You Can't Have Everything (1937)

Really Surprised!

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

As clichéd as this sounds, while there are better film musicals out there than 'You Can't Have Everything' there are also much worse as well. 'You Can't Have Everything' is patchy but also enormously enjoyable.While it is said often that people don't see musicals for stories, or shouldn't expect too much from them, the story here is unlikely and over-stretched, sometimes going overboard with the silliness. Not everybody in the cast come off as well as they could. There is too much of the Ritz Brothers, and a few of their scenes do go on for too long and bog down the film. Their material is also a mixed bag, sometimes entertaining and sometimes too noisy and tiresome.Tony Martin is too stiff and mannered in his role, never looking very comfortable, but he does undeniably sing gloriously (he always did in his films but rarely came off well as an actor). Charles Winninger is rather subdued in an under-utilised and blandly written role, though he does get one very funny line. Violinist/radio personality David Rubinoff plays beautifully but didn't really see the point to him being there personally.However, Alice Faye is just delightful, having so much energy but also giving a lot of substance to her acting. Don Ameche is a very charming and witty partner, and Gypsy Rose Lee's hoot of a performance comes very close to stealing the show. Louis Prima is tremendously exuberant, and Tip, Tap and Toe have an electrifying tap dance routine that is choreographically 'You Can't Have Everything's' highlight. Phyllis Brooks and Wally Vernon give snappy support and Arthur Treacher is amusing.'You Can't Have Everything' also looks very pleasing, very nicely shot and well designed. The songs are both sparkling and gorgeously romantic, especially the title song, "Please Pardon Us We're in Love", "Danger Love at Work" and "Afraid to Dream". Norman Taurog directs efficiently, with his one fault being that he could have done more to reign in the Ritz Brothers, and the script sparkles with wit and energy. Two of the best lines coming from Gypsy Rose Lee, but Ameche's quip likening exercise to going to the funerals of his athletic friends is a scream.On the whole, so much to enjoy but patchy. 7/10 Bethany Cox

That's as in Alice, not Dunaway. But, you'll never know how much you'll love her until you see some of her pre 1940's work when she really was the queen of the Fox musical, filled with more pip and pizazz that the Zanuck studio would when they signed another blonde named Betty Grable. Back then, Alice Faye was pluckier and sexier, not quite like Harlow (as she had been during her earlier days), but certainly tougher, and not so Ann Harding like when they began to make her characters more long suffering.The story here has her as a starving playwright who sings for her supper in an Italian restaurant after revealing she doesn't have money for the two healing helpings of spaghetti she scarfed down. Drunk theatrical producer Don Ameche decides to secretly help her out, with objections from his boss, Charles Winninger, and his socialite stalker, Louise Hovick, aka Gypsy Rose Lee, who claims to be married to him. Ameche's aided by the silly Ritz Brothers, and by chance, Ameche tries to get her to star in his big musical (which she hates) so he can get rid of his pain in the butt diva star, Phyllis Brooks, whom everybody seems to hate. Clara Blandick ("Auntie Em") plays a nasty customer in the music shop in Faye's home town which indicates why she left there in the first place. I'm wondering, however, if there was an opening scene with Faye cut from the film in this provincial hovel of babbity people like Blandick that made her decide to leave in the first place. Hovick/Gypsy is so camp in her deliciously bad acting, but it fits her off screen image.This is the 20th Century Fox musical at its delightful best, with Faye joined by real life husband #1 Tony Martin in the show within the movie scenes. Ameche gets to sing as well, a sign of things to come when he later sent on to become a musical comedy star himself on Broadway. Of course, this has all the formulatic elements that many 1930's and 40's musicals had, but it works here very well. The Ritz Brothers are very funny in a production number about long underwear. The title may be true in life, buy as far as this film is concerned, it couldn't be further from the truth, but that's a good thing.

Director Norman Taurog has a witty script and the top musical performers on the Fox lot to direct, and he delivers. The plot is all too familiar and implausible, but the dialogue sparks it. Leads Alice Faye and Don Ameche are at their most charming and natural, and Faye has a couple of solid hit songs. Too bad Ameche wasn't as lucky. The Ritz Brothers have integrated roles in the plot, ample screen time and deliver several excellent numbers. Tip, Tap & Toe wow with a fine eccentric tap number just before the production number (a clinker) at the end of the film. Character comedian Charles Winninger is somewhat wasted in a largely straight role, but Gypsy Rose Lee (billed under her real name, Louise Hovick, gets a break as a playing the snarky "other woman." Tony Martin has fine pipes but comes off a bit smarmy and mannered in his numbers, and Rubinoff on screen is proof why he was better on radio. Phyllis Brooks and Wally Vernon also deliver snappy bits. Definitely one of the better of 20th Century Zanuck's musicals, although he can't resist his cheesily costumed chorus cuties whose talents are best on display without moving or talking. One chorine with a platter on her head traipsed pigeon-toed down a staircase in a Tony Martin number--at first I thought she was Harry Ritz. I'll watch this film again just to see the Ritz Brothers and Tip, Tap & Toe.

"You Can't Have Everything" is a splendidly tuneful, enormously entertaining Fox musical, directed by Norman Taurog, starring Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Charles Winninger, and, of course, the Ritz Brothers. This is one of three splendid & spirited musicals Alice Faye made at Fox in 1937. The other two are "On the Avenue" and "Wake Up and Live".Faye, sweet and vulnerable, plays an impoverished playwright named Judith Poe Wells, a descendant of Edgar Allan Poe, who writes plays livid with social significance and realism. She is convinced that it is her sacred duty to live up to the talent her family inherits. As the film opens, Judith accidentally meets a handsome Broadway insider named George Macrae (Ameche) in a Romano Italian restaurant when she fails to pay her plate of spaghetti. Macrae falls in love with Judith and persuades her to turn her into a showbiz sensation. But Judith is not interested in musical comedies or what she calls "usual George Macrae tripe". Rather, she wants serious dramas that depict life's struggles and harshness. Much to Judith's dismay, Macrae nevertheless tells his boss Sam Gordon (Winninger) about her play "North Winds" ("a play about the vital problems that confront womanhood in the frozen north") and ways of turning it into a musical comedy. Macrae's former girl Lulu (Gypsy Rose Lee) shows up and spoils the show by revealing something about Macrae's past and one night while he was drunk. The Ritz Brothers, for once, are immensely enjoyable as their perform their remarkable comic acts and musical numbers. Their acts are perfectly integrated with the story. It was really a hoot to watch them. Also the film features a fantastic dance specialty by Tip, Tap, Toe, which anticipate those by Nicholas Brothers in the later Fox musicals.Among the musical highlights, my absolute favorites are Faye's poignant rendition of the title tune (which kind of reminded me of her unforgettable "You'll Never Know" number in the classic 1943 musical "Hello, Frisco, Hello"), and the lively "Danger, Love at Work". But that's not all. Also look for "Afraid to Dream" and "Please Pardon Us We are in Love".Don't miss "You Can't Have Everything" if you love all-time classic musicals.