You Can't Have Everything (1937)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Norman Taurog

Writers:

Harry Tugend (screenplay) &
Jack Yellen (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

3 August 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Plot:

Starving playwright Judith Wells meets playboy writer of musicals, George Macrae, over a plate of stolen spaghetti...

Plot Keywords:

Playwright | Producer | Spaghetti | Stage Play | Music Store

Cast

Alice Faye	...	Judith Poe Wells
The Ritz Brothers	...	Themselves (as Ritz Brothers)
Don Ameche	...	George Macrae
Charles Winninger	...	Sam Gordon
Gypsy Rose Lee	...	Lulu Riley (as Louise Hovick)
David Rubinoff	...	Himself (as Rubinoff)
Arthur Treacher	...	Bevins
Tony Martin	...	Bobby Walker
Phyllis Brooks	...	Evelyn Moore
Wally Vernon	...	Jerry
Tip Tap & Toe	...	Specialty Dancers (as Tip, Tap and Toe)
Louis Prima	...	Orchestra Leader
George Humbert	...	Tony Romano
Jed Prouty	...	Mr. Whiteman
Dorothy Christy	...	Blonde

Runtime:

100 min | USA:95 min (FMC Library Print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The film debut of Gypsy Rose Lee.

Quotes:

Lulu Riley: Why don't you go out and look for a nice fatal accident?

Soundtrack:

Danse Rubinoff

Fox Musical Stars at their Best

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.