Main Cast: Kathryn Grayson, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Mary Astor, Red Skelton, John Boles, Eleanor Powell, José Iturbi, Ann Sothern
Release Year: 1943
Country: US
Run Time: 126 minutes
Plot
Storywise, Thousands Cheer is thin stuff indeed. Insouciant PFC Eddy Marsh (Gene Kelly) wants to put on a Big Show for his fellow serviceman. Along the way, Eddy falls in love with Kathryn Jones (Kathryn Grayson), the daughter of Colonel William Jones (John Boles). End of story. The principal selling angle of Thousands Cheer is the presence in the cast of virtually every musical talent on the MGM payroll: Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Red Skelton, Eleanor Powell, Jose Iturbi, the Kay Kyser Orchestra, Bob Crosby and his Bobcats, the Benny Carter band, Ann Sothern, Lucille Ball, June Allyson, Gloria DeHaven?..the list goes on and on and on. Since Thousands Cheer was designed as a patriotic wartime morale-booster, it is indeed ironic that the film was written by Paul Jarrico and Richard Collins, both of whom would be blacklisted during the Red-baiting 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
One of the better of Hollywood's all-star war revues, Thousands Cheer at least has a somewhat more interesting plot than many similar efforts. Gene Kelly is back in For Me and My Gal territory, as a performer (aerialist, this time) who is resentful of being forced into war duty, and if MGM had really explored this conflict, Thousands might have been a special film. Unfortunately, they used it merely as a framing device for the big show, and -- worse -- as a way of expounding an overly simplistic "teamwork is everything" moral, undercutting the potential drama. What's left, therefore, is a handful of enjoyable plot numbers and the "big show" that takes up the entire second half of the film. The score is another one of those patchwork jobs, gathered from here, there, and everywhere; for some mysterious reason, the powers-that-be decided to push the initially innocuous but increasingly annoying "I Dug a Ditch," presenting this ditty four times throughout the film (to its best advantage when used merely as underscoring for Kelly's marvelous mop dance). Kelly is in great form throughout; his paramour, Kathryn Grayson, on the other hand is merely adequate when acting, somewhat better when singing. Mickey Rooney is insufferable as the emcee (ditto Ben Blue as a supposedly "comic" private), but there are some marvelous contributions from the likes of Judy Garland, Lena Horne, and Eleanor Powell. Add in the usual expert MGM production, and the result is an empty but entertaining film, the highs of which compensate for the occasional lows. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Daniel B. Cathcart - Art Director, Cedric Gibbons - Art Director, Irene - Costume Designer, George Sidney - Director, George Boemler - Editor, Herbert Stothart - Composer (Music Score), Herbert Stothart - Musical Direction/Supervision, Jack Dawn - Makeup, George Folsey - Cinematographer, Joe Pasternak - Producer, Edwin B. Willis - Set Designer, Jacques Mesereau - Set Designer, Douglas Shearer - Sound/Sound Designer, Richard Collins - Screen Story, Paul Jarrico - Screen Story, Richard Collins - Screenwriter, Paul Jarrico - Screenwriter
The movie is essentially a two-part program. The first half consists of a romantic comedy storyline involving an aerialist, played by Gene Kelly, who is drafted into the US Army but really wants to join the air force. During training, he falls in love with Kathryn (played by Kathryn Grayson), the daughter of his commanding officer, who has similarly put her singing career on hold in order to serve by providing entertainment for the troops. Unusually for this type of a film (and for this era of Hollywood), the character Kathryn has only recently met her father for the first time since she was a baby, her parents having divorced. A related subplot has Kathryn conniving to get her parents (played by John Boles and Mary Astor) to reconcile. During the first part of the film, Grayson sings several numbers and Kelly performs one of his most famous routines, dancing with a mop as a partner.
The secondary plot involves preparations for a major live show for the soldiers which will feature many MGM musical and comedy stars. For the second half of the film, all pretences of a storyline are effectively abandoned as the film instead becomes a variety showcase of comedy, song, and dance, with all of the performers (save Kelly and Grayson) appearing as themselves. The show portion is hosted by Mickey Rooney.
Eleanor Powell was one of many MGM stars who appeared as themselves in Thousands Cheer.
Highlights included a performance of "Let me call you Sweetheart Kelly Honeysuckle Rose" by Horne, a tap dance solo by Powell (making her first color film and her final MGM movie until 1950's Duchess of Idaho), Kay Kyser's band delivering a frantic and humorous medley of "I Dug a Ditch in Wichita"/"Should I?", and a Garland performance (with classical pianist Jose Iturbi) of "The Joint is Really Jumpin' in Carnegie Hall" which includes an early use of the word "rock" in a musical sense.
"I Dug a Ditch in Wichita", a song told from the point of view of a soldier who used to dig ditches, is the movie's underlying theme song, performed several times in the film with different arrangements and approaches, climaxing in the above mentioned Kay Kyser performance. Kathryn Grayson also sings a version, using an exaggerated (and out-of-character) "cowboy" accent, and Gene Kelly dances to an instrumental version, using a mop as a partner.
After a brief resumption (and resolution) of the earlier storyline, the film ends with Grayson leading an international chorus of men (the United Nations Chorus) in a song pleading for world peace. The song, entitled "United Nations", actually predates the establishment of the United Nations political body by two years, but not the Declaration by United Nations which was made on 1 January 1942.
A bizarre moment occurs when Mickey Rooney, introducing Garland's performance, states earnestly and without apparent irony that he hopes to meet her someday. In reality, Rooney and Garland had co-starred in numerous films over the previous five years.
Garland filmed her performance during a break in shooting Presenting Lily Mars, which is why she appears as a blonde in this film since her hair color was changed for Lily Mars.
The song "United Nations", which appears at the end of the film, is an arrangement of "The Song of the Counterplan", written by Dmitri Shostakovich for the 1932 Soviet film "Counterplan".
