Alicia
I love this movie so much
Nayan Gough
A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
Walter Sloane
Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.
jeffhaller125
It is not a good movie. But it is leaps and bounds more entertaining than "The Jolson Story." I found Brasselle to be grotesque most of the time during the dramatic scenes. The poor guy was directed to do the bulging eyes even when he was not doing a song. That isn't true to what Eddie Cantor was. Just look at him in an interview and he never looks freakish unless he is clowning. Keefe is great in the musical numbers and actually quite believable in the dramatics. Marilyn Erskine is very fine and underrated. "She doesn't look Jewish"??? is a rather insulting comment to make. Aline McMahon is great in a role that is now completely clichéd. She approached every line with complete seriousness. It has that sort of el cheapo Warner Brothers musical look and should have been a lot shorter, but this was a sincere attempt and it really is never boring. Had the approach been original instead of trying to do a scene for scene match of other biographies of the great vaudevillians, this could have been something.
edwagreen
Aline MacMahon proved that you didn't have to be Jewish to nail such a role in the film. As Grandma Esther, she was quite good with a wonderful inflection and accent for a Jewish woman with wisdom to match. As for Keefe Braselle, he did well in the part but was constantly rolling those eyes to everyone. It was as if he were being forced into his part and you get the impression that he doesn't take on the Cantor persona. Marilyn Erskine, as Ida, looked as much Jewish as the pope's sister.Film deals with a young Cantor left with no parents and living with an aged grandmother who made it big in show business, but was an habitual worker which would lead to health problems. Film showed that Cantor could have gone the wrong way in life had it not been for a youth organization. The music numbers were marvelously staged.
Mike-764
The story of Eddie Cantor with plenty put in and taken out by 1950's Hollywood standards. Here Eddie grows up in a tough part of New York City, living with his grandmother. He catches a break when he wins a local amateur contest and gets a part with a group of young performers in a traveling show. When he grows out of the role, he marries his girlfriend Ida and struggles in getting new parts. Pal Jimmy Durante gives him a break in a show out in Los Angeles and leaves Ida pregnant with his first (of five) daughters. He comes back from LA and manages to get a part in a Ziegfeld show and his career takes off despite the loss of his grandmother and the strain it puts on his and Ida's marriage.Plenty of liberties were taken with Cantor's life here, but the film is entertaining. Brasselle looks like Cantor but his performance isn't acting, its more on the line of an imitation. The fact that Cantor dubbed in all of the singing and the cameo by Eddie and Ida at the end of the movie are nice touches. It would have been nice to make more of Eddie's charitable work rather than condense it to 3 minutes at the end.Like I said, a good film, but one I would have liked to enjoy more.Rating 5 out of 10.
ptb-8
Someone who knows how to make a musical in Hollywood should take a look at the career of Eddie Cantor and give it the FUNNY GIRL treatment. Now before you all roll your own banjo sized eyes, we are edging closer to a time in this clever new century where good nightclub/theater musicals are being released: DE LOVELY, CHICAGO, BEYOND THE SEA, RAY and WALK THE LINE are each quality musicals that are creative screen musical biographies and each are successes. Some even won a clutch of Oscars. The public like them all. What the public do not like now days is Rogers and Hammerstein style screen musicals (pity, though)... but will happily embrace a showbiz musical with songs sung in places people sing and perform in real life; in a nightclub, a theater or in a movie/movie. THE EDDIE CANTOR STORY as made in the 50s is a revered bio pic hampered by the conservative 'musical style' of the time. Keith Braselle creates a passable imitation and the tinkly songs from vaudeville are fun in a Doris Day or Betty Grable way... which suits 1953. Cantor's own ribald 1944 comedy SHOWBUSINESS is a faux life story of himself anyway, and more closer to the real vaudeville tawdriness than his own biography here. . However, if someone has the sense to license the hilarious musical films Cantor made from 1930-1937 produced by Samuel Goldwyn, lift all the original musical numbers whole as directed by Busby Berkeley directly into a new production.... get Caroline O'Connor from DE LOVELY who already does a great Ethel Merman, find an actor to play Cantor in the story scenes.. there is a spectacular and hilarious musical ready to hit audiences right in both the funny-bone and box office. If you have seen THE NIGHT THEY RAIDED MINSKYS and THE PRODUCERS and maybe even SHOWBUSINESS you will get the picture. The thing with the original Cantor films of '30-'37 is that the songs are so good, hilarious and well staged. As BEYOND THE SEA and DE LOVELY proved one does not need to tinker with the songs, just show them in situ as written. The bonus with any Cantor idea is that the film musical sequences from WHOOPEE or PALMY DAYS or KID FROM SPAIN are modern enough still to be lifted straight into a new film. STAR! the bio of Gertrude Lawrence did the reverse: color musical numbers burst from a B/W newsreel of Gertie's life as watched by Julie Andrews. The EDDIE CANTOR STORY follows that format.... but if remade today, prefer the reverse: make a new color movie story using original Cantor b/w screen musical movie footage from the 30s is the way to go. And it's cheaper! The music numbers are already in the can still fresh from 70 years ago! They are so spectacular, rude and hilarious they will translate to this century and a young audience very well.
