User reviews

Another film found on the Carmen Miranda DVD Collection, this reunites her with Vivian Blaine and Phil Silvers, and adds actor, Michael O'Shea. Vivian, Phil, and Carmen! are cousins who inherit a grand estate; the trouble - there's no grand to be found, not a cent. Then, the old mansion gets renovated with the help of soldiers, who are based nearby.

Right off the bat, I'll say this would have been more enjoyable (for me, anyway) if there had been a more believable love interest for Vivian other than Michael O'Shea. He doesn't seem to add that extra kick that Power, Ameche, or even Payne, could do with their leading ladies. It's not that O'Shea's not likable; he's just kind of bland and uninteresting. That really factors a lot in my rating of this movie.

Miranda does have a colorful song at the end of the movie, but getting there through some tedious goings-on does get on one's nerves. Carmen and Phil make the most of their roles and make the film as good as can be. This may not be Carmen's best film, but it does have some redeeming moments. Just watch something else first.

One thing I'll mention now, as this is my last review of the Carmen Miranda set, is that I didn't like how they make Carmen Miranda talk badly: not using correct English, mixing up catch-phrases, like it's funny to see her being ignorant, like it's endearing or something. I know I don't write or talk well or correctly all the time, but it gets old and feels somehow demeaning to treat her characters that way.

If you want to see Carmen Miranda and/or discover her for the first time and enjoy her larger-than-life and electrifying performances, buy her DVD set. "Something for the Boys" and "Doll Face" are the weakest of the bunch. But they all showcase a talent and star Hollywood will never see the likes of again.

Many of the Fox musicals were wonderful and fun, particularly ones that starred Alice Faye or Betty Grable. This WW II effort, "Something for the Boys" was marginally okay, starring Vivian Blaine, Carmen Miranda, Phil Silvers, Michael O'Shea, Perry Como, Sheila Ryan, and Glenn Langan - not exactly Alice Faye, John Payne, Cesar Romero et al.

In "Something for the Boys," Silvers, O'Shea, Blaine, and Miranda are cousins and inherit a dilapidated southern mansion in need of fixing and a lot of money to do so. Sergeant Rocky Fulton (O'Shea) thinks it might be a great place to rent so his men could have some place to be with their wives. He says his men will do the work to fix it up, and they do.

To get the rest of the money they need, they put on a show - big surprise there.

For some reason, it is now 2013 and Fox Movie Channel still hasn't fixed this film and put it in the right order. The reels are still all mixed up and we have part of the show before there's a discussion or rehearsal, and by the time Sheila Ryan comes along, you think it's another character because she's already been there and had a scene with Miranda and Blaine. It's a mess.

If you let all that go, if you can, the music is pleasant enough. Perry Como was adorable and sings "I Wish We Didn't Have to Say Goodnight" divinely. Blaine sings the only song intact from the Broadway musical, which is the title song. She was a wonderful talent and livened many a Broadway show. Phil Silvers is funny, as he always was.

Carmen Miranda brings all her energy and talent to this film, as a character who can divine what's playing on the radio -- a talent Silvers late puts to good use.

It's a pleasant movie, very colorful, but be prepared to be plenty confused due to the reels being in the wrong place.

I saw this film in 2001 on American Movie Classics (when that channel was still showing commercial-free classic films). The middle section of the film as shown had three ten minute sections which were scrambled and not shown in the proper order. It was confusing to watch the film as a result. With the aid of two VCRs, I painstakingly copied the film and edited the sections into correct order so that I could view the film properly.

Fox Movie Channel showed the film on Monday (Memorial Day) and I was surprised to see that the same scrambled version that was shown on AMC was shown on the Fox Channel. I would have thought that they would have corrected it by now, seven years later!

The film is being released on DVD next month as part of the Carmen Miranda Collection. I'm wondering whether the DVD will have a correct version or whether it will still be the messed up version.

Carmen Miranda at her funniest as Chiquita Hart... imagine Phil Silvers and her as cousins..and they inherit a house down South and turn it into a place for wartime wives..

Look for a young Perry Como singing 'I wish we didn't have to say goodnight'....

If you are a Carmen Miranda fan, try to see this film.

As is the usual case with Cole Porter shows, they never arrive intact to the big screen. In the case of Something For The Boys only the title song at the very beginning of the film and sung by Vivian Blaine is kept in the score.

Vivian Blaine has the part that Ethel Merman played on stage for the 422 performance Broadway run. She is one of three disparate cousins who inherit a rundown old southern mansion that saw its best days during the run of the Confederate States Of America. The other cousins are Carmen Miranda and Phil Silvers. Their grandfather must have led an interesting life. While they're deciding what to do with the dilapidated house, their savior comes in the person of Sergeant Michael O'Shea. In a character obviously based on Glenn Miller, O'Shea is a bandleader drafted into the army and he hits upon the idea of converting the mansion into a guest house for army wives. And in the tradition of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland they decide to put on a show to raise the needed capital to fix the house up.

