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 by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
is neutral about it.
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