Before I comment on the film, I just have to say that Dinah Shore's songs in this film are as bad as the "bad" song Joan Leslie is supposed to have written. I think she called it "Moondust" or some such thing.
While the stars occasionally shine in this Warner Bros. musical tribute, it's Eddie Cantor who deserves the most praise for providing most of the laughs. Cantor's dual role as a taxicab driver and an Eddie Cantor lookalike gives him some hilarious moments as he helps Joan Leslie and Dennis Morgan crash the studio gates with his Cantor impersonation. The Warner stock company (including S.Z. Sakall, Edward Everett Horton and many others) is on hand in supporting roles while the stars are given some amusing skits to appear in.
Errol Flynn is amusing in a cockney song-and-dance routine in a pub, Bette Davis talk-sings her way through 'They're Either Too Young Or Too Old', Ida Lupino and Olivia de Havilland do a jive number, mugging outrageously while chewing gum and mouthing words to a song called 'The Dreamer', Dinah Shore warbles an undistinguished song or two, Alexis Smith dances with style and grace, Ann Sheridan does a rather tiresome song number and Jack Carson and Alan Hale struggle through a less than witty routine that defeats both of them.
Humphrey Bogart, John Garfield (obviously tone deaf when he renders "Blues in the Night") and Sydney Greenstreet make fleeting appearances. Hattie McDaniel appears in an unusual novelty number. As one reviewer pointed out, "It's more like amateur night at the studio." But thanks to Cantor, the perky charm of Joan Leslie despite some awful songs and the appealing Dennis Morgan, it all comes together--silly, but lots of fun. Must have been a big hit with the servicemen during the war years, but just don't expect Grade A entertainment.
