All-out Hollywood spectacular musical from 1954. Strong cast, big production numbers, cinemascope, all in living color. Structured around the life and times of a show business family through their decades in vaudeville. Similar in many ways to Yankee Doodle Dandy .
This was made when Hollywood was fighting what it saw as a desperate battle for survival against the inroads of television so they tried with films like this to provide a spectacle which couldn't be done on TV.
This was lively, colorful and fun.
Incidentally, it also featured a supporting role by Marilyn Monroe which demonstrated for all who wished to see that she couldn't dance, act or sing. No wonder this woman was so troubled; she knew better than anyone that she didn't deserve the fantastic acclaim she received in the 50's. Her appeal was as a sex icon, an idealized image of female sexual allure, an impossible standard for anyone to meet and which to her, living on the inside of that body must have been bewildering.
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