User reviews

Looking luscious at the age the ripe old age of 20, Ann Miller stars in this 1940s equivalent of today's music videos on MTV or VH1. The flimsy plot is just an excuse to string together musical performances of recording artists of that era.

The musical performance by Frank Sinatra of Cole Porter's "Night And Day" is a noteworthy highlight. His stage is set with six lady pianists at grand pianos and six lady violinists.

Although flimsy, the plot has some merit. Comic relief is provided by veteran character actors, Tim Ryan and Irene Ryan, along with perpetually persnickety Franklin Pangborn. You'll also recognize other character actors in this film.

The film wraps up with a splendid tap dancing production number by Miller, to a patriotic World War II-era song.

It's 78 minutes of nostalgia and worth watching just to see Miller at her loveliest. The print recently broadcast by Turner Classic Movies was in very good condition.

Reveille With Beverly is one of Columbia Pictures all star war time contributions for the boys in the service. But not having a really big studio with a lot of contract players like MGM or Paramount, what was Harry Cohn to do.

The answer is take your stars from that other medium, that of swing music. Ann Miller plays a young lady named Beverly who works the telephone switchboard at an easy listening radio station. She'd like to break into radio on the air, but the boss Tim Ryan won't give her a break. Besides he's not into current musical tastes.

But the resourceful Beverly gets her chance when she gets the hypochondriacal Franklin Pangborn who plays classical music in the wee small hours around dawn into thinking he's down with something terrible. She subs for him and plays the current swing bands and the rest is history. The new draftees at a nearby army base like her music so much the program is dubbed Reveille with Beverly.

Of course there's a silly subplot involving a pair of draftees who used to be millionaire and chauffeur who are rivals for Ann Miller. These two parts are played by William Wright and Dick Purcell in a plot situation that is totally ripped off from Abbott&Costello's Buck Privates. They are a bit friendlier than Lee Bowman and Alan Curtis from the Universal classic.

But all of this is just so we can get to hear such bands as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Bob Crosby and Freddie Slack's respective orchestras. The Mills Brothers are also on hand. And a young singer who had just left the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra sings Night and Day with an all girl band. Frank Sinatra and the rest of the acts were brought into the film by Ann Miller as she introduces the record and it starts spinning and the screen dissolves into a performance by the performers.

So other than a toe tapping finale by Ann Miller this certainly was doing one of those all star extravaganzas on the cheap. Ann's number was clumsily introduced into the proceedings since at no time during the film was it mentioned she had any dancing talent. But Ann's fans bought tickets to see her dance so I guess it was understood there would be a dance number.

Reveille with Beverly is a great piece of World War II nostalgia and definitely for fans of swing music.

This is a cheery movie with actual performances by famous bands and singers of the 1940's. It is a time capsule depicting aspects of the home front during World War II. It is very upbeat throughout the entire movie. There is one interesting goof. In the scene where Duke Ellington and his band plays "Take the A Train" there are scenes of a Chicago and Northwestern RR diesel powered streamlined train of the 1940's. The set on which the Ellington Band is playing recreates the interior of a streamlined train of the early 1940s. The "A Train" in the title refers to a New York City subway route that ran from Brooklyn to Harlem to Northern Manhattan. This mistake adds some fun to the movie. I watch for it each time I see it.

Rather subdued war-time musical, not as sparkling as other Miller vehicles, but still entertaining with some of the top musical acts of the time-- Duke Ellington's Take the A-Train, Bob Crosby's Big Noise from Winnetka, Frank Sinatra's Night and Day, along with The Mills Brothers, Count Basie, and my favorite, Ella Mae Morse's styling of Cow-Cow Boogie. The music is there, but somehow there's not the flair nor the energy that would normally be expected of these headliners. Miller gets a final production number and a belated chance to tap dance her way into our proverbial hearts, but the staging comes across on the skimpy side. I suspect the flaming "V" (rather too close to the stage curtain) at number's end was an attempt to compensate.

Naturally, in a musical not much is expected from the story. Miller's yo-yoing between the radio station and the music store is somewhat amusing, as is her competition with the incomparably fussy Franklin Pangborn whose cartoonish eyebrows appear ready to jump off the screen. Irene Ryan (later, Granny, on the Beverly Hillbillies) has the best bits as the scatterbrained secretary. The romantic subplot is lame, to say the least, at the same time, leading man William Wright seems oddly to disappear from the movie's last half. In fact, the screenplay as a whole appears uncertain what to do with Wright and buddy Purcell once they're introduced into the plot.

