Cheap There's No Business Like Show Business (DVD) (Ethel Merman, Donald O'Connor, Marilyn Monroe) (Walter Lang) Price

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Customer Reviews of There's No Business Like Show Business

The restored soundtrack from a gem of an old musical
After only being available as a mono recording, this restored stereo soundtrack CD is just great. Plus you get a couple of tracks that were never available on the original...including Monroe's original tracks, a couple of bonus tracks with Merman and the full track of "A Sailor's Just A Sailor." This was Merman's last film musical as well as the last film musical from Irving Berlin. Great songs with great performances by the above as well as dazzling Mitzi Gaynor along with Donald O'Connor and Dan Dailey. I give it 4 stars rather than 5 due to one track which sounds, to my ear, out of sync. Johnny Ray's "If You Believe" seems to place the vocal a split second off from the musical track. The plot of the film is just a framework for the music and it's the music that's front and center. Kudos to Varese Sarabande for doing the tech work to make this available.

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If you like musicals then you'll love this one!
This movie stars Ethel Merman and Dan Dailey as vaudevillians Molly and Terry Donahue, who are trying to raise their three children(Steve, Katie, and Tim)as normally as they can. Molly and Terry narrate throughout the story, so the movie actually spans 20 years of their lives. The film starts out with a little song and dance number, and the introduction of Donahue kid #1, then it moves through #2 and #3 and their childhoods with some great comic scenes between Ethel Merman and Dan Dailey. Finally, with the kids all grown up, the family becomes an act called the Five Donahues. The first time you get to see the grown up Donahue children is in a big number called "Alexander's Ragtime Band" in which all the family members get to spotlight their individual talents. That night, after the show of course, Steve (the oldest) gets his true calling and Vicky Parker (Marilyn Monroe)enters as Tim's (Donald O'Connor)love interest, both events conspiring to break the act up. This film is filled with plenty of song and dance numbers, almost all of which were written specifically for the movie by Irving Berlin, plenty of talent, and plenty of fun. Ethel Merman, Dan Dailey, and Donald O'Connor are great comedic talents who deliver quite a few laughs throughout, as well as doing a great job with the singing and dancing. I highly recommend this movie to everyone out there who needs a good laugh! If you find that you like this one, try "Singing in the Rain," also co-starring Donald O'Connor, "Wonder Man," and "The Court Jester," starring Danny Kaye.

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It's the Five Donahues..............
Ok Ok. I have been a lifelong Marilyn Monroe fan since childhood, I love her. But when you are a Marilyn fan you have to put up with hit and miss movies. No Business is one of them. When Marilyn is on the screen singing and dancing, the movie is all hers. Who doesn't love the Heat Wave number? The rest of the movie is a drag and unless you are a huge Ethyl Merman fan (?) this film doesn't have much to offer.

This is a musical with a very light plot; the story of the Donahue Family in show business. The two sons grow up to be a couple of dorks. The one who wants to be a priest is just scary. He acts like a Peter O'Tool derelict with a murderous smile. The other one is driven over the edge by Marilyn's lack of interest and joins the Navy.

Like I said, if you are a Marilyn fan, there are scenes in this film that you must have. If youare not a Marilyn fan, well you got Ethyl and Berlin music.