Follow the Boys *** (1944, George Raft, Vera Zorina, Grace McDonald) – Classic Movie Review 11,199

Director Edward Sutherland’s 1944 Universal Pictures black and white film Follow the Boys tries hard to deliver its advertised promise of ‘Hollywood’s Biggest Stars Come Together For A Great Cause!’ with an all-star line-up in Orson Welles, Marlene Dietrich, W C Fields, Jeanette MacDonald, George Raft, Vera Zorina, Charley Grapewin, Grace MacDonald, Charles Butterworth, George Macready, Elizabeth Patterson, Dinah Shore, Donald O’Connor, Peggy Ryan, Maria Montez, Andrews Sisters, Sophie Tucker, Nigel Bruce and Gale Sondergaard.

George Raft plays song-and-dance man Tony West, who organises wartime shows for US troops, in this hugely entertaining World War Two morale-boosting propaganda picture.

Gasp as Orson Welles saws Marlene Dietrich in two in the Mercury Wonder Show, see George Raft dance to ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’, guffaw as W C Fields does his cue-table turn, thrill as the Andrews Sisters trill (‘Shoo-Shoo Baby’ and a medley of their hits), swing along with Red Hot Momma Sophie Tucker (‘The Bigger the Army and the Navy’, ‘Some of These Days’), gaze upon Jeanette MacDonald singing the 1930 classic ‘Beyond the Blue Horizon’ and the 1924 ‘I’ll See You in My Dreams’, and hear Dinah Shore sing ‘Mad About Him Sad Without Him How Can I Be Glad Without Him Blues’ and the hit ‘I’ll Walk Alone’ (Jule Styne music, Sammy Cahn lyrics), which swung the film’s sole Oscar nomination – for Best Original Song.

The story itself (screenplay by Lou Breslow and Gertrude Purcell) is routine and slender, but the wonderful guest stars and their various iconic performances make Follow the Boys well nigh irresistible.

Welles’s wife Rita Hayworth was to appear with him in his magic show but her contract at Columbia Pictures prohibited her from being loaned out to another studio and Marlene Dietrich substituted in a break from entertaining the troops overseas.

It runs 122 minutes or 110 minutes (edited, with some songs missing, eg ‘Some of These Days’ and ‘Mad About Him Sad Without Him How Can I Be Glad Without Him Blues’).

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,199

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