Good movie but grossly overrated

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Plot? What plot? Busby Berkeley don't need no stinkin' plot! ("Stinkin'" being the operative word.) But it would have helped if there had been some memorable music, as in the old days of 42nd Street, Gold Diggers, etc. The dancing wasn't even attractive, the visual effects numbers were sloppy, as was the camera work. The final number was the best, as is always the case with BB movies. But this time he resorts to trick photography to get his famous effects. You finally get to hear Alice Faye's voice at its best. She sings earlier on the Staten Island Ferry with magical orchestral accompaniment, a recycled BB gimmick.The surrealism of the older black and white BB movies was cute, within the context of an otherwise coherent storyline. But here there is no story, no decent script to diverge from -- the whole thing is one long divergence.Frankly, I suspect he was burned out from doing too much drugs. Look at his stuff: it is obviously psychedelic, especially the final number here. Sure, this was the 30s and 40s, but we're talking Hollywood, just up the road from Mexico, mescaline and psilocybin. Yes, the old folks knew about that stuff. Look at some of those movies from the period, like W.C. Fields' stuff and Hellzapoppin'. They were playing mind games. And as we know all too well today, drugs only take you so far toward creativity in the arts; you need some real talent and work, too. I think Busby Berkeley's brain was fried by this time. (Paducah - bazooka???) That might be why MGM dumped BB on RKO (that, plus the fact that he had already killed four people while intoxicated in a car accident and driven Judy Garland into a nervous breakdown). Of course, if it is you who is high, this movie might actually be interesting, or at least the final number. But the final number would have worked better if it somehow expressed the girls love for the boy, in a swirly sort of way. Instead, it is about polkas and polka dots. And we never get to see boy say to girl: I love you. I'm looking at this wondering what Oscar Hammerstein would have thought as he sat in the theater. There were probably a few things that got laughs that he might have noted, plus a lot of patrons squirming in their seats. But mostly Rodgers & Hammerstein tried to do the opposite of this musical, striving for integration of story and music. Here, the songs were written for a different, unmade film, so there is no true integration -- it is also the beginning of the end of an era of these ad hoc sort of musicals. Hammerstein evidently noticed Charlotte Greenwood (though he would have known her from Broadway): he cast her as Aunt Eller in the movie version of Oklahoma!, already on Broadway by this time.Look for what looks like a video blue screen effect near the end. As it was strictly film, this, I believe, was an early example of film blue screen, pioneered by RKO. Wikipedia: "In filmmaking, a complex and time-consuming process known as "travelling matte" was used prior to the introduction of digital compositing. The blue screen method was developed in the 1930s at RKO Radio Pictures."So, why did I watch this wretched movie? I was curious about the song "Brazil," used extensively in the eponymous movie. This song opens the movie, but as it is sung in Portugese, it has no discernible meaning to the film, a portent of things to come. The title also makes zero sense: What gang? All where? Watching this seemingly endless stream of inanity, I whiled away the time contemplating which movie was worse: "The Gang's All Here," or "Too Many Girls." I think the prize goes to "The Gang." I cracked a smile and may actually have laughed once during "Too Many Girls." On the other hand, The Gang actually triggered my gag reflex several times, mainly scenes with Carmen Miranda. It's not every day you see a movie that makes you physically nauseous. And, as I watched, I actually felt pity for the poor professional movie reviewers of the day, who had to sit through the whole thing. I don't know how much they got paid, but it wasn't enough. On the other hand, they got their revenge in print. Spoiler alert: Oh, the "plot": Boy meets girl. Boy says something about love, but lies about his name for some mysterious reason. Boy goes off to war. Girl thinks he is going to marry Girl #2. Boy comes back from war. Girl #2 says, "Nevermind, you take him." The end. Except it takes more than 100 long minutes to get to the end ... and pretty much the end of Busby Berkely.The Gang's All Here may be the worst movie with real actors from a real studio I have ever seen, or ever want to see.

