There's No Business Like Show Business |  | Director: Walter Lang
Actors: Ethel Merman, Marilyn Monroe, Donald O'Connor, Dan Dailey, Johnnie Ray
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $7.41
as of 2/9/2010 17:31 EST details
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Seller: moviemars
Rating:  46 reviews
Sales Rank: 14475
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 117 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 7.2 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 2001445
UPC: 024543014454
EAN: 0024543014454
ASIN: B000059GEI
Theatrical Release Date: December 16, 1954
Release Date: May 14, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
This 1954 dinosaur brings together two giants of Broadway, Ethel Merman and Irving Berlin, just as their moment was passing forever, to create one last hurrah: a celebration of the glories that were vaudeville. Still, it's hard to imagine that Broadway--or nightclub entertaining, for that matter--was ever quite this lavish and satisfying. The story centers on a married couple, the Donahues (Dan Dailey and Merman), who live on the road as vaudeville entertainers, and since they have children, begin incorporating the kids into the act. Eventually, the kids grow up to be Donald O'Connor, Mitzi Gaynor, and Johnny Ray, and they begin having interests of their own. Donald's is an ambitious showgirl (Marilyn Monroe), whose standoffish response to his romantic overtures drives him to drink. Best for its lavish, splashy production numbers built around some of the best of the Berlin songbook, including the title tune and "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody." --Marshall Fine
Product Description
Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 04/20/2004 Rating: Nr
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 46
 Marilyn Monroe - Our "Fabulous Yellow Candle" February 3, 2010
Yasha Banana
If you don't love this movie, if you don't *adore* this movie -- well then, by gosh by golly, you're un-American.
And if you're French, you're un-French.
And if you're Hungarian, you're un-Hungarian.
(Catch my drift?)
This movie next to "Singin' in the Rain" is like Babe Ruth next to Lou Gehrig in the Yankee lineup. It's just great.
Everybody in the movie shines. Even poor Johnnie Ray. I mean, what was the idea there? I suppose the producers figured that if every kid who bought a Johnnie Ray record came to the movie they'd make millions.
Johnnie Ray proves a theory of mine, that is: if the people who are making a film
are convinced they have a hit, they'll throw in a really bad, no-talent actor in the movie -- for example, Cybil Shepherd in "Taxi Driver" or Troy Donahue in "Godfather Two" or George Hamilton in "Godfather Three" -- as a way of saying to the audience: "See, this movie is so good that it can shine even with this lousy actor in it."
In other words, it makes everyone else, by comparison, look even better.
This movie also proves, at least for me, that Donald O'Connor is a much better, much more entertaining talent than either Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire. Both those guys were way too studied, way too self-conscious in their performances. Not that they weren't great talents, but Donald O'Connor has an "approachability" that both of them lacked. The same is true of Mitzi Gaynor. They engage the camera in a very amiable, spontaneous way.
You look at Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire and you say: "Gee, I could never do that." Whereas you look at Donald O'Connor or Mitzi Gaynor and you say to yourself: "Gee, it would be fun dancing with them. I bet they'd be willing to show me how. I bet they'd be interesting to talk to."
Personally, I never felt that about Kelly or Astaire: that they were approachable.
I think there's something about film acting whereby approachability is a key factor in an actor's popularity. I think it has to do with the fact that after you see someone in a movie you like you go to the Internet and you want to find out about them, professionally and personally.
Some actors are so talented -- for example, Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire --that even though they may lack "approachability," their talent is so great that the audience can't deny them their attention. And then there are performers such as, say, Donald O'Connor or Dean Martin or Jimmy Durante who are immediately likeable. The audience adores them!
It was said that Donald O'Connor didn't get along with Gene Kelly on the set of "Singin' in the Rain" because Kelly, as co-director of the movie with Stanley Doneen, was such a tyrant -- and this comes across in Kelly's performances. Whereas it's impossible to believe that Donald O'Connor was, in real life, anything but what you see on the screen.
Also, come on now -- dancing is supposed to be fun! -- and Donald O'Connor compared to either Kelly or Astaire looks like he's having much more fun than those two over rehearsed, slick-haired smoothies.
As for Marilyn Monroe. ... Now we speak of a force of nature. ... If you want to understand what there was about Marilyn Monroe that's so special, consider the beginning of her number "After You Get What You Want." She begins by coming onto a nightclub stage and, going from table to table, she flirts with the various male customers in the audience. Now, when you're watching the pieces of business Marilyn does with the male customers, ask yourself: "What other female singer/dancer could do that like Marilyn does it?" Bette Grable? No. Rita Hayworth? No. Jane Russell? No.