The rest of the score is composed by Jimmy McHugh and Harold Adamson and truly nothing memorable comes from it. Perry Como plays a small part and only sings. He never really clicked as a film star.

Romantic complications ensue when Sheila Ryan shows up also and she and O'Shea were an item before the war. Ryan is one of those southern belles dripping with honeysuckle and acid.

And of course we've got Carmen Miranda and that's always a treat.

Despite the emasculation of the Cole Porter score, Something For The Boys is pleasant enough entertainment about three cousins doing their bit for the war effort.

I just saw this early this morning on the Fox channel quite by accident (my dog woke me up) - I had seen it years ago and thought I remembered it fairly well. As a kid, I had enjoyed it. But now? As another poster commented, several of the reels were out of order, and while it was disorienting at first, and bizarre, it seemed to fit the production - what was just awful became surreal and amusing. Musical numbers for what I think was the "big" fundraiser show("you're in show business, I'm in show business, most of the kids are in show business, let's put on a show")come out of nowhere BEFORE all the talk about putting on a show, and then fade without applause to totally unrelated "straight" scenes. The leading man's girlfriend shows up, spits out lines and lines of dialogue, then disappears. I was half awake, and loved every insane minute of it.

I first seen this movie when I was a boy during the 1940's and liked it very much. I liked it both as a comedy and for the musical numbers. Vivian Blaine was superb, as normal. Too bad Perry Como didn't sing more. I then seen this movie on Turner Movie Classics and now found it to be an okay movie but not one Carmen Miranda's best. Miranda is still very good in it but should of had more to do. Phil Silvers stole the movie and was great. Why would they give the name "Chiquita" to a Brazilian? In Brazil they speak Portuguese not Spanish. Chiquita is Spanish for Petite and sometimes used to mean Girlfriend. In most of Miranda's movies they even give her words to say and though she spoke Spanish. Still a very enjoyable movie. It was also fun to see Judy Holiday, June Haver and Cara Williams who were uncredited at the time.

Among them Carmen Miranda and Phil Silvers, for me to enjoy the movie. Individually I would not have minded but both in one movie was too much. Michael O'Shea and Vivian Blaine were very good and the musical and dancing numbers were terrific. Some of the unintentionally cornball stuff and poor script made the audience burst out laughing far too often in all the wrong places. I gave it a 5 out of 10. A young Perry Como with energy was a delight to see and hear.

Another one of those assembly line tortured Cole Porter musicals. He'd crank out pithy entertainments only to have Hollywood turn them into yet another lame gutless wonder.

This outing is especially egregious when the Z-grade production starts with a number featuring the lead actress in an outfit they obviously had laying around for a MUCH taller actress.

Worse is the way they costume the backup dancers. Red and white striped spangled pants sticking out of a bodice that hitches up so far in the back it looks more like fan service from a bad anime.

The rest of the movie got so bad we bailed 20 minutes in.

Another lackluster Carmen Miranda vehicle.

This is my first review of the next few days of what I'm going to call "war musicals", as this was made in and reflected (somewhat here) the condition of the World War II times. This was based on a Cole Porter musical on Broadway but only his title song is intact in this film version which is sung by leading lady Vivian Blaine. Most of the others are original songs by Jimmy McHugh and Harold Adamson. An exception to those is a number performed by Carmen Miranda. Nevertheless, I was entertained by all of them. Anyway, Ms. Blaine, Ms. Miranda, and Phil Silvers find out they're cousins when they find out they've each inherited a mansion in the South. The dilapidated state it's in makes them wish to rid of it but an Army Sergeant (Michael O'Shea) offers to rent it for his men and their wives for some R 'n' R. In order to raise money, they put on a show...Like I said, I liked the songs and the comedy bits involving the kitchen and an invention later on were quite hilarious to me. The only thing I didn't like was the contrived conflict between O'Shea and Ms. Blaine over the former's ex (Sheila Ryan). But other than that, I found Something for the Boys very entertaining from beginning to end especially during the two numbers of Ms. Miranda. P.S. Ms. Ryan had previously appeared in Laurel & Hardy's first two Fox features-Great Guns and A-Haunting We Will Go. And watch for future Amazing Colossal Man Glenn Langan as a Southern Lieutenant. And famous crooner Perry Como sings a couple of the songs. Oh, and Judy Holliday makes an appearance in the beginning...

