Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943)

How sad is this?

A Masterpiece!

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

the post saying the score is anachronistic is quite wrong.This is not San Francisco in the middle 19th century. It is San Francisco in 1915. Note that there are telephones, and they speak of the FAIR. The world's fair was held in 1915 in San FranciscoIn one scene a depiction of the famous FLATIRON building in New York is visible, this building completed in 1902.Early in the film a transcontinental telephone call was placed from New York to San Francisco. This event took place circa 1915 and was a famous part of the World's Fair.I think this film is a beautiful example of technicolor's magic and few can compare. The only person who won't like this film is someone who doesn't like to entertained.

Alice Faye's heyday was from the mid 1930s to the early 1940s when she introduced a myriad of standards in that mellowed, honeyed voice of hers but Fox never seemed to do the right thing by her - maybe she was just too nice. There was always a newer, flashier star she had to share the limelight with - not always but it sure seemed like it!! Initially she served part of her apprenticeship playing second fiddle to Fox's biggest star Shirley Temple, then in the 1940s Betty Grable was getting the studio excited. Even when she did do a movie "On the Avenue" and got to sing a swag of songs she made popular, Madeline Carroll was in it to be paired with Dick Powell and Faye had to be content with a "sugar daddy"!! and when she was coaxed into doing a movie, "Fallen Angel", that she felt would take her career in a new direction suddenly sultry Linda Darnell's part was built up at the expense of her own. "Hello Frisco, Hello" was also a comeback - she was happily married to Phil Harris and had given birth to a daughter the year before - but this time everything worked out in her favour. In the two years she had been absent from the screen she had lost none of her public appeal or the ability to put over a song.With a medley of old time tunes the movie introduces the naughty, bawdy San Francisco of the early 1900s and a slick singing team from Sharkey's Saloon who sing "Lindy Lou", "Hello Frisco, Hello" and "You'll Never Know", hoping the act can push them into the big time but it only gets them fired. They start to put on free street shows ("Ragtime Cowboy Joe", "Sweet Cider Time"). Johnny (John Payne) is the wheeler dealer of the group and is able to put on a legitimate show due to "protection" money he is able to get from the saloons - they pay him and he keeps the street shows away from their premises.If any film was enhanced by Technicolor it was this one. The richness of the decor and the brightness of the costumes will leave you agog!! It would take a whole review to describe Alice Faye's costumes - her "Grizzly Bear" outfit includes a red ostrich feather hat and matching muff. She may not give an Academy Award performance but she looks absolutely gorgeous in these turn of the century gowns. It can't be all fun and games and Lyn Bari, as Bernice Croft, makes a beautiful "other woman" from Nob Hill. This is the crowd Johnny aspires to and of course comes unstuck.One of the highlights (for me) is Faye's "personality" rendition of "They Always Pick on Me". The songs (and beautiful costumes) keep coming - "Bedelia", "Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly" etc. Faye plays Trudy and Bernice's brother Ned takes a special interest in her, bringing a very interested English impresario to listen to her sing and whisk her off to the continent where she becomes the toast of London. Trudy returns to America to find all of Johnny's clubs closed - after marrying Bernice he turns his back on the Barbury Coast and pours all his money into bringing Grand Opera to San Francisco. Needless to say Trudy finds him down and out but with a little wheeling and dealing (involving Laird Cregar as a blustering prospector) he is put on his feet again for the encore of "Hello Frisco, Hello" and "You'll Never Know".Jack Oakie had been making audiences laugh since talkies first came in - his career was given a boost when Chaplin gave him the role of "Il Duce" in "The Great Dictator" but this movie saw him almost at the end of his career.

THIS IS THE SECOND GREATEST MOVIE EVER, FALLING SHORT ONLY OF THE SOUND OF MUSIC!Alice Faye is a beautiful actress that should be admired. I strongly suggest that you watch it, no matter your age. I was 13 when i first fell in love with this film and i still love it at 16. It is the story of Trudy, a kind singer who is in love with her singing partner. "You'll never know" is a beautiful song that expresses the feelings of Faye's character with touching clarity. It is a beautifully made film with a great cast and wonderful music.It is a movie you will never forget. Go watch it! You won't regret it.

Of all Alice Faye's 20th Century-Fox musicals, "Hello Frisco, Hello" is probably my favorite. It is certainly the one that deserves to be called enchanting. The only other memorable Faye musicals that come to mind are "On the Avenue"(1937), "Alexander's Ragtime Band"(1938), "That Night in Rio"(1941) and "Wake Up and Live"(1937). "Hello Frisco" is a feast for the eyes and ears, breathtakingly photographed in Technicolor. The colors, the period costumes, and director Bruce Humberstone's nostalgic evocation of San Francisco's Barbary Coast at the turn of the century - are sublime. It also abounds in one gloriously tuneful song or dance number after another. There are lots to choose from including "Strike Up the Band," "Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?" and "Ragtime Country Joe", but Faye's memorable rendition of "You'll Never Know" is the best of them all. IT works as a perfect combination of Faye's sweet vulnerability and honesty. Faye's co-star John Payne is equally marvellous as Johnny Cornell. Contrary to a previous reviewer's remarks about Payne's stiffness, I didn't find him really that stiff. A bit stoic, maybe, but his Johnny Cornell is in perfect harmony with Faye's sweet Trudy Evans. And I can't imagine anyone else playing that role or doing a better job. In all, a Glorious delight.