The Gang's All Here (1943)
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68% of users liked it
(545 ratings)
Sgt. Andy Mason Jr. (James Ellison) is on the eve of shipping out from New York with his unit -- he's the son of Andrew Mason Sr. (Eugene Pallette), a wealthy, blustery Wall Street financier. While paying respects to his father and the latter's business partner, dithering fuss-budget Peyton… More Sgt. Andy Mason Jr. (James Ellison) is on the eve of shipping out from New York with his unit -- he's the son of Andrew Mason Sr. (Eugene Pallette), a wealthy, blustery Wall Street financier. While paying respects to his father and the latter's business partner, dithering fuss-budget Peyton Potter (Edward Everett Horton), at the Club New Yorker, he spots chorus girl Eadie Allen (Alice Faye) and turns on the charm and all of the allure that the ne'er-do-well son of a Wall Street millionaire can muster. That, however, doesn't impress Eadie, who ignores his invitation so she can do her patriotic bit helping servicemen at the Stage Door Canteen (or, as it's called here, the "Broadway Canteen"). Realizing how down to earth and genuine she is -- exactly the kind of girl who doesn't care about his money or social position -- Andy shows a bit of the boyish innocence he has hidden beneath the arrogance that comes from his background of wealth and privilege, and also some humility, hiding that background and his real name. Before the night and their "date" on the Staten Island Ferry are over, they're genuinely in love with each other, but that presents a problem -- since age 12, Andy has been unofficially "engaged" to Potter's daughter Vivian (Sheila Ryan), who expects to marry him, and he can't quite bring himself to hurt Vivian by telling her that he's met someone else. Flash forward a few months, and Andy is on his way home on leave, a hero in the Pacific, and his father is so proud that he has to do something special to honor him, trying to rent out the Club New Yorker for a party but discovering that it's closed for rehearsals of a new production. Suddenly, his fatherly devotion, patriotism, and Wall Street experience all click together -- he brings the entire performing company, plus Benny Goodman's band, up to his and Potter's adjoining estates in Westchester to stage their act for his upscale neighbors and friends as part of the biggest War Bond rally ever seen (minimum admission a new 5,000-dollar War Bond), and in the process giving his son the biggest party he's ever seen. This leads to more comic turns for Horton's Potter, as a man who would make coffee nervous -- especially around show people -- but delights his ex-dancer wife (Charlotte Greenwood). That's also how Eadie and Vivian end up at the Potter mansion together, comparing notes on their remarkably similar respective fiancés. When the show's star, Dorita (Carmen Miranda), lets the cat out of the bag, it looks like Andy may lose Eadie, who can't bear to lose Andy but also won't even try to take him away from Vivian, who loves him too, but has loved him a lot longer. But while they sort out their romance, the show must go on, and go on it does. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
- Directed By
- Busby Berkeley
- Genres
- Musical & Performing Arts, Romance
- In Theaters
- Dec 24, 1943 Wide
- Studio
- Twentieth Century Fox
Critic Reviews
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Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York
Time and again, you can't believe what you're witnessing...
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Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Busby berekeley's first musical in color is as lurid and eccentric as you would expect, and it's no surpirse that it's become a classic camp, largely due to Carmen Miranda's bananas number.
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Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
The full flowering of Berkeley's particular genius -- and in incredibly saturated Technicolor, no less -- while being a lesser effort as concerns the nonmusical portions.
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Cast
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Alice Faye
as Eadie Allen
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Carmen Miranda
as Dorita
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James Ellison
as Andy Mason
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Charlotte Greenwood
as Mrs. Peyton Potter
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Eugene Pallette
as Mr. Mason Sr.
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Edward Everett Horton
as Peyton Potter
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Phil Baker
as Himself
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Sheila Ryan
as Vivian
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Dave Willock
as Sgt. Casey
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Miriam Lavelle
as Specialty Dancer
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Charles Saggau
as Jitterbug Dancer
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George Dobbs
as Benson
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Leon Belasco
as Waiter
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Lee Bennett Sobel
as Bit Man
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Gabriel Canzoza
as Organ Grinder
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Jeanne Crain
as Bit Part
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Frank Darien
as Doorman
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Frank Faylen
as Marine
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Deidre Gale
as Jitterbug Dancer
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June Haver
as Maybelle
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Hallene Hill
as Old Lady
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Leyland Hodgson
as Butler
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Russell Hoyt
as Sailor
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Al Murphy
as Stage Manager
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Virginia Sale
as Secretary
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Fred Walburn
as Newsboy
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Virginia Wilson
as Dancing Partner
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Robb Wilton
as Bat-man
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Lillian Yarbo
as Maid
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Benny Goodman Orchestra
as Themselves
- Tony De Marco