There's No Business Like Show Business: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [Soundtrack]

Irving Berlin (Composer), Bernard Mayers (Composer), Earle Hagen (Composer), Hal Schaefer (Composer), Herbert W. Spencer (Composer), Lionel Newman (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Irving Berlin, Bernard Mayers, Earle Hagen, Hal Schaefer, Herbert W. Spencer, et al.
• Audio CD (March 3, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Varese Sarabande
• ASIN: B0000060EF
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  VHS Tape  |  DVD  |  Amazon Instant Video
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #245,529 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Opening titles

2. When the midnight choo choo leaves for Alabam'

3. Play a simple melody

4. A pretty girl is like a melody

5. Alexander's Ragtime Band

6. After you get what you want (you don't want it)

7. If you believe

8. Heat Wave

9. A man chases a girl (until she catches him)

10. Lazy

11. A sailor's not a sailor ('til a sailor's been tattooed)

12. There's no business like show business

13. Finale

14. Play a simple melody (Ethel Merman w/temporary vocal double for Dan Dai

15. Play a simple melody (Original mono LP version)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dazzling Production and Masterful Show Tunes Make This A Favorite, December 4, 2007

By 

Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: There's No Business Like Show Business (DVD)

I love musicals and this one has been a favorite since it first came out in 1954. I was thrilled to receive the DVD and even more thrilled to find that the songs and dances were still as wonderful as I remembered, the production numbers still as splendid, and the total show as remarkable as ever.

Dan Dailey and Ethel Merman are Terry and Molly Donahue, vaudeville performers circa 1919 when the movie opens. They quickly add children Steve (Johnnie Ray) Katy (Mitzi Gaynor) and Tim (Donald O'Connor) to the act as each child is old enough to wobble on stage. They become the successful act known as The Five Donahues and tour constantly even as vaudeville dies away. When their paths cross with an ambitious blonde named Vicky (Marilyn Monroe) things are never the same. She breaks Tim's heart and he spirals downward into an alcoholic haze, son Steve leaves the act when he decides to become a priest, and Broadway replaces vaudeville as the elder Donahues spend less time on stage and more time in their New Jersey home. The ending always leaves me dissolved in tears, but it is the lavish production numbers that make this a favorite. From the catchy opening of Merman and Dailey performing "When That Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves for Alabam'" (later reprised by Gaynor and O'Connor) to the lavish staging of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" and the uplifting closing of the title song, this movie is a feast for fans of music and dance. Even though Marilyn Monroe shines in her sexy "Heat Wave" number, the long-legged Dailey makes dancing an effortless joy throughout and Merman's voice is uncommonly rich, it is Donald O'Connor and Mitzi Gaynor who enthusiastically dance their way into your heart and steal every scene they are in.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lousy story, great production number., June 7, 2001

By 

Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: There's No Business Like Show Business [VHS] (VHS Tape)

A plot that has Johnny Ray playing a priest torn between his vows and his bows--and it only gets worse from there. But some of the production numbers are deliciously extravagant even by Hollywood standards. The "Alexander's Ragtime Band" montage--a musical workout that incorporates a variety of musical styles and ethnic costumery and dance--is easily worth the price of admission all by itself. It alone testifies to Berlin's importance to American music and consequently to the universe. (But as a fan of Marilyn Monroe, I must say her performance is not indispensable viewing.) For a more aesthetically satisfying tribute to Irvin Berlin, check out the movie entitled "Alexander's Ragtime Band," starring Tyrone Power and Alice Faye--or, for that matter, "Top Hat" with Fred and Ginger.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The real star of this film!, September 4, 2006

By 

Kip G. (So. Cal.) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: There's No Business Like Show Business (DVD)

This is a great movie with Marilyn Monroe and Ethel Merman.
However the real star of this movie is the vivacious Mitzi Gaynor! She steals every scene she is in. She is beautiful, talented, and hard to take your eyes off of!
I recommend this movie ! I also recommend " Anything Goes"
with Mitzi Gaynor. It has just been restored and the look of it is probably the best color of any DVD I own.