Customer Reviews

Hollywood Canteen

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Hollywood Canteen" gives a chance for pretty much every talent under contract to Warner Brothers to entertain the troops before they go off to World War II. The plot, such as it is, has two soldiers, Slim (Robert Hutton) and Sergeant (Dane Clark), on sick leave and spending three fun filled nights at the Hollywood Canteen. Slim is the one-millionth soldier to enter the canteen so he gets a date with Joan Leslie, with whom he promptly falls in love. Meanwhile, Sergeant gets to dance with Joan Crawford. Canteen President Bette Davis and Vice-President John Garfield talk up the history of the place. But the main attraction is the entertainment. The Andrews Sisters, Roy Rogers, Kitty Carlisle and even Jane Wyman provide some of the songs, Joseph Szigeri and Jack Benny play the violin, Rosario and Antonio dance to "Voodoo Moon," and stars Barbara Stanwyck, Paul Henreid, Ida Lupino, Peter Lorre and the rest entertain the boys in their own way. Not quite as entertaining as "Stage Door Canteen," made in 1943 with Katharine Hepburn and mainly Broadway talent, this 1944 film written and directed by Delmer Davis also documents how the stars of stage and screen did their best for the War Effort.

This is a truly wonderful work! From the beginning, the movie grabs at American patriotism, pulling on the WWII heart strings. Offering an artful blend of romanticism with humor, it causes one to wish for better days when men were gentlemen and women were ladies. A must have for any collection!

Having been fortunate to have been SERVED at "THE" canteen I have found this to be a true story of the canteen. True Robert Hutton's romance with Joan Leslie was not a fact, however, it gave us guys a sense of enjoying our many fantasies. This film was very entertaining, in my eyes, and I'm certain many of us who were fortunate the have visited the Hollywood canteen feel much the same. I was in Hollywood recently and went to the site. It doesn't look the same but I imagined I was standing in line to enter.

Not the greatest film ever made by far BUT it does have an all star(mostly cameos)cast headed by BETTE DAVIS which makes it more than worth seeing.

SOME HERE MISS THE POINT OF THIS FILM. THIS WAS GREAT IN THAT THIS MOVIE PROJECTED THE AMERICA MOST WANTED TO BELIEVE THEY WERE FIGHTING FOR AT THE TIME. AN AMERICA OF EQUALS WHERE THE STARS WERE ALL REALLY JUST TRUE BLUE AMERICANS JUST LIKE US, AND IN THIS NATION THE PRETTY MOVIE STAR WILL FALL IN LOVE WITH THE MODEST G.I.! I HOPE THIS FILM WILL COME OUT IN DVD!

FRANK
(A HISTORY TEACHER)

HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN is among the more famous of the vast number of morale boosting films churned out by the studios during the second world war. The plot is so grotesquely fictious that it helps to rank the film as "high camp"! Robert Hutton is a lonely GI who wanders into the Hollywood Canteen in search of a glimpse of his dream woman, Joan Leslie. All the famous stars of the lot then conspire to have the young soldier meet Miss Leslie. Based on the same idea as THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS, it was nevertheless fairly successful at the box office in 1943. John Garfield and Bette Davis organised the Hollywood Canteen as a functional, practical place for the military men to go to while in L.A............A sort of Hollywood version of the USO club! The cast is a star-studded mixture the likes of which you're not likely to see again in a single film! The Andrews Sisters, Joan Crawford AND Bette Davis (they aren't in any scenes together!) - Barbara Stanwyck, Ida Lupino, Jane Wyman, Eddie Cantor, Kitty Carlisle, Eleanor Parker plus both the Jimmy Dorsey and Carmen Cavallaro Orchestras respectively. In the interim, several of them perform short bits for the huge audience of soldiers. If it's quality you want in entertainment with a slight touch of dramatic grace - here is a good example of what was considered - in its day - a rather distasteful show of Hollywood's sense of importance. Neither this or THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS will go down in history as being great movies .........I personally prefer the aforementioned......... But they are fascinating curios leftover from an historically important time.

Remember when Hollywood used to care about our boys fighting overseas?

Remember when a Star would gladly pose for a picture with a fan?

Remember when a Star would sign as many autographs as possible?

Remember the good' ole days. That's what "Hollywood Canteen" is about.

