Greenwich Village (1944)

In 1922, a would-be classical composer gets involved with people putting on a musical revue.

Director:

Walter Lang

Writers:

Earl Baldwin (screenplay), Walter Bullock (screenplay),

Stars:

Carmen Miranda, Don Ameche, William Bendix

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Carmen Miranda	...	Princess Querida O'Toole
Don Ameche	...	Kenneth Harvey
William Bendix	...	Danny O'Mara
Vivian Blaine	...	Bonnie Watson
Felix Bressart	...	Hofer
Tony De Marco	...	Himself
Sally De Marco	...	Herself
The Revuers	...	Musical Ensemble
B.S. Pully	...	Brophy
The Four Step Brothers	...	Themselves
Emil Rameau	...	Kavosky
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Paul Hurst	...	Milkman (scenes deleted)

Storyline

In 1922, novice composer Kenneth Harvey arrives in New York from Kansas, hoping to publish his concerto; he meets speakeasy owner Danny O'Mara, who hopes to put on a broadway show. Ken's affairs take a turn for the better when he falls for singer Bonnie Watson. But while he labors on orchestration, O'Mara is surreptitiously adapting his tunes to the Greenwich Village Gaieties.

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Plot Keywords:

composer | concerto | speakeasy | ballroom | behind the scenes | 

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Taglines:

HIT OF HITS!!! IN TECHNICOLOR! (original print ad - all caps)

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Genres:

Musical

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 February 1945 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Samba d'amore

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Revuers (Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Judy Holliday and Alvin Hammer) received billing (as a group), but their one musical number, "The Baroness Bazooka," was cut from the release print. Their remaining roles are little better than extras.

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Goofs

The story takes place in the 1920s, but all of the women's hairstyles, makeup and costumes, as well as all of the musical arrangements are strictly 1944.

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Connections

Edited into Carmen Miranda (1969)

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Soundtracks

"Barney Google"
(uncredited)
Music by Con Conrad
Played when Ken gets into Danny's Den, followed by Danny himself

User Reviews

Not Your Great Grandfather's Village By A Stretch

Anyone looking for the Greenwich Village of bygone days will be sadly disillusioned by this film. The area known for all time for its Bohemian atmosphere and now for its outrageously overpriced just about everything will not be found here. Club owner William Bendix isn't even fond of bootleg whiskey in his joint as he's continually throwing out bootlegger Tom Dugan from his place. Of all the places in New York State during the Twenties where Governor Alfred E. Smith stated publicly he would not enforce prohibition, Greenwich Village was the area that flouted the Volstead Act the most with impunity and flare.

The score for Greenwich Village is made up mostly of old standards and the film was an opportunity for Darryl Zanuck to launch a new musical star in the tradition of Alice Faye and Betty Grable. Vivian Blaine was 'introduced' in Greenwich Village and in film she never quite got the success the other two ladies did. She did best on Broadway, most unforgettably as Adelaide in Guys And Dolls. The new songs were nothing to remember.

Young Don Ameche arrives in Manhattan from Wichita, Kansas where he was a professor of music there and he's written a concerto. No big market for concertos, but there's a passage in the concerto that sounds promising to William Bendix. It turns out to be the big hit song from the beginning of the Roaring Twenties, Whispering. Bendix has big ideas wanting to put on a big revue and if he can't get Ameche's bankroll which he's carrying, he'd sure like a loan on his talent.

It's all an excuse to put on a lot of numbers, but Greenwich Village seems to lack the creative flair of 20th Century Fox's earlier films with Betty Grable and Alice Faye. William Bendix, borrowed from Paramount where he mostly played good natured mugs, just does not strike one as a would be Ziegfeld. Carmen Miranda is just Carmen Miranda and she's the best thing about Greenwich Village.

Just not the best musical Fox ever put out.