Marilyn Monroe could instantaneously ingratiate herself to an audience. As in the comparison between Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor, or Fred Astaire and, say, Jimmy Durante, she doesn't have the edge or the hardness of a Jane Russell or a Rita Hayworth. When she's flirting with the extras in the nightclub, she's flirting with all the guys who are watching the movie. While, at the same time, the women in the audience, not jealous or competitive (I suspect), open up their heart to her.
You immediately feel her presence. Even on a television screen! ... You can imagine what the reaction of an audience was seeing her towering above them on a movie screen.
Towards the end of the movie she comes onscreen in the middle -- in the *middle*! --of an extravagantly-staged finale, and she immediately revs up the already sky-high energy of the scene.
It's technically and metaphysically impossible for anyone in a movie to steal a scene from Marilyn Monroe. In her best films, she owns the camera. And "There's No Business Like Show Business" is, quite likely, the pinnacle of her professional and personal life. What happened afterwards is, quite simply, an American tragedy.
Presumably Marilyn Monroe was just as ambitious, just as single-minded, just as tenacious in her quest, in her struggle for fame and fortune as Bette Grable or Jane Russell or Rita Hayworth; but the difference between Marilyn Monroe and those also-rans is that Marilyn Monroe was all heart, all simpatico. You never saw her ambition. You never saw her lust for fame. You never saw her one-mindedness, her toughness, her "professionalism." All you saw was the woman-child. As Elton John put it: "The candle in the wind."
When she kisses Donald O'Connor in "There' No Business Like Show Business" and kissed Tommy Noonan in "Gentleman Prefer Blondes" and kissed "Tom Ewell in "Seven Year Itch," you see sex itself in a unique way! In most other actresses hands, "Seven Year Itch" would have been nothing more than a male chauvinist yuk, a locker room joke. Can you think of any modern-day actress who would dare try starring in a remake of "Seven Year Itch"? ... Angelina Jolie? Reese Witherspoon? ... Who? ... Nobody.
Stars are all around us, but comets are indeed rare.
I always felt that what defined Marilyn was the fact that she was not just an orphan but an orphan who before being sent to an orphanage lived with her mother, only to be given up by her mother at about the age of 9. It was that emotional trauma/vulnerability that was so close to the surface in everything she did. Put another way: no one else was like Marilyn Monroe because no one else was like Norma Jean Baker.
Marilyn Monroe always wanted to do "serious" work, and yet the joy and vitality she created onscreen in her musical roles was, in my opinion, a far greater contribution to the harmony and well-being of the human race than any success she might have had as a so-called serious actress.
"Tragedy is easy, comedy is hard and love is damn near impossible." ... I don't know who said that but when I see Marilyn Monroe and she brings joy to my heart, I take exception to the last part of that statement -- I think anything is possible.
For all the pain and all the suffering "The American Empire" has brought to the world (to the slaves, to the American Indians, to countless Third World countries), still, it shouldn't be forgotten that America also produced people like Marilyn Monroe, and Louis Armstrong, and Babe Ruth, and Billie Holiday, and Charlie Parker. All life-forces that, while they may not redeem the rest of us, did still walk amongst us.
It's interesting that two of Marilyn Monroe's husbands, Joe Di Maggio and Arthur Miller, both lacked a sense of humor. They were *serious* men; both of whom felt themselves to be inherently superior to Marilyn.
By accepting that judgment, Marilyn only added to her woes. She was, in her work, not only their equal but in many ways far, far more sustaining a life-force. What, after all, did someone like Van Gogh try to do on a piece of canvas? Create a vitality, life-force, no? Excite the viewer. Engage the observer. Reveal something about the human condition -- love, longing, sadness. Perhaps, above all, vulnerability. ... And who did this onscreen better than Marilyn Monroe? ... Who turned her sense of humor into a sense of humanity better than Marilyn Monroe?
Sure, her talent was far greater than any of the vehicles Hollywood could come up with for her, but her sheer presence was enough. She didn't steal scenes from other actors, she blew them away. As talented as they were, she turned them into props, satellites.
And now, in retrospect, knowing her sad fate, she adds yet another dimension to her onscreen presence -- she reminds us of our mortality.
Because Marilyn Monroe was not just our Sun-Goddess, the Embodiment of Life. She was also the Dean of Death.
She was Van Gogh's "Sunflower" -- but she was also Jack Kerouac's Dean Moriarity, his "fabulous yellow candle ... mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time." Her first song in "There's No Business Like Show Business" is entitled "After You Get What You Want You Don't Want It" is not only an ironic comment on the tragedy of her life, it's also typically American, isn't it? Indeed one might say that Marilyn Monroe ushered into the America culture the notion of "rampant individualism" -- the all-consuming, demon-loving idea of being "desirous of everything at the same time." This was her undoing and, as it could quite possibly turn out, it may be America's undoing as well.