This is a Carmen Miranda movie, and she's is the main reason to endure the rest of it. For instance: the manic-anything-for-a-laugh humor of Phil Silvers only occasionally raises above annoyance, the lead Michael O'Shea is singularly charmless, the meandering plot poorly peeled off the Cole Porter Broadway success is pretty silly--and only one Porter song makes an appearance in the first ten minutes. So why watch it at all? Miranda dazzles and sparkles and plays with the King's English in full Fox Technicolor drag, and there's a chorus number in pink polka dot aprons that is great top-tapping fun; Vivian Blaine sings a few forgettable numbers in the wistful Alice Faye style, and if you look closely, you can see Judy Holliday in a bit role. Verdict: Fun for patient Miranda fans or fans of World War II patriotic flag-wavers; perhaps a bit silly for most modern viewers. Major bonus: Extras include an hour-long near-definitive biography of Carmen Miranda, which, in some ways, is better than the film

Mild musical boosted by Miranda's sheer pizazz. I love that wacky part where her tooth tunes into a radio station. Heck, that's even better than an iPhone. It's a TCF production, which means well-stocked production numbers with lots of girls kicking up their heels. I guess that's what they mean by the title. Then there's Phil Silvers doing an early version of Sgt. Bilko and talking faster than a machine gun spits bullets, along with a fetching Vivian Blaine as eye candy. And catch a young Perry Como doing his tunes in typically sleepy time fashion.

But a chuncky O'Shea seems an odd choice of leading man for a musical. Nonetheless, this was wartime, so the leading man pool was limited. All in all, the songs may not be memorable, while, the script underplays the promising premise. Still, there's Miranda doing her wacky bit, plus lots of colorful stage bits, and a share of chuckles. So the musical may not be front-rank, but does have its compensations, and even now, remains 'something for the boys'.

Some of the flashy Fox musicals of the '40s with Betty Grable or June Haver were fun and very watchable, especially when the leading men were actors like John Payne or Don Ameche who could both act and sing.

But Alice Faye and Betty Grable must have been busy elsewhere or maybe turned down this script--which is pretty likely--and Fox used its second string Faye replacement, VIVIAN BLAINE, to play the gal who sings her heart out in some forgettable ballads full of the usual romantic clichés. They surrounded Blaine with some good talent--namely PHIL SILVERS and CARMEN MIRANDA--but gave her MICHAEL O'SHEA for a leading man, a guy who obviously doesn't belong in a musical and wishes he were somewhere else.

Script troubles defeat everyone, especially Miranda and Silvers, who play cousins (hard to believe, I know), who use their Southern mansion as a shelter for war wives while their hubbies play military games. The thin and very predictable story gets no help from a bevy of songs that never landed on the hit parade, although the splashy Technicolor numbers have all the gaudy splendor that Fox was famous for--all to no avail.

PERRY COMO tosses off a slow ballad with a modest amount of charm, and VIVIAN BLAINE warbles a sweet ballad in Alice Faye's throaty style (especially in the scene where she pretends making a play for GLENN LANGAN), but Carmen Miranda's comic abilities are wasted on a ridiculous role and Phil Silver's big song and dance number is strictly for the birds.

In fact, that can describe the whole picture--it's definitely not "something for the boys", that's for sure.

The premise for "Something for the Boys" is one of the least likely in film history due to some VERY strange casting decisions. The film begins with three cousins(?) learning that they are heirs to the estate of some obscure uncle. Here is where it gets crazy--one is Vivian Blaine, another is Phil Silvers and the last is the Brazilian bombshell, Carmen Miranda! Apart from casting Hattie McDaniel as one of the cousins, these three are about as unlike as possible and make the film completely ridiculous.

The trio soon lean that there really isn't any money--just a dilapidated old mansion. They are miserable until a guy from a local Army base comes by to see if maybe they can use Magnolia Manor as a guest house for Army wives--and the soldiers even agree to restore the old place. Soon, it looks like a model home (it's just too perfect) and the wives start coming. However, money is still a problem for the cousins, so they do what anyone would do during this era--they decide to put on a show!! This is one of the bigger clichés of the era--something Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland popularized in their films.

Here is the weird part about all this--I liked the songs (which is not usual for me)! However, I also grew to HATE Phil Silvers and Carmen Miranda, as a little of their shtick goes a long way (such as Phil's black-face routine and Carmen's radio antics), but here they are the stars of the film and their 'antics' were very tiresome after a while. Overall, a wildly uneven and strange film--mostly of interest because you get to hear Perry Como's lovely singing. Otherwise, a lightweight piece of fluff you could easily skip.

This is one for the Golden Turkey book. It's another of those "putting on a show" flicks. The dialogue is turgid. The music is terrible. The costumes may be the worst ever. And the Nick Castle choreography is hilariously dreadful. Check it out, oh ye who love bad flicks. Only Perry Como is tolerable.