A couple of noteworthy sidelights. Good to see the presence of a backyard Victory garden, that staple of civilian support for the war effort. Then too, if food prices keep going up in 2008, we may see them returned and renamed Survival gardens. Note also how class differences between Wright and his chauffeur are symbolically eliminated in support of the common war effort. Finally, note the rather surprising downbeat ending with the boys marching off to war, leaving Miller looking unkissed and forlorn. Perhaps the rather subdued mood of the musical as a whole has to do with it being 1943 and a lot of boys and their girls having to face a very uncertain future. Though not the best Miller musical, there are compensations.

Beverly Ross (Ann Miller) is a switchboard operator at a radio station. She dreams of hosting a program for swing music. She gets her chance and transforms an early morning boring classical music show. She becomes the favorite of many soldiers on their way to the front.

I love the music. Frank Sinatra sings Night and Day which is probably my least favorite. I'm more interested in the big band swing music. I even like the Cow song and some of the weirder performances. As for the actual movie, I can mostly leave it. It doesn't help that it gets chopped up by the music interludes. By the time they get back to the story, I had forgotten what was going on. This is better off without a story. It's really only compelling as a performance for the troops and that's what happens in the end. During wartime, that's all that's truly needed.

In "Reveille with Beverly", you get to see a LOT of famous musical acts of the day...such as Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, the Mills Brothers as well as Duke Ellington! They all are playing themselves in this film based on a radio program of the same name, "Reveille with Beverly".

Beverly (Ann Miller) works in a music store, though jumps at a chance to work for a local radio station. She'd love to have her own radio musical show...and she hopes that working there as a receptionist will lead to a chance to be on the air. Well, after a bit of conniving, she gets to fill in for one of the disc jockeys and soon she's a hit...especially with the soldiers (since it was made during WWII, they were sure to add this to make the film seem patriotic). But her boss is a knucklehead and he fires her instead! What's next? Well, a lot...including a case of two guys pretending to be each other!

The story is slight but enjoyable but THE reason to see the film is to see and hear the great musical acts. This alone makes the film well worth your time.

By the way, the film also has support from Irene and Tim Ryan, who were married but in the midst of getting a divorce when they appeared in the movie. You might remember Irene, as she played 'Granny' on "The Beverly Hillbillies".

I gave the movie a 9 out of 10, despite the small plot. However, there is a reason for the story line. The basis for the movie was the story of Jean Ruth Hay. Probably the first DJ in the U.S., she was able to get an early morning spot on the radio in Colorado with a musical program for the soldiers stationed at Fort Logan; when her picture and story of her "Reveille" program was featured in Time magazine she was hired by a Los Angeles radio station (KNX-AM). Her programs from this station were broadcast all over the world to our troops engaged in WWII. An interesting side note is that, as a adviser to this film, she met and married band leader Freddy Slack, featured in the film.

A young (19 when the picture was filmed in late 1942) Ann Miller does her best in this film - it's too bad that they didn't add another dance number or two for her, though! But the one number she does perform is done very, very well (as usual for Ms Miller).

Watch for Ella Mae Morris and Freddy Slack's Orchastra with an excellent example of WWII music! Ella Mae Morris was one of the most requested singers by our soldiers during WWII - and you can see why after watching this film! At that time, Ella Mae was to singing as Ann Miller was to dancing - and Slack's Orchastra was one of the top bands during the war era, mainly because of Freddy Slacks ability with the Piano.

Also, a rather stiff young singer by the name of Frank Sinatra has a musical number in the film. In it you can see why he was becoming the heart throb of the female teens back then.

I was a preteen and then a very young teen during this era and it brings back many memories. In late 1942 when this movie was filmed (released in early 1943), the U.S. was not winning the war at all - just battling almost to a stalemate in the Pacific (at a terrible cost of lives), and not able to do much of anything in Europe. A small number of U.S. troops were sent to Africa to help the British that were having a rough time with the German/Italian forces entrenched in the Northern coast, though.

America desperately needed films like this to keep peoples spirits up. Like many Americans, I had relatives in Europe that were literally run over by Hitler's troops - troops that were easily sweeping through European country after country. Would America fall to the German Blitzgrieg? No one knew at that time, and everyone was scared! Films such as this helped rally American workers to produce an unbelievable amount of weapons. The shear number of planes, tanks, artillery, and the like that were turned out played a large part in overwhelming the enemy.

