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Hello Frisco Hello
Lavish production values from 20th Century Fox and the legendary Alice Faye center stage, 1943's Hello Frisco Hello, a surprisingly entertaining musical package that rivals some of MGM's strongest work in the genre.
Set at the turn of the century in San Francisco, this is the story of a quartet of vaudeville performers, featuring Faye as Trudy Evans, Jack Oakie as Dan Daley, June Havoc as Beulah Clancy and the leader of the act, Johnny Cornell (John Payne). As the film opens, we see the quartet being fired from a cheap honky tonk, which suits Johnny just fine because he thinks his act can go places and it's not long before Johnny has opened up several clubs and has made Trudy a big star without noticing that Trudy has fallen in love with him. Trudy doesn't seem to mind being taken for granted until Johnny attracts the attention of a beautiful and wealthy socialite named Bernice (Lynn Bari).
Fox poured big bucks into this production, assuming in an attempt to cover the paper thin plot and some gaping holes in it, primarily, it is never really made clear where Johnny got the money to finance all of the nightclubs that he builds. He is observed lending money to a grizzled gold prospector who promises to pay him back when he hits gold, but I guess we're supposed to assume he did, because we never see him do it. But there's enough going on here that we're allowed to let little plot holes slide. One surprising plot twist though was instead of Bernice trying to buy Johnny with her money, she is observed losing all her money and Johnny trying to bail her out.
The film features some wonderful musical numbers. The highlights include "The Dance of the Grizzly Bear" and "Hello Frisco" performed by the quartet, "Bedelia", Faye's production number with dancing cops, and "When I Wore You a Tulip", an extravagant production number with the dancers on roller skates. Faye also has a solo near the beginning of the film called "You'll Never Know" that won the Oscar for Best Song of 1943.
The film features absolutely breathtaking settings and costumes and the cast is impressive, led by the throaty voiced Faye who is enchanting, as always. Payne is a charming leading man and my first real exposure to Jack Oakie was a pleasant surprise...was especially surprised at what a good dancer he was. BTW, June Havoc, who played Beulah, is the real life version of the character of Dainty June in the 1959 Broadway musical Gypsy with Ethel Merman, which came to the screen in 1962 with Rosalind Russell. If you're an Alice Faye fan, this one is a must.
Lavish production values from 20th Century Fox and the legendary Alice Faye center stage, 1943's Hello Frisco Hello, a surprisingly entertaining musical package that rivals some of MGM's strongest work in the genre.
Set at the turn of the century in San Francisco, this is the story of a quartet of vaudeville performers, featuring Faye as Trudy Evans, Jack Oakie as Dan Daley, June Havoc as Beulah Clancy and the leader of the act, Johnny Cornell (John Payne). As the film opens, we see the quartet being fired from a cheap honky tonk, which suits Johnny just fine because he thinks his act can go places and it's not long before Johnny has opened up several clubs and has made Trudy a big star without noticing that Trudy has fallen in love with him. Trudy doesn't seem to mind being taken for granted until Johnny attracts the attention of a beautiful and wealthy socialite named Bernice (Lynn Bari).
Fox poured big bucks into this production, assuming in an attempt to cover the paper thin plot and some gaping holes in it, primarily, it is never really made clear where Johnny got the money to finance all of the nightclubs that he builds. He is observed lending money to a grizzled gold prospector who promises to pay him back when he hits gold, but I guess we're supposed to assume he did, because we never see him do it. But there's enough going on here that we're allowed to let little plot holes slide. One surprising plot twist though was instead of Bernice trying to buy Johnny with her money, she is observed losing all her money and Johnny trying to bail her out.
The film features some wonderful musical numbers. The highlights include "The Dance of the Grizzly Bear" and "Hello Frisco" performed by the quartet, "Bedelia", Faye's production number with dancing cops, and "When I Wore You a Tulip", an extravagant production number with the dancers on roller skates. Faye also has a solo near the beginning of the film called "You'll Never Know" that won the Oscar for Best Song of 1943.
The film features absolutely breathtaking settings and costumes and the cast is impressive, led by the throaty voiced Faye who is enchanting, as always. Payne is a charming leading man and my first real exposure to Jack Oakie was a pleasant surprise...was especially surprised at what a good dancer he was. BTW, June Havoc, who played Beulah, is the real life version of the character of Dainty June in the 1959 Broadway musical Gypsy with Ethel Merman, which came to the screen in 1962 with Rosalind Russell. If you're an Alice Faye fan, this one is a must.