Alicia I love this movie so much

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

SnoopyStyle The Donahues are a small part of vaudeville. The husband and wife team (Ethel Merman, Dan Dailey) soon grow into The Five Donahues with their kids, Tim, Steve, and Katy. Mother is able to put them into private school and the kids are replaced by eight blondes. Things get tough after the crash. The kids grow up and rejoin the act. Tim (Donald O'Connor) is taken with hat check girl Victoria Hoffman (Marilyn Monroe) but she has her eye on ambitions of becoming a star. Steve quits the group to be a priest. Next time Tim meets Victoria, she is opening for them and she is working under the new name Vicky Parker. Her charms get him to give up hit song Heat Wave for her to perform.The first thirty minutes are a rather dull set of lavish song and dance productions with a little plot progression. The characters get a little work but nothing substantial. It's mostly Ethel Merman who saves the opening act. The movie comes to life with the arrival of Monroe. O'Connor is overmatched which is fine since it's the same for the characters. She is flamboyant, ambitious, and he's a lowly nice guy. Nice guys do really finish last. Tim comes off as petty going over the edge for a missed date. Something more substantive could have been written. Ethel Merman is class act all the way from start to finish. There is also a mismatch between Monroe's purring lounging and the active vaudevillian musicality of the Donahues. In many ways, it's the changing of the guard and it's oddly noticeable. This is a musical clashing with itself and it's awkward. It does have Monroe at her most ambitious. It's not the most pleasant but it's the deepest version of this icon. Overall, this is an old fashion vaudeville musical with a movie star stuck into its side.

css-89951 Splashy overproduced Fox 50's musical. Merman, O'Connor and Gaynor are under utilized. MM good in 'Heat Wave' number, but languidly irritating in her other two numbers, "Lazy" and "After You Get What You Want". Skip this one!

Dunham16 Puttin' on a show has long been a successful movie plot. This 1954 take spins a different aspect of the premise. Terry and Molly Donahue had been a successful vaudeville team in the golden days of vaudeville. As vaudeville declined they raised two boys and a girl they hoped would take their place in show business. One son becomes a priest. The daughter and the other son make it big in show business. The show business son is soon sidetracked by an intent on making it in show business female performer. After much realistic behind the scenes look at the dark side of show business all turns out right in the end for Ethel Merman, Marilyn Monroe, Mitzi Gaynor, songwriter Irving Berlin, Dan Dailey, Donald O'Connor and Johnny Ray. Ethel rocks the boat in Tattooed and There's No Business Like Show Business. The wide screen version today marketed on commercial DVD is a joy to watch.

marsh876 I love Irving Berlin and in fact, all of the stars in the movie. But I find it hard to watch. Despite the spectacular song and dance numbers, the movie is a bore-fest. It would have been better to limit the dialog and scenes in between the musical numbers to a minimum, like they do in a Broadway play. Instead, we are treated to a scene of Merman dunking O'Connor's head in a sink. Or pseudo-drama when a son says he wants to become a priest. So the father was an idiot. Who cares? The first number was Berlin's "Alexander's Rag Time Band". They sang it over and over with different nationalities in different sets. Yes, this was Berlin's first big hit, but it's not that good that we want to hear it played over and over and over again. Even Paul McCartney's "Yesterday" would get old after about the 5th consecutive replaying.The only reason to watch this movie, as others have pointed out, is to see Marilyn Monroe. Is there any scene in any movie where she is not wonderful? Obviously, my view is slanted towards her. Her voice is so rich, her singing, dancing and movements so sensual, anytime she's on the screen is magic. After her fabulous "Heat Wave" number, all Merman can do is run it down. As in the cheesiest of scripts, the characters remain fixed in their bold, brassy, rah-rah something characters.