Stage Door Canteen poster & wallpaper

Cheryl Walker, Edgar Bergen, Ethel Merman

A lonely soldier falls for a young stage girl in a serviceman's canteen before being shipped overseas.

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47% liked it

1,173 ratings

Unrated, 2 hrs. 12 min.

Directed by: Frank Borzage

Release Date: January 1, 1943

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DVD Release Date: March 26, 2002

Stats: 29 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (29)

  • jam233
    November 21, 2009
    jam233
    Rather ordinary and routine, designed to lift war morale. The appearances of many major stars from the time is a big plus, and being made in the war years makes it particularly fascinating for me, I've always been a WW2 buff.
  • bballgirl1334
    September 21, 2008
    bballgirl1334
    It was cool seeing so many famous ppl in it.
  • 01MovieMan
    May 5, 2008
    01MovieMan
    This literally star-studded musical drama was largely financed by Theatre Guild, with all proceeds going to various wartime fundraising concerns. Most of the story takes place at the Stage Door Canteen, a Manhattan-based home away from home for soldiers, sailors and marines (the ...( read more)real-life Canteen on 44th street was too busy to lend itself to filming, thus the interiors were recreated in Hollywood). Within the walls of this non-profit establishment, servicemen are entertained by top musical, comedy and dramatic acts, and waited on by such Broadway luminaries as Lunt and Fontanne, Katharine Hepburn, Jane Cowl, Katherine Cornell, Tallulah Bankhead, Helen Hayes, Cornelia Otis Skinner, Sam Jaffe and Paul Muni. Though the plotline-one of the Canteen servers, a girl named Eileen (Cheryl Walker) falls in love with one of the visiting soldiers (William Terry), despite the establishment's strict "no dating" rules-is merely an excuse to link together a series of specialty acts, it is superbly and touchingly directed by Frank Borzage. Not all of the film has weathered the years too well: particularly hard to take is Gracie Fields' cheery ditty about "killing Japs!" For the most part, however, the film works, and the guest performers-including bandleaders Kay Kyser, Guy Lombardo and Xavier Cugat, comedians Ray Bolger, Harpo Marx, George Jessel and Ed Wynn, and singers Ethel Waters and Kenny Baker-are in fine fettle. If nothing else, Stage Door Canteen offers the only appearance on film of the great Katherine Cornell, who offers a vignette of the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. Incidentally, the actor playing "Texas", Michael Harrison, later gained fame as cowboy star Sunset Carson. Originally released at 132 minutes, Stage Door Canteen is now generally available in the 93-minute TV version.

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