8/10
A New Star Is Born: Alice Sings "You Nasty Man!"
20 September 2021
There's nothing dull about this film; One could cite it as frequently tasteless, sometimes outrageous, often silly--but there's no moments when you want to flip through a magazine until the next musical number--this one crams all kinds of colorful costumes and genuinely wacky ideas into 80 fun-packed minutes--I can't think of another music so full of action and song--not all of them memorable, but each highly individual, and one so hideously tasteless it puts Jolson's "Goin To Heaven On a Mule" to shame.

Unfortunately, Alice Faye's best number is also her only solo number, but it's the vibrant "Oh You Nasty Man." completely with plenty of lively lassies in lush flashy satins, and even features one miniaturized sweetie who perches on the edge of a cocktail glass, ready to dive in.

For those of us used to Dick Powell as a 30's musical lead, Rudy Vallee is a bit of a stick, but he has several duets, and in a trio with Jimmy Durante and Cliff Edwards and three helpless babies, seems to be having a good time. And it's got a final line spoken by George White himself that's pure naughty pre-code.

And that's the spirit of this offbeat, nutty musical--it isn't always good in the vein of the best musical of the period, Love Me Tonight, and it doesn't always leave you humming in the manner those Dubin-Warren Golddigger Movies, but it's a lovely, wacky, funny and even charming 80 minutes of gossamer Show Biz. That's worth 8 stars to me!
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