Steineded How sad is this?

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

dougdoepke The storyline follows 20's singer Ruth Etting's climb from obscurity to show-biz heights, thanks in part to gangster Moe Snyder's leverage and scheming. At the same time, Etting has to straighten out her love life without alienating the temperamental Snyder.As I recall, the movie had a lot of hoopla in '55. No doubt, it was a change of pace for the fast rising Day and a revival for tough guy Cagney. Plus, there's the lavish staging in candybox Cinemascope and MGM's promise of big production numbers. Unsurprisingly, it was a big box office success. After sixty years, I finally caught up with the production the other night, but was somewhat disappointed. Of course, Day's tuneful warbling can do no wrong and is the two-hours' best part. Still, it's not really a musical since the dramatic side overshadows Day's numbers. But then the scenario was supposed to feature a dramatic Day, apparently a chance to show her chops in a dramatic change of pace. Trouble is her Ruth Etting is in an almost uniformly bad mood, which may be a real change in Day's usual sunny roles, but is out of sync with singer Etting's (Day) ascendant career. You would think success would bring about a few smiles, but no such luck for either us or the movie.Then there's Cagney who's swallowed an even bigger lemon than Day, snarling the whole way through. How Etting could stand Snyder's (Cagney) company in any capacity seems inexplicable. No doubt the actor made an unforgettable gangster, in Public Enemy (1931). But here, the constant snarling seems more caricature than expressive of his role. I suspect the movie appealed to 50's audiences for its novel pairing of two popular stars from opposite ends of the spectrum. That particular appeal, however, has worn off with the years. To me, the movie appears regrettably flawed despite the entertaining musical moments. But, at least, the charming Day was able to show she had a dramatic side even if unfortunately overdone.

Gerry Nelson Doris Day, star of many light musical comedies, proves that she can REALLY act, as well as SING in this movie.As Ruth Etting, songstress from the 1920's, she meets small-time Chicago hood Marty Snyder (James Cagney) who meets Ruth at a "ten cents a dance" emporium. In his efforts to bed Ruth, Marty agrees to use his influence to manage her singing career. He even hires Johnny Alderman (Cameron Mitchell) to be her coach at Ruth's request. Remarkably, Marty learns the business quickly. With Ruth's talent and Marty's arm twisting she soon becomes a star, first in Chicago, then New York, on to Zigfield, then Hollywood. Along the way she agrees to marry Cagney. The film was nominated for 6 Oscars, winning for best writing. In my opinion, Cagney and Day both deserved Oscars for acting, and the musical score is wonderful. I will always remember this film for the fantastic talent displayed by Day, who sings as I never knew she could.

John T. Ryan WE SEE THAT this film is classified as being "A Musical." We beg to disagree. To our way of thinking, it is a Biopic about the life of a well known singer(albeit highly fictionalized). Any musical numbers portrayed are taking place either in an entertainment venue (night club, theater, movie sound stage) or in a practice/rehearsal. Ergo, the conclusion is: it's not a musical.FURTHER COMPLICATING THE story is accomplished with the intrusion of a local Gangster (Cagney) into the life of singer-wannabe, Ruth Etting (Doris Day). While the the story is highly fictionalized, this is one element of the story that rings true.THE STORY TRACES the relationship between the unlikely pair; starting with his observing her while she toiled as a 10 cents a dance girl. He was a racketeer, who operated a laundry business; which was supplemented with the use of good old fashioned extortion.THE MUSIC IS outstanding, the Technicolour breathtaking, the costuming first rate. Added to the 1920's sets and automobiles transform this into a first rate Period Piece.IN ADDITION TO Miss Doris Day and Mr. James Cagney, the cast features Cameron Mitchell and a cast of supporting players such as: Harry Bellaver, Tom Tully and others.WE FIND IT to be interesting and ironic that such great film work was done by both Doris Day and James Cagney at MGM: while both were under contract with Warner Brothers for so long. (Just another meaningless observation of ours.)"Recommended!"

marcslope One of the more adult mid-'50s musicals, and it's surprising that it came out of MGM, which generally preferred happy-happy song-and-dance shows, and starred two big stars who had never before worked at Culver City. Day and Cagney are tremendous, she playing up Ruth Etting's unattractive ambition without flinching, and he bringing unexpected charm to a thoroughly unlikable gangster character. As a study of how bad relationships stay stuck in the groove, it's remarkably grown-up for its day, and you might not expect these two stars to play well off each other, but they certainly do. The downside: Ruth Etting had a small, chirpy voice, rather like her contemporaries Janet Gaynor or Nancy Carroll, and Day's vocal delivery is nothing like hers. She sings like... Doris Day. Nor are the arrangements anything like period--they're standard mid-'50s overkill. The costumes and hairstyles don't even pretend to be '20s. And though much is made of Miss Etting's film career--you'd have thought she was a great movie musical star--her Hollywood sojourn was actually brief and unimpressive. Finally, there's that audience depressant Cameron Mitchell as her love interest, and you can't get very interested in him, or root for him. After so many vacuous sunny-side-up musicals at Warners, Day must have relished this opportunity to show what she could really do, and it's very worth sitting through to watch the Day-Cagney fireworks. I guess an accurate portrayal of Ruth Etting and her times would be asking too much.