My favorite musicals? The Busby Berkeley Warner Bros. flicks which had the advantage of better songs than this 20th Century item. That aside, I was happy to see the Berkeley direction and dance numbers which, as always are thrilling, exciting, and so very imaginative. Those numbers, alone, put this flick in the top bracket.One question I have concerns James Ellison with that all-American look. I thought he was delightful and enjoyable so how come he never became a good-sized star?Alice Faye, preggers during the shooting was, as always, lovely with her perpetual sweet smile. She and 'Philsie' seemed like an odd couple, but it was evidently a good marriage. They had a good show.Carmen Miranda, slaughterer of the English language, was unique and fun. Ever see the Confidential picture book of her? Gad, in any language.Charlotte Greenwood, like the other characters in the movie, portrayed themselves. I especially enjoy Eugene Palette and the voice he borrowed from Andy Devine (whose voice came from someone shoving a stick down his throat). Horton and the others were top-notch.All in all, you can be glad the gang was all there, even if the plot wasn't. Dig that hurry-up-let's-end-it-quick finale. Suddenly, it's we were just friends, etc.Minor, minor complaint. This is one of Fox's best and, while today's Fox is a pain in the rear end, yesterdays's Zanuck studio was a blessing.

The gang's not quite all here. Where's John Payne, Don Ameche, Cesar Romero, and/or Betty Grable? We got used to the presence of at least a couple of these stars in the Fox musicals of the early '40s, along with those present: Alice Faye and/or Carmen Miranda. Perhaps this oversight was intentional, as the leading man's role is less prominent than in previous Fox musicals of the early 40s. There are simply too many other things going on involving various other familiar faces or chorus girls to give the romantic ups and downs and flip flops between the leading players their usual importance. There's just enough romantic intrigue to provide interest, without getting tedious: a problem with some other Fox musicals of this period. James Ellison, as soldier Andy Mason, makes a serviceable, if less charismatic, leading man, compared to Don Ameche: the original choice for his role. Andy allows ordinary servicemen to more freely imagine they are on a date with Alice Faye. Fox used a similar strategy in the musical "Something For the Boys", released the next year. Near the end, he confronts Alice, his new love, and Sheila Ryan, his 'other woman', together: a potentially explosive situation. Alice and James handle the situation well, but it looks like curtains for the Alice-James romance. Don't count on it! This is the third and final pairing of Alice and Carmen in a Fox musical. They basically play the same roles in each film:Carmen as the exotic outrageously-dressed spitfire, Alice as the calm dreamy-eyed girl-next- door, who becomes the new girl in the leading man's life.In mid-WWII years, Fox included one of the big bands in some of their musicals. Glenn Miller got his chance in "Sun Valley Serenade" and "Orchestra Wives", Harry James in "Springtime in the Rockies". In this film, Benny Goodman's orchestra is occasionally featured, with Benny sometimes doing the vocal, as with the novelty songs "Minnie's in the Money", and "Paducah" However, his band is not an integral part of the story, as was true of the Miller films. Benny doesn't know what to do with his eyes during his vocals, mostly looking down, like he is insecure.... The combo of Harry Warren and Leo Robin composed most of the featured songs, including these. Alice Faye got two romantic -themed ballads of theirs to sing, while Tony DeMarco and Sheila Ryan danced to both. Later, Alice leads the upbeat "Polka Dot Polka"Can you imagine a musical prominently featuring Carmen Miranda, with Busby Berkeley the director as well as the choreographer? This is it! : a dream team for staging a lavish musical spectacle! Carmen appears in a seemingly endless variety of exotic outfits, both on and off stage. She even sports a fashionable-looking version of the Asian peasant conical hat. Her patriotic red, white and blue outfit features blue mouse ears, predating the Mickey Mouse Club outfit. Reportedly, she designed her own outfits used in her films, having been a hat and clothes designer in some of her teen years. Already a veteran performer in Brazil, before Sonja Henje