Priorities on Parade

Plot

Very much a product of its times, Priorities on Parade was disliked by everyone but the public when it was first released in 1942. The story takes place in a wartime aircraft plant, where a group of entertainers secure jobs putting on shows for the workers during lunch and dinner breaks. The troupe's duties also include a bit of spot-welding and assembly-line work as well, leading to a variety of mildly comic complications. Naturally, all plot roads lead to a big, morale-boosting musical finale, highlighted by choreographer Jack Donahue's precision-dance routines, wherein the entertainers elect to turn down a Broadway show in favor of defense-plant work (this is a fantasy, isn't it?) The four protagonists are played by zany Jerry Colonna, handsome Johnnie Johnston, and gorgeous Ann Miller (in a blonde wig) and Betty Rhodes, while Vera Vague supplies her usual dizziness as a Rosie-the-Rivetter type. The Frank Loesser-Jules Styne-Herb Magidson score includes the hit tune "You're in Love With Somebody Else But I'm in Love With You". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Review

Priorities On Parade is the kind of movie that could only have been made during World War II, and only early in the war, at that. Seen in the twenty-first century, its breezy pacing carries us past the improbabilities and plot holes big enough to taxi a B-17 through. The comedic antics of Dave Willock and Eddie Quillan (and the movie is worth seeing just for the treat of seeing those perennial second-bananas paired together as members of the same band), Vera Vague, and Jerry Colonna retain a good deal of charm. On the down side, once the slapstick portion of Johnny Johnston's and Betty Jane Rhodes' romance is over, they get a lot less interesting as a couple, though they look so right together that you're glad for them. And then there's Ann Miller as the band's singer, who starts out and pretty much stays not nearly as patriotic as the rest of the group -- her venality and cynicism is a refreshing corner of reality in this morale booster, and the best scene in the picture comes when she and Rhodes' characters confront each other over their motivations. The movie is a bit of a mess no matter how you look at it, but an enjoyable one and a revealing one to modern audiences about how audiences wanted to perceive themselves and the country early in the Second World War. Oh, and the music really swings, as the band the "Dixie Pixies" transforms themselves into the "Jive Bombers" for the duration. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Cast

• Ann Miller - Donna D'Arcy
• Johnny Johnston - Johnny Draper
• Jerry Colonna - Jeep Jackson
• Betty Jane Rhodes - Lee Davis
• Vera Vague - Mariposa Ginsbotham

Harry Barris - Harvey Erkimer; Eddie Quillan - Sticks O'Hara; Dave Willock - Push Gasper; Rod Cameron - Stage Manager; Arthur Loft - E.V. Hartley; William Forrest - Col. Reeves; Warren Ashe - 1st examiner; Charles Halton - 2nd examiner; Lee Shumway - Jones

Credit

Haldane Douglas - Art Director, Hans Dreier - Art Director, Jack Donohue - Choreography, Albert Rogell - Director, Arthur P. Schmidt - Editor, Frank Loesser - Composer (Music Score), Jule Styne - Composer (Music Score), Victor Young - Musical Direction/Supervision, Daniel L. Fapp - Cinematographer, Burt Kelly - Producer, Sol C. Siegel - Producer, Art Arthur - Screenwriter, Frank Loesser - Screenwriter

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