There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954) - film review

In the 1920s, Molly and Terry Donahue begin their musical vaudeville act.  They are a hit and play to packed houses.   Some years later, they are joined by their three children, Tim, Katy and Steve, and The Five Donahues becomes one of the biggest acts in America.  But then things start to fall apart.  Steve announces he wants to become a priest, Katy decides to marry a songwriter and Tim falls madly in love with an aspiring singer named Vicky.  As the Donahues’ career begins to decline, Vicky’s takes off, and Tim and Katy join her new show on Broadway.  When Tim’s infatuation for Vicky is not reciprocated, he suddenly disappears...

A lavish tribute to the work of Irving Berlin, There’s No Business Like Show Business is one of those films that you either love or hate.  It received mixed reviews when it was first released in 1954 and failed to recoup its enormous production cost, and today it is generally regarded, perhaps unfairly, as one of the poor cousins of the great Hollywood film musicals.  

On the face of it, the film has a great deal going for it.  It features the legendary Ethel Merman, who was one of the biggest stars in musicals on Broadway from the 1930s to the 1960s.  There are several classic Irving Berlin numbers, including the famous title number, taken from Annie Get Your Gun.  And Marilyn Monroe stars in one of her sexiest roles, her erotically charged rendition of the song Heat Wave being the film’s artistic highpoint.

Unfortunately, it is also a film with many notable flaws.  The plot is the most egregious compendium of clichés you can imagine, the characterisation is virtually non-existent, and the pace is painfully uneven.  After an exuberant beginning, the film quickly loses momentum and peters out towards the end – although it manages to come back in style with its grand finale number.  The overly theatrical performances merely add to the film’s stale artificiality, which weighs things down badly towards the end.

There’s No Business Like Show Business may not be perfect but it is, overall, an enjoyable piece of escapist fun.  Merman’s presence alone is enough of a draw, but add Monroe into the mix and the film is virtually irresistible, certainly for any aficionado of film musical.    The appropriate use of Cinemascope conveys a sense of scale and energy that the earlier musicals generally lacked, transmuting the flat cinema screen into a convincing semblance of the Broadway stage set at its most lively and colourful.

© James Travers 2008

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