ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

HottWwjdIam There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

edwagreen Damon Runyon like yarn with the wealthy coming to bat for the downtrodden at the very end.A just released Leo Gorcey, acting like Brooklyn all the way, comes upon Virginia Wiedler and her father. The latter has had his music stolen from him while he had been imprisoned. The gang has to find a way to turn the tables on the crooked theatrical producer.Playing his usual gangster self, Sheldon Leonard provides help for the group in order to get out of his own predicament.The highlight of the film is when the theater patrons are kidnapped so that they can see the group put on the show with the stolen music. As a society matron, Margaret Dumont provides hilarity. Just too bad that she, Leonard and Connie Gilchrist, as a social worker aren't used more.Very entertaining music with that patriotic ending just great.

bkoganbing When Ballad for Americans became a big hit in 1939 out of the WPA Theater Project Musical Sing for Your Supper, MGM quickly bought the screen rights to the song. Both Paul Robeson and Bing Crosby made hit recordings of it that same year, though the song is pretty much identified with Robeson now. MGM waited three years before putting it into a film and it went into one of the products of their B picture unit, Born to Sing. This film is no doubt something that Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland rejected for one of their 'let's put on a show' films.It's just that kind of film. Crooked producer Lester Matthews and even crookeder press agent Charles Lane, plagiarize the work of Virginia Weidler's father, Henry O'Neill for their show. Topping that all off they frame Ray McDonald, Larry Nunn, and Leo Gorcey on an extortion rap.As they're being taken to jail, they're riding in the same paddy wagon as gangster Sheldon Leonard. They go along in an escape his gang has planned and he in turn gets ensnared in their machinations. Which as it turns out is to put on a show before Matthews does and showcase O'Neill's music.So help me that's the plot of this one. It's all quite innocently and charmingly done, but the presentation leaves one breathless.Tacked on to the end of the show is Ballad for Americans where the lead singer is Douglas MacPhail whose career came to tragically to an end the following year. Staging the number is Busby Berkeley and the staging of it is similar to some of what he did in Ziegfeld Girl the year before.Why MGM didn't put Ballad for Americans into one of their A films is something we'll never know.

grace2302 I agree with the previous comment. The film was quite entertaining. My sister and I laughed through much of it. It may not have been a Mickey and Judy "Let's put on a show!" but I think it was just as good. I only found one fault with it. The finale with Douglas McPhail was completely out of place. It just doesn't fit in this movie. McPhail had no other part in the movie except to sing this piece, which he was well chosen for (He has a nice baritone voice). It just didn't belong in this film. It brought down the light and fun atmosphere and made us long for the end. The better points were Virginia Weidler, Ray McDonald, Larry Nunn and Leo Gorcey. And of course the kid who played the piano; he's amazing! Weidler grew into a lovely young lady and it's a shame she's not in more of the movie. It's nice to see McDonald in a leading role instead of a sidekick. Larry Nunn was very funny as the kid obsessed with suits, he had some great lines on that subject. I especially enjoyed the number with McDonald and Weidler towards the end. It was stuck in my head long after seeing the film. Definitely recommended for a light comedy, but you might want to turn it off right before the finale.

Neil Doyle Whatever points I give this one is strictly based on the talented DOUGLAS McPHAIL and his rich baritone singing the climactic number, "America". MGM obviously was grooming him for big time stardom that never came. He was a Nelson Eddy kind of baritone, stolid looking, rather humorless, but usually just given background roles in any of the studio's big films.Here at least he takes the spotlight in the film's final number, a rousing tribute to Americana. But what precedes this is strictly hokum, a "let's put on the show" routine accompanied by some gangster stuff led by SHELDON LEONARD who gets off some typical '40s tough guy remarks. ("I'm gonna put him in opera if I gotta buy the joint," he says of McPhail.) Another amusing and typical '40s moment has Leonard landing in the same police patrol wagon with a few of the show biz kids, including LEO GORCEY. Another youngster takes one look at his suit and says, "If you get the hot seat, can I have that suit?"VIRGINIA WEIDLER is totally wasted in the leading femme role as the daughter of a musician, but the cast is perked up by RAGS RAGLAND, MARGARET DUMONT, DARLA HOOD and especially young RAY McDONALD, who was a hoofer who ranked easily with Donald O'Connor as one of filmdom's best dancers.Summing up: Unfortunately, never rises above its B-picture material, except for the climactic song celebrating America.