Everybody Sing (1938)

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Not quite as good as some Judy movies. Judy is wonderful here as always which saves the film from me giving it a lower number. That and a funny, wacky baby snooks routine with Fanny Brice. If a scene like that came in a more modern movie, I'd have found it stupid and annoying. But cause its 30s movie style, and I like Fanny Brice, the scene was actually pretty quirky and amusing. Old movies just knew how to do silly wacky comedy better than films today. Look at Larual and Hardy. Judy's sister Sylvia is on a date at a dinner theater club when Judy shows up on stage. "Hey, it's Judy" Sylvia exclaims. Yes, it was Judy. Judy's name in this film was Judy. I liked that. And Judy as always sang beautifully. Her song "Down on melody farm" she sings at the dinner theater club is great. So is her song "Swing Mr. Meddleson, swing" she sings at the beginning of the film at school right before being thrown out. The song Judy and the stage girls sing in the show after the baby snooks number is also very nice. So is the finale song. And I also liked Sylvia. Now for the couple of problems of the film. First, I really don't like the blackface routine. Like in "babes on Broadway", the director made Judy do a blackface routine in this film. I enjoy many things about old movies but not blackface routines. She sings " swing low, sweet chariot" while in blackface. Also, I did not care for the two parent characters in this film, Reginald Over and Billy Burke. They just yelled and whined too much and were just too worked up, in every scene they were in. Billy Burke had such a sweet, likable role the following year in 'Wizard of oz" as Glenda the good witch. But in this film, she was far less likable. And at one point, Billy Burke called Judy, her daughter "my ugly duckling". Not right. Especially since Judy Garland has never been ugly, and was called " ugly duckling" by Louis B. Mayer in real life. That poor girl didn't have to hear it as part of the script in a film too. Reginald and Billy were both nice in only the very last minute of the film when they got on stage and hugged their family for a job well done.

"Everybody Sings" sports a cast with plenty of talent. Judy Garland stars in this "Let's put on a show" production, featuring Billie Burke and Fanny Brice, among others.The story is forgettable. The real action is on stage, where the numbers are highlighted by garlands, gals and an orchestra. I doubt everyone will like the musical performances. They are somewhat dated.Billie Burke plays the loquacious wife who voices her every thought (again). Her performance can be annoying, but every once in a while she hits just the right note and she's laugh out loud funny.Soon after this production, Judy and Billie would rejoin for "The Wizard of Oz" which, by comparison, shows how mediocre this film is.

Love may have found Andy Hardy, but for teenager Judy Bellaire (Judy Garland), it's a thin line between love and hate for her selfish family. Expelled from private boarding school (for turning her music class into a swing session), Judy comes home to find her family uninterested in her problems. Fluttery mom Billie Burke is too busy in hamming it up with the reading of a play with Reginald Gardiner; Papa Reginald Owen, not quite the Wizard of Wall Street, is barking at everybody after bad business deals which left them broke, and sister Lynne Carver is in love with the singing cook (Allan Jones). Garland only wants to help the family and a singing gig at the nightclub where Jones performs on the side leads her to want to pursue a career in the musical theater. She fools her family into thinking she's going to Europe on a school trip and gets into a Broadway show produced by Jones' employer (Henry Armetta), determined to be "Little Miss Fix It" to save a family others would be dying to get out of.Even with Jones and Fanny Brice (as the wise-cracking maid) top-billed, it's Garland's show all the way, swingin' out five songs and stealing her way into your heart, even if the movie surrounding her isn't one of her earlier best. Some of Brice's material comes off dated and does not reflect what Streisand would do as her in "Funny Girl" and "Funny Lady". Garland does a cute but semi-tacky black face number (to "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" no less) and plays Little Lord Fauntleroy to Brice's Baby Snooks in the cute "Why? Because?" musical skit that is one of the highlights of the film. Poor Garland couldn't escape from MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer's description of her as his "little hunchback", being referred to by her character's mother Burke as "my poor ugly duckling".A nice surprise is the appearance of Monty Woolley literally playing "The Man Who Came to Dinner", actually the producer of a play that Burke longs to star in that gets a dinner invitation to share a squab which never arrives. As a result of all the noise, an irresponsible set of parents and a plot best described as not of this Broadway world, this film is only average, filled with some great moments, but an over-stuffed finale where an already wacky family goes even more batty.

I agree with most of the other comments: dull songs and a somewhat boring movie. I loved Fanny Brice as the Russian maid though: after watching her first scene I wondered "Who is that?" and looked it up. I had only heard of her through the movie "Funny Girl" (which I didn't like and couldn't sit through). The Baby Snooks number was awful, a total embarrassment: imagine a 46 year old woman dressed up like a toddler and speaking baby-talk! I'm surprised no one else has mentioned the jaw-dropping scene where Judy appears in black-face, her hair sticking up in cornrows all over her head, and sings a bouncy down-South number with all the usual racist stereotypical mannerisms of the time. Quite startling to see!