Say goodbye to what you left behind, Marilyn.
 unfair music score! January 22, 2010
Carlni (italy)
there is a strange quality sound ...one cannot really understand why now and then the orchestra sound , instrumental basic sound is weak while the singers are more dominant vocally !
it is much more clear when one watch the film!
but there is an amazing unfair betrail or trick which is actually illegal !!!
it is scandalous that in this c.d. the name of Marilyn Monroe is just a name ! there is no Monroe singing here !!!
it is such an ordinary voice placed to replace the beautiful voice of Marilyn Monroe!
someone else unknown is singing the songs from the movie under her name!!!
one could sue the label!!!
terrible , pittifull and embarazzing to sell this ''original sound track'' when it is really not...so !
An old favorite December 23, 2009
M. Cervi (Hudson, MA United States)
I've always liked this movie, as it is fun and upbeat. My main purpose for buying it, though, is that it's one of the few places where you can see Johnnie Ray singing. I absolutely love his voice and am a big fan of his. Wish he was still around making new music.
An Eclectic Treasure! December 5, 2009
Sarah C (Madison, Wisconsin USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
According to Webster's, eclectic is "selecting what appears to be the best in various doctrines, methods or styles." That's what this movie does. If you're expecting a showcase for your favorite star -- whichever one it is -- you'll probably be disappointed, because all five of them shine brilliantly in this movie. If you're expecting every star to provide another version of their usual persona, you'll also be disappointed. And those are the very reasons this is one of my favorite movies of all time. There are serious spoilers in the next paragraph!
The other reviews have described the characters and plot, so I won't repeat that. At first blush, this seems like a standard potboiler movie from when they cranked out movies by the hundreds. But there are oddly modern twists in it and thought-provoking role reversals. Vaudeville performers had a reputation for being wild and immoral, but these two (Ethyl Merman & Dan Dailey) are focused on raising their kids right. They're scandalized when one of those kids wants to live a life (the priesthood) that's unheard of in their family -- but after parental agonizing, they accept that this child is "different" and finally decide to love him anyway, just as he is. (Substitute homosexuality for priesthood, the parental discussions will sound familiar.) Donald O'Connor is the romantic male lead in the major love story instead of the sidekick, and shows his dance/choreography chops in a number that is surreal and brilliantly imaginative. He gets to play a complicated character who has no goals and makes stupid decisions, someone you might have met (or been) in real life. He's the romantic who's focused on finding someone he can build his life around (a traditional feminine ambition at the time), and the object of his affections is almost totally career-driven and hardly notices him (a traditional male role, ditto). Marilyn Monroe's character is an undeclared feminist -- she doesn't campaign for it, but she stands Donald up on a date because she's got a career crisis going on and gets irritated when he doesn't understand. That's consistent with her character, who also struggles with the role society demands of her. Years later, in real life, Marilyn took her career seriously enough to study acting with Lee Strasburg and was criticised for it -- a sex kitten trying to act? Deja vu...
There's a lot of stuff going on in this movie that would be startling now, and they get away with it because the musical numbers are great and the plot is superficially standard. It's as if they collected musicians from different genres -- say, country/western, opera, rap, pop and jazz -- and let each one do their own thing to the max. If you can put your expectations aside and see it as it is -- adventurous ideas and letting the stars use their talents without being restricted by typecasting -- you might love it as much as I do.
Cinematic Brilliance! August 29, 2009
Ms. B. Pearce (Sydney, Australia)
I never realised how cinematically beautiful this film was until I watched it on DVD. The quality is amazing, it's so hard to believe it isn't a modern day film!
Donald O'Connor's talent does not go unnoticed: dancing, singing and 'making us laugh' with his wonderful comic timing. I love Mitzi Gaynor: she is such an energy in this film and you'll really notice this when you watch it. Johnnie Ray, ah now he just takes my breath away whenever I hear him sing (I am 22 so don't make any assumptions as to whether this is aimed only at the older crowd!). Marilyn Monroe never really had a fair go in the media and following her death but people seem to forget due to her iconic status that she was actually quite a good actress and performer. Of course, she plays a bombshell but she does it with such innocence that even I would love to have her as a sister-in-law if I were in their shoes! But to me, it is Ethel Merman that steals the show. Nobody does it better, her emotion as an actress, as a musical performer, everything. She's the real deal and her finale performance always brings me to tears.
WONDERFUL choreography, amazing costumes, great dialogue and storyline. A real gem. Timeless!!!
10/10.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 46
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