Something for the Boys

"Something for the Boys" is the second film released in 1944 in which Carmen Miranda was the star attraction instead of supporting one of the Fox blonde superstars, Betty Grable and Alice Faye. This was a Col Porter stage musical, no less, but Fox managed to turn into one of their somewhat vulgar technicolour confections with the associated good and bad points.The good points include:- Miranda herself, with a larger part than usual and very funny as a human radio transmitter- spectacular technicolour and sound- Sheila Ryan, very entertaining as a pretentious socialite- Michael O'Shea as a relaxed leading man for the pleasant Vivian BlaineThe bad points include:- Phil Silvers, trying too hard to be funny and overacting painfully- Perry Como, who could sing while asleep. He has absolutely zero screen presence- some of the worst taste costumes imaginable for Miranda, Blaine and the chorus girlsThe print of the film is superb and the extras excellent including production and marketing stills and the original trailer. Best of all though, is that the DVD includes a 4 part documentary on Miranda herself. If at times, the historians repeat themselves and the editing inadvertantly highlights this, we still get a detailed understanding of Miranda's importance and the tragedy behind her eventual demise. Miles Kreuger appears and, as usual, towers above all the other historians with his intelligent comments and clear diction. He is invaluable.This is an excellent package because of the documentary and good value if purchased as part of the Carmen Miranda Collection.

Good period musical.

I love this movie and will add it to my special collection, already looking forward to replays. It introduces a young Perry Como who, it was often said, didn't really want to be in pictures. But he does an outstanding job as a singing sergeant in this delightful romp through military maneuvers with romantic twists throughout. Brings back great memories of his early days in radio and TV, and the rest of the cast is fun to watch. I laughed, reminisced, stayed wide-eyed through cliff-hanger moments, and thoroughly enjoyed myself throughout.

My mom is 89 and enjoyed this movie very much!

I have never seen this movie before. It was entertaining

This film has been released so many times and always in poor quality. Not this time - this is a truly magnificent transfer. The vison and sound are the best!!!!! A bonus feature is to isolate the soundtrack - oh boy do you get a sound like no other - it is truly magnificent!!!!!!! I write this on behalf of Perry Como fans - buy this now - you will not be disappointed - thank you so much 20th Century Fox!!!!!!

There should have been MORE PERRY COMO singing! Story was contrived, but who paid attention? Carmen Miranda was her usual peppy self.

I am a classic movie lover and I enjoy black and white movies. I enjoy watching classic comedies and thrillers, so long as they are in black and white. I was disappointed to receive this movie and find it was digitally enhanced with color. The original version was black and white.

Carmen Miranda, Vivian Blaine, Perry Como and Phil Silvers in a Technicolor musical with Cole Porter music - what could go wrong? Well, quite a lot, actually.Originally written for Ethel Merman, the show had a respectable run on Broadway, but when Fox bought it they threw out most of Porter's tunes and had new numbers written. The book is unremarkable: three cousins (Miranda, Blaine and Silvers) inherit a dilapidated Southern mansion which with help from the military they convert into a house for army wives, and then decide "let's put on a show right here...." - not exactly original! This wouldn't matter if the musical numbers were good, if the film had been entrusted to an experienced director (Irving Cummings, Walter Lang and Busby Berkeley had helmed previous Fox musicals),and if they had employed a good choreographer and costume designer - if only! There are compensations: Vivian Blaine struts her stuff very engagingly with "About 80 miles outside of Atlanta" and shows what a talented musical performer she can be(the song was reprised several years later by Mitzi Gaynor in "Bloodhounds on Broadway"), and Perry Como is impressive with "I'm in the middle of Nowhere", but Carmen Miranda is given poor material, the choreography for the dance numbers (by Nick Castle) is dire, and the costumes are the most tasteless anyone could imagine.Admittedly in 1945 good leading men were in very short supply, most of them being in the forces by then, but Fox were really scraping the bottom of the barrel with Michael O'Shea. So, not one of the great Fox musicals!However, there is a big bonus in the extras; a four-part documentary tracing the career of Carmen Miranda "The Girl from Rio". The DVD, a good transfer, by the way, is worth getting for this alone.

I had seen a clip of a dance routine and couldnt believe my eyes. And so had to have the whole film. Its a HOOT costumes are crazy and the song writers must have wanted to use the MOST BIZARRE ,or most difficult words into a song.All round entertainment , but you need to be an adult to Laugh at the situations the poor STAR'S have to perform.have ordered more to spread arround our Family . And delivery from USA was faultess.

The plot is thin, but there are lots of good WW2 songs in there. Perry Como has a great voice and shows it off to full effect

more, more pleasei just love these old musicals.the featured big bands and the greatfun everyone has. what a gas

fast sevice for a product we thought we would not be able to find! Thank you