Thank Your Lucky Stars

Cantor was one of the biggest stars of his time. And this WW-II extravaganza showcases his comedy talents playing himself and a look-alike cab driver. Dennis Morgan and Joan Leslie are the lovers, Dinah Shore gets a big buildup but her songs are drippy and awful. Edward Everett Horton and S.Z. Sakall are fun as the guys running the Cavalcade that Cantor forces himself into. Humphrey Bogart does a limp cameo, and big Warners stars appear in a series of funny stage numbers. Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, and Errol Flynn sing; Olivia de Havilland and Ida Lupino do a jive number; Hattie McDaniel sings in a Harlem number; Jack Carson and Alan Hale do an old-time Vaudeville number; Alexis Smith dances; Spike Jones does a novelty number; John Garfield sings on Cantor's radio show, etc. But aside from seeing these big stars, it's Eddie Cantor who makes this worthwhile. A HUGE stage, movie, and radio star, Cantor is wonderful lampooning himself (a la Bob Hope) and playing the nebbish cabbie (a la Woody Allen). While many of his Broadway contemporaries never quite made it in films (Sophie Tucker, Fannie Brice, George Jessell, Al Jolson, Marilyn Miller), Cantor's starring film career lasted almost 20 years, dating from the smash hit Whoopie! in 1930; his radio career lasted 30 years. Cantor is sadly forgotten now, but he was such a big star he won a special Oscar for his film work and his humanitarian efforts.