The MGM musical circus had left Culver City a few years earlier by the time the studio decided to film this 1930s stage extravaganza. The result is bright and competent enough (and it retains most of the wonderful Rodgers & Hart songs), but ten years earlier the Arthur Freed Unit would have sharpened up the book, included a lot more dancing and had a superior leading man (Stephen Boyd is a disaster in this movie). Doris Day sings the standards very well, and - stealing the film - Jimmy Durante (who gives a glorious rendition of "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World") and Martha Raye are memorable in support.
Review of Billy Rose's Jumbo
