad film but you probably have to be a massive fan of the talented brothers to truly like this film. Enjoy the music! 7/10