encouraged her to move to the US, she demanded that her band be use in her film numbers. Busby staged a number of his signature lavish chorus girl numbers, with or without Carmen or Alice included. I thought the segment featuring disks, either neon-illuminated or not, as the dancer's props, was rather boring. Busby had used neon-outlined props in a couple of his mid-'30s Warner films. The choreography of giant banana-wielding chorus girls is perhaps the most remembered, if the most controversial with the up-tight censors of the time, with its possible phallic connotations. The film finishes with an elaborate kaleidoscopic treatment of the chorus girls and stars, and Busby's innovative take on the main characters taking their exit bows. The beginning of the film was also very unusual, with a man's face spotlighted against an otherwise black picture, singing "Brazil" austerely, followed by a very colorful, sunny, gay scene, with Carmen continuing with a peppy version of "Brazil".... Fox got lucky in obtaining Busby for this lone film. Busby was then contracted to MGM, but had recently been fired as director of "Girl Crazy", due to a personality conflict with Judy Garland. Busby also got lucky, as this was his first opportunity to direct dance productions in a 3 -strip color film! Yes, all those well-received Busby-choreographed films that Warner and MGM had produced were shot in B&W. Also, Zanuck was more willing than MGM to give Busby a free reign in devising his most surreal musical productions Veteran character actors Eugene(bullfrog) Pallete, Edward Horton and Charlotte Greenwood add light comedy as they appear from time to time as the parent of the leading man or "the other woman". Carmen also provides much of the comedy. Her romantic life seems limited to flirting with middle-aged married men, esp. Eddie.Overall, the most lavish, entertaining, musical extravaganza Fox produced during the war years, even without a hit parade song or two. Well paced, with a good mix of different styles of song and dance, comedy, drama and romance, with some references to the ongoing war. A welcomed diversion for the men and women overseas as well as at home, not to mention us in the 21st century, as judged by the number of reviewers at the this sight, compared to other Fox musicals of the period. My 2008 DVD is crisp, with vibrant colors. Also a worthwhile commentary by Dr. Drew Casper, a nostalgic trip by an older Alice Faye and a short documentary on Busby, as extras. extras.

In 1943, the United States was in the middle of World War 2, and the entire country was involved one way or another in the war effort. Many who didn't serve in the military did their share at home working in war-related production. Entertainers did their part to keep the moral of the country (particularly the soldiers) high by performing overseas and at home, and Hollywood pitched in by producing several entertainment-based war pictures. "The Gang's All Here" is one of these movies.The movie, like most Busby Berkeley musicals, is short on plot and long on entertainment, and like most Berkeley movies, it moves right along without dragging its heels. The story is a familiar one of that era: A soldier falls in love with a singer, with the usual developments and complications. While the story is a bit thin and well-traveled, it isn't absurdly so. The dialog is well-written, albeit a bit dated to the era (as were many movies made in that era), and the acting is fine, with veterans such as Eugene Palette, Charlotte Greenwood, Edward Everett Horton, and James Ellison supporting (and often covering for) the many entertainers in the movie (and if you look hard, you can even find Jeanne Crain, a young Johnny Duncan, and Frank Faylen (who was better known as Herbert T. Gillis in the TV series "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis").The entertainment is top notch and includes: the fabulous Alice Faye, Benny Goodman and his orchestra, the zany Carmen Miranda and her orchestra (Banda La Lua), accordionist/comedian Phil Baker, dancer Tony De Marco, and singer Aloysio De Oliveira. Songs include "A Journey to a Star", "No Love, No Nothing", "P'ra que discutir" and "Diga o Ella", "Minnie's in the Money", "Soft Winds", "The Jitters", "I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo" and "Paducah".All in all, this is a top notch movie that breezes along for the entire hour and 43 minutes and is well worth watching.