Thursday, June 24, 2021

Hollywood Canteen

Warner Bros, 1944
Starring Joan Leslie, Robert Hutton, Dane Clark, and Bette Davis
Directed by Delmer Daves
Music and Lyrics by various

During World War II, every major city and large town had a free canteen where servicemen could let off steam and dance the night away to their favorite bands. Inspired by the Stage Door Canteen in New York, Bette Davis and John Garfield began the Hollywood Canteen on Sunset Boulevard in October 1942. By 1944, it was so popular, Warner Bros cooked up this movie featuring almost every star on the lot doing their bit for the boys. Let's begin overseas with the boys as they prepare to go on leave and see just how big the Hollywood Canteen was...

The Story: Slim Green (Hutton) and his buddy Sergeant Nolan (Clark) are Army soldiers on leave from the South Pacific for three days. The spend their time in LA at the Hollywood Canteen, meeting real celebrities and watching the big-name acts. Slim wants nothing more than to meet ingĂ©nue Joan Leslie (Herself), whom he has a huge crush on. He first wins a kiss with her, then gets a date when he's the millionth soldier to enter the Canteen. They get so close after that date, the papers claim they're married...but he is a soldier on leave, and he can't stay forever...

The Song and Dance: And the song and dance are the main reason to see this nowadays. As adorable as youngsters Leslie and Hutton are together, the real interest are in the many, many Warners stars (and a few from elsewhere) who turn up here. Even those who don't actually sing get a few lines or a bit. Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre intimidate a serviceman who knocks around Patty Andrews. SZ Sakall endures soldiers pinching his cheeks. Paul Henried gives Clark advice on dealing with women in the kitchen. Joan Crawford dances with Clark and is amused when he thinks she's not the real deal. Founders Bette Davis and John Garfield give speeches on the importance of the Canteen and its history. Even Roy Rogers shows up on his horse Trigger for a number. 

At the very least, the backing of the major studios means this is a tad fancier-looking than the similar Stage Door Canteen. Location shooting in the actual LA, including the Sunset Strip and Bel-Air Estates, adds an air of real Hollywood glamor that the grittier New York-based canteen musical lacks. 

Favorite Numbers: We kick off well with Jane Wyman and Jack Carson getting a cute tap routine to "What are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" Singing group The Golden Gate Quartet revealed why they were the first African-Americans to perform at a presidential inauguration with their catchy "The General Jumped at Dawn." Eddie Cantor has fun with Nora Martin as they admit "We're Having a Baby." "Don't Fence Me In" is heard twice, first while Roy Rogers shows off his riding on Trigger, and later in a more typical version by the Andrews Sisters. Joe E. Brown and Dennis Morgan make an odd pair in the chorus number "How Can You Tell a Yank." Jack Benny joins violinist Joseph Szigeti for a dueling violins version of "The Souvenir." Dancer Joan McCracken, then appearing in the original Broadway cast of Oklahoma!, performs a "Ballet In Jive" as a little country girl who gets caught up in the whirl of Hollywood nightclubs and glamor. 

The Oscar-nominated hit here was the ballad "Sweet Dreams, Sweetheart." Joan Leslie (dubbed by Sally Sweetland) initially introduces it with the chorus early in the film. Opera singer Kitty Carlisle gets a more effective version at the very end, when Slim thinks Joan stood him up and writes her a note before his leave ends.

What I Don't Like: Even more than Stage Door Canteen, this is basically a revue and an advertisement for the real Hollywood Canteen. The thin story (so implausible, Ann Sheridan turned down Leslie's role because she thought it was too silly) is merely a framework to hang all those great songs. Some of the "gosh gee" dialogue and Davis and Garfield's more self-congratulatory speeches towards the middle and end of the movie sound more annoying than uplifting nowadays. The larger production also loses some of that feeling of intimacy that made Stage Door Canteen so much of its time. 

The Big Finale: The excellent numbers make it a bit more tolerable than the similar Star Spangled Rhythm, but it's still mainly for fans of the World War II era or big band lovers. 

Home Media: The solo DVD is part of the Warner Archives collection. It can also be found on streaming and as part of the Warner Bros Homefront DVD set. 

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