"Hollywood Canteen" is a star-studded blockbuster from the 1940's. It revolves around two fictional characters that are on leave in Hollywood. What's there to do in the meantime? Well, go to the "Hollywood Canteen," of course!

Many of Hollywood's biggest starts of the 40's work at the "Hollywood Canteen." They entertain and serve the service boys.

This was Joan Crawford's first picture with Warners after her 18 year tenure with MGM abruptly ended. But, Joanie doesn't have a big part in this picture. In fact, none of the other big names have a huge part. The biggest part, would probably be Ms. Bette Davis'. Bette (the founder of the original "Hollywood Canteen",) was the biggest silver screen star at the time and she wanted everyone to know it (especially Ms. Crawford.)

Love this movie for what it is: PURE ENTERTAINMENT. And, maybe after you enter the "Hollywood Canteen" you'll forget about all your troubles and you'll be taken back to a time when people cared more...

Hollywood Canteen is an excellent and enjoyable film. It bears some resemblance to the earlier Stage Door Canteen movie, which was written not long after Pearl Harbor and filmed in the fall of 1942. Stage Door Canteen, which is a good film also, portaryed the East Coast (NY) version of the Hollywood Canteen, where those in the armed forces were able to stop in for a free meal and meet the stars of stage and screen before returning to action. The movie, Hollywood Canteen was written and filmed early in 1944, and the tone is a little more lighthearted than Stage Door Canteen, which bore the mark of 1942 when the Allies were arguably losing the war. The film, Hollywood Canteen is about the place of the same name - a dinner and showplace where those in the armed forces could mingle with Hollywood stars (and they did show up quite regularly). The story is pretty simple: a soldier wins a date with a real film star (Joan Leslie, costar of Yankee Doodle Dandy and numerous other films), and a number of other minor and humorous subplots run. Viewers will be treated to a number of excellent performances - song, jokes, dance, musical performances of some of the top stars of the day. Commedian Jack Benny makes an extended appearance, and many stars from Peter Lorre to Paul Henreid to Bette Davis also appear, playing themselves. Fans of the Golden Era of Hollywood in particular will really enjoy this picture as so many recognizable stars make appearances and give short but memorable performacnes. I have shown parts of this film to my students, and they are surprised at the excellent music, singing, and the general production quality of the movie and generally enjoy the performances in the film.
Some reviewers on Amazon and IMDB have written that a romance between a soldier and a young film actress was not believable. I do not agree. It may be "preposterous" to the cynical, but such romances did happen. Perhaps the best known is the romance between hero marine John Basilone and actress Virginia Grey during his war bond tour after Guadalcanal (and which was also portrayed in the HBO miniseries 'The Pacific'). The film handles the romance between Slim (ably played by Robert Hutton) and the acress Joan Leslie (as herself) very well, and with a great deal of respect. For me, the most touching moment of the film, apart from the ending (an ending which has been copied a number of times in romantic films since), is when Slim meets John Leslie's family. At dinner, Joan's father says a long prayer for servicemen and women fighting the Axis all around the world. It is a very poignant moment, especially when Joan Leslie looks up at her father in the film at the end of that prayer, as if to say "thank you." Its too bad the director cut away quickly. That scene, and indeed the whole film, serves to remind us of that great generation, and what they did for the world. If you like the classic old films -- their music, humor, and generally positive, upbeat stories (and great "Hollywood endings"), you will really enjoy Hollywood Canteen.

An excellent illustration of how Hollywood and the entertainment industry as a whole honored and respected our servicemen and women. Simplistic yet decent story line and nostalgic cameos from real stars.

I am not kidding here! You can get this exact same movie - PLUS 2 others (Thank Your Lucky Stars, & This is the Army) for LESS than half the price of this dvd! That's right....a 3 dvd box set for about $15.00 (I got mine new from an Amazon dealer for less than $12.00!). And I'm not talking about a cheap bootleg knockoff - this boxset is the STUDIO ORIGINALS from Warner Brothers. Plus it has the best picture quality because it's the latest edition(2008). Just search for "Homefront Collection" in the Amazon movie section. It is listed as "Homefront Collection (Irving Berlin's This Is The Army/Thank Your Lucky Stars/Hollywood Canteen). I really hope this review will save you a LOT of cash! By the way, the 1-star rating is for the price of this item, NOT the quality...this film is a real gem!!