As so often happened in this period, Cole Porter's songs from the Michael Todd show that this was nominally based on were cut, except that Carmen Miranda sings a snatch of the title song at the beginning. It's understandable, since Michael Todd produced adult shows and the lyrics are among Porter's most risqué, including the hilarious 'Leader of a Big Time Band.' In fact, it would seem that they threw away everything but the title.

The replacement songs are all right, although strictly 'B' level. The photography is that startling bizarre Fox Musical special and the choreography by Nick Castle is, as always, riveting -- especially in the number in which Vivian Blaine is leading a bunch of chorines who are dressed in aprons, and high heels -- and flesh-colored body stockings, of course. There is a plot of sort, appropriate to a wartime musical, Perry Como is inert during his two songs, Phil Silvers plays his high-pressure con man and Carmen Miranda -- well, I don't like Carmen Miranda. Any time.

Vivian Blaine, playing a straight lead with her 'cherry blonde' hair is fine: a real cutie-pie. In a few years she would play Miss Adelaide in GUYS AND DOLLS and, despite a long and healthy career, is not now known for anything else. The amount of talent that Hollywood threw away was always astounding.

The plot would have us believe that Miss Blaine, Miss Miranda and Phil Silvers are cousins. After working out the justification for that, the writers seem to have given up. Maybe you should too.

Once a staple of studio production, this kind of picture now gives movie musicals a bad name. Especially in the light of what was produced subsequently, such a picture becomes an easy target. Paper-thin story line, forgettable songs throughout, less than memorable performances: Fox tried its best with what it had, but the studio could not approach the level of an MGM musical.

Here, as elsewhere, they cast as a leading man in a musical an actor without discernible singing or dancing talent (Michael O'Shea, meet John Payne, Don Ameche, Tyrone Power). While it is nice to see Vivian Blaine get a chance in a leading role, she is an unremarkable singer and not much of a dancer. Note how she does a few simple steps while the chorines and chorus boys are very busy around her, supposedly creating the impression that she is the star performer in a production number. Fox did the same with Alice Faye and even Betty Grable, who was a hoofer.

Frequently, the studio would upgrade the musical comedy quotient of such pictures with first-rate specialty acts, whose inclusion had nothing to do with the story line, or charismatic supporting players such as Carmen Miranda. Alas, the latter - as great as she is - cannot overcome the limitations of the two mediocre numbers she has to work with here. Even the stuff on her head is unimpressive.

Phil Silvers comes across better than in most of his films, but Perry Como was evidently instructed not to move any muscles except those necessary to emit the lyrics.

Indeed, there have been worse musicals. But given the available personnel and production values, this one should go back to the vault, and stay there.

Anybody who likes Technicolor musicals made during World War II may get a kick out of this. At the same time it is easy to see why it won't appeal to all tastebuds. There's a good deal to like about 'Something for the Boys', but it could also have been much better.

Don't go looking for a great story here. Admittedly the stories were often weak points of a lot of Technicolor WWII-period musicals, but 'Something for the Boys' is particularly so, being little more than a silly wafer thin trifle with a lot of over-obviousness and a sometimes very odd structure, almost like it was not in order. The script has occasional energy and wit, particularly from Carmen Miranda and Phil Silvers, but too often is by-the-numbers and painfully cornball.

The romance is underdeveloped and doesn't feel much like one, while Michael O'Shea is rather bland, charmless and like he wanted to be somewhere else. The choreography is a mixed bag, electrifying with Carmen Miranda but too much of everywhere else is done indifferently.

However, 'Something for the Boys' still looks positively lovely, with lavish set and costume design, big, bold, rich colours that leap out at the screen that always dazzle rather than nauseate and photographed in a way that shows a lot of love and care. The music is pleasant and has energy and beauty, but some fare more memorably than others, Perry Como and Miranda having the best of them.

Vivian Blaine brings a lot of polish, charm and passion to the film and sings soulfully. Perry Como (although restricted pretty much to just singing) sings with soul and verve, and Sheila Ryan and Cara Williams have fun.

Miranda comes very close to stealing the film, with her unique stage presence, her wonderfully colourful and wild outfits, her hilariously exaggerated facial expressions and butchered English. Her numbers have the most colour and most exuberance and Miranda performs the heck out of them. Phil Silvers shows that he has a talent for comedy and can be funny, which wasn't always the case in a few of his films where he was overused and made to act grating. Here in 'Something for the Boys', like Miranda, he comes very close to stealing the show, particularly terrific in a routine that indebts much to his vaudeville background.

All in all, pretty mixed for me, some good elements but also an equal number of elements that could have been much better. 5/10 Bethany Cox

The song is "I'm in the Middle of Nowhere", about halfway through the film, sung by Perry Como, and then by Vivian Blaine. You can't find a recording of this song, but it is also sung in 1946's Somewhere in the Night, even more lovely, by Nancy Guild, at the 57 minute mark. Don't miss it.