Review of Thousands Cheer

"Thousands Cheer" was made in 1943 when the second world war was at its peak. Battles came one after the other, people died in millions and MGM executives decided to make a movie to cheer everyone up. And they were succesful in it. But they forgot one simple detail: that a movie should not only be entertaining but also meaningful. Kathryn Grayson is a fine operatic singer but she is merely a decent actress (her next movie, Anchors Aweigh, would show all her talents in full) and you can see that she tries so hard to be as good as Gene Kelly but she falls way behind him. Whereas Gene is as charming and remarkable as ever; although I am disappointed he hasn't been given enough time to shine - he performs only one dance number and for a movie having him as a main character it is just a crime - he still manages to fire up this dance with his partner, a mop, to a new level of entertainment. In every movie Gene always tries something different and I adore his genius for it. But the most disappointing part of the movie are the guest stars. Over 30 MGM actors and musicians were invited to do their routines and it takes almost 40 minutes of runtime. It slows down the plot considerably and is simply dull and unnecessary. Could have cut it and the movie would become a masterpiece. But sadly it didn't happen.