Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

m-leschack Sorry to disagree with the other reviewers. This movie is trash. There are so many wonderful Irving Berlin musicals. Astaire Rogers. White Christmas, Holiday Inn, Easter Parade and one of my favorites, Call Me Madam. This last one is Ethel Merman at her best. Alexanders Ragtime Band has wonderful actors and singers, too bad they are wasted on such an over sentimentalized story line. At least in the dvd I looked at the sound and picture were not that good either.

JLRMovieReviews Tyrone Power, Alice Faye and Don Ameche star in this movie musical, which was nominated for six Oscars at the time, including Best Picture, winning one for Best Music Score. Tyrone has been studying and playing classical music, so when mother hears of him taking up this old ragtime music, she doesn't speak to him. But Tyrone as Roger has had an inner longing for this type of expression. He and his band, which includes Don Ameche, tries to find a job at a restaurant that has floor shows. Of course, Alice Faye is there, trying to get her music heard, played and sold. When they need something to play for an audition, her music is swiped by their bartender friend. They start to play and she fumes. "My music." So, she chimes in, with "Come on and hear, Come on and hear Alexander's ragtime band...." She is a sensation. Or are they? They get the job, but as a package deal, not separately. Neither Alice nor Ty are happy about it, as they fight like a rooster and hen. And, Don Ameche took to her right away. Get the picture! The movie itself is very well made and makes for entertaining melodramatic escapism. While this is certainly more than just a musical, with its three-dimensional characters, the songs are superlative. There were a lot of great songwriters in the early 20th century, like the Gershwins, Mercer, and others. And, they all had their own style. But no one could write 'em like Irving Berlin. "Alexander's Ragtime Band" is one example of how thrilling his songs were. If you've never seen this film, you must see it. It has gotten somewhat overshadowed by "Singin' in the Rain" and other more well-known major movie musicals, but this is an essential to musicals and is time well-spent with good actors.

gkeith_1 Tyrone Power gorgeous, and scrumptious, etc. Alice Faye with her wonderful, throaty voice, is always a reminder of her signature voice range. A youngish Ethel Merman was a surprise to see here, and a wonder that they kept her to the second part of the movie. Don Ameche is just gorgeous, too.Jack Haley a fabulous dancer, and I know that the next year he performed as the Tin Woodman in "Wizard of Oz", also an ensemble picture like this one.I really liked the constant barrage of songs written by Irving Berlin. That boy was really a prolific composer.Power was good as an actor when his character went to World War I, later coming home with a changed demeanor and denying that his walking cane was from any war injury. He seemed to be more serious than before. In the beginning of the movie, he was a classical music performer who later lightened up and began playing the newly-popular pre-war ragtime music.I did enjoy seeing Alice Faye and Ethel Merman singing together toward the end of the movie. This was a treat that I do not recall seeing in any other movie. Their low and higher voices actually complemented each other. That they were each interested in the same man did not seem to really matter.In this movie, Ethel was not as recognizable as in later movies in which she would appear, full-figured, in such song-belting movies as "There's No Business Like Show Business" and "Call Me Madam". She was great in those movies, as well as this one, however.I do enjoy seeing this movie, over and over again. I see different nuances every time.

nnnn45089191 Stacked with the music of Irving Berlin,this lively musical extravaganza is one of the best musicals made prior to WW II.Reuniting the three stars of "In Old Chicago",Fox had a smash on their hands. Alice Faye shines in her role as the feisty band singer.Don Ameche is even better than he was in "In Old Chicago" and only Power seems somewhat out of place.The great Ethel Merman was really good in this.Although she's mostly in the movie for her singing she delivers a very good performance as an actress too.Jack Haley (who would gain immortality the next year in "The Wizard of Oz")has a marvelous production number as recruit who hates to get up in the morning. I really enjoyed this movie a lot and if you catch it you won't be disappointed.