The son (Mickey Rooney) of ex-vaudevillians has show business in his blood. He decides to round up the kids of other ex-vaudevillians and put on a show in a rented barn where they can all be discovered and sent to Broadway. Based on the Rodgers and Hart musical, the film version tossed out all of the score except
Babes In Arms and
Where Or When. Missing in action are such hits as
My Funny Valentine,
The Lady Is A Tramp,
Johnny One Note and
I Wish I Were In Love Again. This hokey bit of piffle has its charms, mainly because of the kinetic Rooney (though his Oscar nomination for this film is puzzling) who gets a chance to show his talent for mimicry and bubbly Judy Garland, but parts of it positively creak. And while I understand times were different, it's hard to watch the minstrel number with Rooney and Garland in blackface and I could have done without the big flag waving patriotic finale. The energetic direction is by Busby Berkeley. With Charles Winninger, Guy Kibbee, Margaret Hamilton, Henry Hull, Ann Shoemaker, Betty Jaynes, Douglas McPhail and the rubber limbed June Preisser.
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