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Ann Miller gets her chance on radio with a fill-in show when Franklin Pangborn takes off from his early-morning classical music show for a vacation. Miss Miller loves swing, and the spinning records turn into the actual performers doing their numbers: Ellington & band "Take the A Train"; Bob Crosby for "Big Noise From Winnetka; two helpings of the Mills Brother, and so forth. Meanwhile the plot has Will Wright and chauffeur Dick Purcell drafted, and both courting Miss Miller; to prove it isn't his money that makes women like him, they switch identities when she's around.

Good music, and Miss Miller goes a big tap routine at the end, so it's all good. What's astonishing to me is that there seems to be no way to cut the Black performers out without trimming the movie to a sub-second-feature length, and ruining the pacing. During this period, specialty numbers by Black performers were placed so they could be removed for the Whites-only theaters in the South.

Built around a thin plot which serves as an excuse to parade a bunch of then current pop bands, singers and comedy acts, this little programmer from Columbia spotlights ANN MILLER in the central role as a disc jockey who directs her show at the U.S. Armed Services.

She gets involved with two young soldiers--WILLIAM WRIGHT (who resembles John Carroll) and DICK PURCELL, has frequent disagreements with her radio boss, and ends up as the feature attraction in a service show where she displays her tap-dancing skills. The plot, almost non-existent, serves as a prop to show some of the performers whose records she plays for the soldiers--including Count Basie, Duke Wellington, Frank Sinatra, Bob Crosby, The Radio Rogues and The Mills Brothers.

In a strictly subordinate role is LARRY PARKS, only a few years away from stardom in "The Jolson Story", but here a virtual unknown as a fellow soldier. IRENE RYAN has a small role as a ditsy secretary.

The acts are standard stuff, except for singer FRANK SINATRA who does a standout job on "Night and Day" and performs before the camera with remarkable ease and poise a few years before becoming a major film star.

Pleasant WWII musical gets a lift from the musical numbers, but it's strictly second-rate as a substantial musical.

The plot lines are thin, but what carries this movie is the music. It is a wartime movie, from a time when people felt more patriotic, so if that isn't your cup of tea then skip this one. If you have no problem with wartime movies and swing/big band music, then you're in for a treat.

I caught myself sitting back and tapping my feet to this gem. Even a glimpse of some of the greats like, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, the oh so young Frank Sinatra and the Mills Brothers is a good thing! Also, watch for Irene Ryan, better known for her role as Granny from the Beverly Hillbillies.

This is a truly awful "B" movie. It is witless and often embarrassing. The plot, the basic "making into show business" routine, is almost nonexistent. In fact, the film is merely an excuse to push the war effort and highlight some popular music groups of 1942, including the Mills Brothers, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Bob Crosby, and Freddy Slack. Each group gets about the standard three minutes, the exception being the Mills Brothers, who for some reason warranted two numbers. Ann Miller doesn't get to dance until the last couple of minutes of the film, and she has little to do but strut her stuff amid a barrage of patriotic propaganda.

The most interesting moment in the film, in my view, occurred in the Duke Ellington segment. The band appears to be playing in a train, standing in awkward positions. (In the deep South at the time, the band was segregated in railroad cars when traveling.) Johnny Hodges is seen next to Duke, and Harry Carney may also be identified. In the last moments of the film, trumpeter/violinist Ray Nance rushes down the aisle to the camera and does an "uncle Tom," bugging his eyes and wiggling his head the way Willy Best did in many films. For modern viewers, especially jazz fans, this homage to segregation is sad indeed. Some movies go best unseen.

From around the time Europe began fighting World War II, until the war's end, Hollywood (with significant prodding from the government) made tons of movies which were designed to try and get young men to enlist in the Army, by making the life of a serviceman appear "cool." This is by far the sloppiest, implying that the life of a soldier is devoid of work, you get the best food, and you get to lie around all day listening to Ann Miller on the radio. I am far too young to have participated in WWII, but I think that there was more to it than that. There is the barest cat's whisker of a plot, and a bunch of musical numbers featuring some of the day's leading acts.

I think that by 1943, even the most naive of civvies knew that there was more going on overseas than the wacky hijinks portrayed in this movie. While I am sure that it was meant to be viewed as escapist entertainment, I can't help but wonder if the family and loved ones of men fighting in the war, were amused or repulsed by this trivialization of their loved ones' sacrifice.