MovieChat Forums > The Gang's All Here (1943) Discussion > SPOILERS! Busby Berkeley or Ed Wood?

SPOILERS! Busby Berkeley or Ed Wood?

posted 15 years ago by evgraf
6 replies | jump to latest

Alice Faye? Love her! Are they sure she didn't really quit over this film, not Fallen Angel? If after all she did for Fox and Zanuck they couldn't put her in a better vehicle than this, she should have walked out.

Busby Berkeley? Huge fan! Especially the Mickey/Judy musicals!

But The Gang's All Here? If it was intended to be "camp", it failed. I was laughing at them, not with them. The script was nonsensical. In the train station scene, Alice/Edie calls James Ellison "Andy" repeatedly. Everywhere else in the film she calls him Casey, including the station wagon scene when Vivian mentions Andy and Edie mentions Casey and neither gives any indication that they might both be talking about the same guy. And after that bizarre final scene of the disembodied heads floating around the screen, I expected Johnny Depp to pop out with his pink angora sweater and cheesy grin and yell, "That's a wrap."

[–] zill_o_the_wisp 14 years ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsogswrH6ck

The Gang's All Here and Ed Wood are both masterpieces.

[–] hiflyer2020 13 years ago

My feelings exactly!

Also, Busby Berkeley went back to his pre-code films with this one. at 1:32:38 catch the chorus girl (second one in) as the camera tracks the chorus line in the "A Journey to a Star" reprise near the end. Left nipple is showing.

The end scene with the floating heads is absolutely awful.

[–] dmnemaine 13 years ago

The film is surreal. It's not supposed to logically "make sense". The story is beside the point, and is purposely meant to be beside the point. Right from the very first number, the audience is told, "You're not in the real world any more, you're in our own special Movieland now." The film is meant to be appreciated for its outlandishness and quirkiness. You're trying to hard to ground it in reality, and that's a mistake.

[–] froberts73 13 years ago

Is evgraf french for idiot? If so, what has this evgraf been drinking?

[–] princesstinymeat 11 years ago

This film is brilliant.

[–] BobbyWaggs 7 years ago

Best during WW2 musical ... PERIOD ...