The Worst Film Ever

Sorry, this movie sucks

A Disappointing Continuation

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Ann Miller did get to MGM but unfortunately at a time when musicals were on their way out. She started out at RKO, where her tap specialities were usually the standout scenes from the so-so films she was given. When "Too Many Girls" was filmed, Ann did her famous "Mexiconga" dance. The producers wanted to take her back to Broadway but Ann was set on Hollywood stardom - she then signed with Columbia. "Reveille With Beverly" was an extremely popular musical featuring some of the biggest swing bands of the era and was typical of the type of film that Ann was making at the time.The film starts with the wonderful Mills Brothers singing "Cielito Lindo" (Mexican Hat Dance) - beautiful Beverly dreams of having her own radio show - she would fill it with plenty of boogie woogie. Vernon Lewis (Franklyn Pangborn) is the early morning broadcaster who has the "Classics at Dawn" show. After convincing Vernon that he needs a vacation Beverly takes his place and the first record is Count Basie's "One O'Clock Jump" - "hotter than your morning coffee"!!!Eddie Ross (Larry Parks) gets a lift to the barracks and hears his sister on the radio - a debate breaks out about her looks or lack of them. Eddie neglects to tell them she is his sister but does invite them to his house for the weekend. Of course they find out that she is young and pretty but just to confuse matters, the boys swap names. Barry Lang is sick of being only liked for his money, but as plain old Andy Adams, Beverly takes a shine to him. The inevitable mix-up occurs throughout the film.She christens her show "Reveille With Beverly" and starts it off with "Big Noise" by Bob Crosby (singers include Lyn and Lee Wilde). Before she gets going Beverly is sacked and gets her old job back at the record store!!! That's before her boss realises what a gold mine he has. Suddenly she is back on air - with Duke Ellington's "Take the A Train". All good things must come to an end and Vernon returns - like a bad penny!!! Beverly can now only dream of presenting Frank Sinatra singing "Night and Day" to her "boys". All things end well and with a "Cow Cow Boogie" sung by Ella Mae Morse, she is back on deck.The end of the film features a great concert with the Mills Brothers singing "Sweet Lucy Brown", and The Radio Rogues, who do spot on imitations of Morton Downey, Amos and Andy, Kate Smith, among others. The story is only an excuse for presenting some of the finest swing musicians of the day but Ann Miller is beautiful, bubbly and talented and her tap solo to "Thumbs Up and V for Victory" must be the fastest on film!!! Although I can't find her credited, I think that must be Irene Ryan (Granny from "The Beverly Hillbillies") playing a sassy secretaries who fills the film with cornball humour.Recommended.

Reveille With Beverly is one of Columbia Pictures all star war time contributions for the boys in the service. But not having a really big studio with a lot of contract players like MGM or Paramount, what was Harry Cohn to do.The answer is take your stars from that other medium, that of swing music. Ann Miller plays a young lady named Beverly who works the telephone switchboard at an easy listening radio station. She'd like to break into radio on the air, but the boss Tim Ryan won't give her a break. Besides he's not into current musical tastes.But the resourceful Beverly gets her chance when she gets the hypochondriacal Franklin Pangborn who plays classical music in the wee small hours around dawn into thinking he's down with something terrible. She subs for him and plays the current swing bands and the rest is history. The new draftees at a nearby army base like her music so much the program is dubbed Reveille with Beverly.Of course there's a silly subplot involving a pair of draftees who used to be millionaire and chauffeur who are rivals for Ann Miller. These two parts are played by William Wright and Dick Purcell in a plot situation that is totally ripped off from Abbott&Costello's Buck Privates. They are a bit friendlier than Lee Bowman and Alan Curtis from the Universal classic.But all of this is just so we can get to hear such bands as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Bob Crosby and Freddie Slack's respective orchestras. The Mills Brothers are also on hand. And a young singer who had just left the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra sings Night and Day with an all girl band. Frank Sinatra and the rest of the acts were brought into the film by Ann Miller as she introduces the record and it starts spinning and the screen dissolves into a performance by the performers.So other than a toe tapping finale by Ann Miller this certainly was doing one of those all star extravaganzas on the cheap. Ann's number was clumsily introduced into the proceedings since at no time during the film was it mentioned she had any dancing talent. But Ann's fans bought tickets to see her dance so I guess it was understood there would be a dance number.Reveille with Beverly is a great piece of World War II nostalgia and definitely for fans of swing music.

This is a cheery movie with actual performances by famous bands and singers of the 1940's. It is a time capsule depicting aspects of the home front during World War II. It is very upbeat throughout the entire movie. There is one interesting goof. In the scene where Duke Ellington and his band plays "Take the A Train" there are scenes of a Chicago and Northwestern RR diesel powered streamlined train of the 1940's. The set on which the Ellington Band is playing recreates the interior of a streamlined train of the early 1940s. The "A Train" in the title refers to a New York City subway route that ran from Brooklyn to Harlem to Northern Manhattan. This mistake adds some fun to the movie. I watch for it each time I see it.

Built around a thin plot which serves as an excuse to parade a bunch of then current pop bands, singers and comedy acts, this little programmer from Columbia spotlights ANN MILLER in the central role as a disc jockey who directs her show at the U.S. Armed Services.She gets involved with two young soldiers--WILLIAM WRIGHT (who resembles John Carroll) and DICK PURCELL, has frequent disagreements with her radio boss, and ends up as the feature attraction in a service show where she displays her tap-dancing skills. The plot, almost non-existent, serves as a prop to show some of the performers whose records she plays for the soldiers--including Count Basie, Duke Wellington, Frank Sinatra, Bob Crosby, The Radio Rogues and The Mills Brothers.In a strictly subordinate role is LARRY PARKS, only a few years away from stardom in "The Jolson Story", but here a virtual unknown as a fellow soldier. IRENE RYAN has a small role as a ditsy secretary.The acts are standard stuff, except for singer FRANK SINATRA who does a standout job on "Night and Day" and performs before the camera with remarkable ease and poise a few years before becoming a major film star.Pleasant WWII musical gets a lift from the musical numbers, but it's strictly second-rate as a substantial musical.