I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

I recently reviewed "Jack the Giant Killer", a blatant ripoff of "Seventh Voyage of Sinbad". I'd never seen "There's No Business Like Show Business", and wasn't aware it ripped off "Singin' in the Rain".The latter was inspired (if that's the right word) by Arthur Freed's desire to exploit the many songs he and Nacio Brown had written. Betty Comden and Adolph Green provided an amusing script about Hollywood's transition from silent films to talkies, and (as they say) history was made.Though MGM was the king of musicals (Freed headed its musical unit), Fox must have longed for the same kind of success. Why not a film tapping Irving Berlin's huge library of successful songs? Unfortunately, the story is nothing more than the usual romantic claptrap, with a young woman (MM) threatening to disrupt a show-biz family. Who cares?Unless you enjoy watching lavish production numbers featuring Berlin's songs, and/or hearing Ethel Merman (whose voice could crack titanium) belt 'em out, there's nothing of interest for most viewers -- then or now. The critics mostly panned it, and the production was so expensive "No Biz" didn't turn a profit. Whatever current respect it holds is probably based more on nostalgia than quality.* It's generally considered the best musical ever made. I find it a bit tedious. It's funny (Jean Hagen is hilarious as the silent actress with a silly voice), but there are too many songs. And Gene Kelly's athletic, self-conscious dancing has never appealed to me.

Married vaudeville duo Ethel Merman and Dan Dailey (as Molly and Terry Donahue) continue their success over three decades when children Johnnie Ray (as Steve), Mitzi Gaynor (as Katy) and Donald O'Connor (as Tim) re-join the act as adults. But "The Five Donahues" are rocked by Mr. Ray's desire to become a priest and Mr. O'Connor's involvement with bawdy stage rival Marilyn Monroe (as Victoria "Vicky Parker" Hoffman). Seeing these six people perform a string of Irving Berlin songs live on stage would be an unimaginable treat, but they are rendered gross in 20th Century Fox' weakly plotted CinemaScope extravaganza...O'Connor and Ray are the most mismatched. The former, playing the youngest kid, has no romantic "chemistry" with Ms. Monroe. Ray is too vague in in the "reverential" role, with both his wailing ballad and sexualized jazz sounds underused. Monroe's sex appeal is thankfully on display, with her "Heat Wave" being a highlight, but she arrives on screen after you're first yawn. Nobody thought about letting Monroe and Ray cut loose in a duet. The show does go on, however, with Ms. Merman belting them out and never letting go. Mr. Dailey and Ms. Gaynor are overshadowed, but all remain game, "Even with a turkey that you know will fold..." ****** There's No Business Like Show Business (12/16/54) Walter Lang ~ Ethel Merman, Marilyn Monroe, Donald O'Connor, Johnnie Ray

That expression, jumping the shark, refers to doing what you've done well just that one time too many. Suddenly the spell is broken and can never be recast.I'm a fan of MM sex comedies like "Blondes" and "Millionaire" but this one came across as overblown and shallow. It left a bad taste in my mouth. It was the Donald O'Connor character that I couldn't abide. He seemed like the creepiest kind of low-life, plying women with liquor and lies to get them into bed. And when a film makes a sunshine boy like O'Connor seem sleazy, it's got to have something wrong. The cast, score, musical production, none better anywhere. What brings the film down is its screenplay. The story centers around what men will do to win MM's sexual favors, and how she plays on their schemes to get what she wants.I couldn't find romance here. Or wit, or the sense that the people involved were enjoying themselves. Quite the opposite -- all the overdone Berlin tunes can't hide the weariness that lies just beneath what is so superficial.

Memo to Twentieth Century Fox: Leave the musicals to MGM. On paper, this big-budget musical extravaganza filmed in CinemaScope must have looked like a sure-fire winner. Unfortunately, if not for the presence of a delicious young Marilyn Monroe in a small but showy role, "There's No Business Like Show Business" would have been relegated to the forgotten-films bin. Overlong at 117 minutes, the corny story of a vaudeville family is regularly interrupted by musical numbers that lumber on interminably. Even standards like "Alexander's Ragtime Band" and the title tune are botched.Besides Monroe, Donald O'Connor survives the film; however, his perky performance and effortless hoofing call for a partner like Gene Kelly. Dan Dailey and Mitzi Gaynor also do well, but Ethel Merman has always been too much for the big screen; a stage icon, she plays to the rear seats in the fourth balcony. Which brings us to Johnnie Ray. The man may have an important place in music history, but definitely not in movie history. To be fair, the subplot about the eldest son becoming a priest is cloying and unconvincing to begin with; James Dean would have gagged on the lines. But Ray's voice and demeanor are just grating. When asked why he never made another film, Ray replied that he had never been asked. A viewing of "There's No Business Like Show Business" makes it perfectly clear why he was never asked.Devotees of Marilyn Monroe want to see her every performance, and she is charismatic eye-candy here. Although her sexy "Heatwave" number is already famous, she acquits herself well even in a silly routine with O'Connor and Gaynor. Beyond Monroe and O'Connor, however, little stands out. The storyline is too thin to bear scrutiny, the characters are superficial, and the direction by Walter Lang perfunctory. The best scenes have already been included in Monroe compilations; the rest can be relegated to the bin.