I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Lillian Russell was probably the first of her kind, as the DVD documentary on her life states. She was a role model for women of the late 1800's and probably the first Broadway musical diva. From her came Marilyn Miller, Ethel Merman, Mary Martin, Pearl Bailey, Chita Rivera, Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, Sutton Foster and Kristen Chenoweth, to name a few. This supposed biography tells her story from her shy beginnings to her encounters with such NY characters as Diamond Jim Brady and Tony Pastor, to several of her marriages. It skirts over many details, I'm sure, but makes a nice impression of her importance to the future of Broadway.I don't think that Alice Faye is playing Lillian Russell as she really was. Her Lillian is a nice girl with a desire to make it on the stage, and once you see her, you know she's gonna make it. Something tells me that Lillian Russell was a bit tougher than Faye plays her. Some people may not get Ms. Faye's success. She isn't outrageous or flamboyant, yet there is a simplistic beauty and elegance to her that makes you like her, because there is not one negative thing about her. Yet, she is no goody-goody that annoys because of a perfection that never could exist. She's simply not complicated, temperamental, or scandalous. This is probably the reason Faye's movies are still shown today. She was a gracious interviewee years after her retirement, shows no bitterness, and has a sentimental reflection of her past as shown in her teariness at talking about her supposed rival Betty Grable. Faye's elegance and loyalty to her co-stars makes her endearing to classic film audiences.She has four major male co-stars here, all very good. Henry Fonda is the reporter who saves her and her grandmother (the wonderful Helen Westley) in a run-away carriage. Don Ameche is the composer who wins her hand in marriage even though people like Tony Pastor (Warren William) and flamboyant Diamond Jim Brady (Edward Arnold in the second film in that role) pursued her. It is Fonda we see the most of, although there is a very funny bit with Warren William who says, "I have great faith in the telephone". You should, Warren; You're standing near the man who invented it (Don Ameche). Ameche isn't playing Alexander Graham Bell here, but it makes you wonder if the script writer threw that line in as a gag or if it was unintentional. His part is small, however; Supporting player Edward Arnold has more screen time, and makes every moment of it.Dorothy Peterson plays Faye's suffragette mother who believes that with women in power, there would be no more dishonest politicians and no more wars. She is more defined than Ernest Truex, as Lillian's father. As the aging grandmother, Helen Westley delights in every scene she has. I longed to see more of her. When Fonda encounters her towards the end of her life, Westley beautifully displays the life of a remarkable lady that almost makes you forget that the film is about her granddaughter. It's hard not to tear up knowing that these are her last scenes in the film, and that you'll hear in passing that she has indeed passed on. Nigel Bruce and Claud Allister are an amusing Gilbert and Sullivan, and Una O'Connor, who is usually shrill and ear-piercing, actually tones it down here. She is at her most likable and mellow, amusingly telling Faye "I wish I had your voice". The comedy of Weber and Fields seems quite dated, and some viewers might fast forward through to Faye's musical numbers. Cecil Cunningham, an underrated character actress who often steals every scene she was in through all her films, has an amusing bit as a newspaper secretary.I give this film a higher rating because it is simply exquisite to watch. Every detail is breathtaking from the costumes and scenery to the choreography and chorus numbers. Along with "Alexander's Ragtime Band", it remains 20th Century Fox's best musical of this era, something I'm afraid that can never be surpassed. Not until "With a Song in My Heart" came along would 20th Century Fox be able to do a biographical musical that was as outstanding.

In 1940, Faye and Ameche were at their very peak, and Fonda was getting there. Why the team behind the camera wasn't in equal shape, is beyond me. The script depicts the life of Faye in random and mostly boring or over-romanticized episodes, which force both Faye and Fonda merely to gaze into the air longingly for most of this long, long picture. Ameche fares a bit better, at least he gets to die and thus bow out of this boredom gracefully. Everything screams out for Technicolor, but it never arrives.Lillian Russell led an exciting, greedy, full life on both sides of the Atlantic. I never believe she came close to the wide eyed angel Alice Faye is on the screen. Another thing: Russell was a renowned lyric soprano, who sang for large audiences in opera houses. She sang a lot of Gilbert and Sullivan - but there's not a bar of G&S sang in the film. Edward Solomon composed about a dozen comic operas during his short life, and Lillian Russel starred in many of them both in the US and in London. Not a bar of Solomon's music is heard in the film. Instead we are smothered by two very typical 1940 sob ballads to represent his music. Even though Alice Faye wasn't a bright soprano but a husky contralto, these facts make the film musically very implausible.Also, the events represented as facts are pure fiction or selective at best. Russell's first marriage to an elderly orchestra leader, the birth and death of her first daughter are totally omitted. So is her London career - we are left with the impression that she languished in London until Mr Gilbert took pity on her and let her do one number of Mr Solomon on Savoy stage. In fact she had several London hits starring in both G&S and Solomon's operas. Solomon didn't drop dead in their London apartment, but died of typhoid fever after their marriage had been annulled. Russell didn't even sing After the Ball over the long distance to the President, because this song hadn't been composed yet (she sang The Sabre Song by Offenbach).The film is finally cut short as she realizes Fonda is the love of her life and falls into his arms. Russells later life is omitted, even though she became an honorary Sergeant during the WW I and president's special envoy to Europe after the war.I can't help but think that this picture would have fared much better with, say, Deanna Durbin in the lead role. At least we would have heard some proper music. This must have been one of the weakest films for every star cast.

It is such a rare treat to see a biographical film which treats its subject with respect and class. Lillian Russell was kind of a wild woman; she would be an easy target for the right. However, instead of pandering to the right or left, this film presents her as completely charming, human, and lovable. There is something admirable about a film which is not afraid to show only the good in people, and forget the rest.Alice Faye is a treasure. The songs are first-class. The supporting cast is terrific; Henry Fonda is in particular easy on the eyes. Faye gets ample screen time, for once, and is lovingly photographed and gowned in every scene.The Fox DVD looks and sounds perfect.

I don't know how much this fictionalized bio of Lillian Russell owes to the truth, but the truth is she led an awfully dull life to judge by the weak script developments. Yes, even for a gal who mingled with Diamond Jim Brady and married a well-known composer, she's awfully dull stuff to take, which is why so much footage was cut out of the final print.Needless to say, when ALICE FAYE, costumed effectively in all those turn-of-the-century clothes and singing old-time songs in that breathy low-pitched voice of hers, gets to strut her stuff the story warms up a bit. But most of it is just so dull you want to fast forward and skip the bio completely.No help is HENRY FONDA as a newspaper man who patiently waits his turn to have his fling with romancing the musical comedy star. And even the reliable DON AMECHE is at sea here. Not their fault. The script is the problem and it shows until the bitter end. EDWARD ARNOLD, in a comfortable role as Diamond Jim Brady, is the only bright spot in the supporting cast. HELEN WESTLEY, WARREN WILLIAM, LEO CARRILLO and NIGEL BRUCE are likewise not seen to advantage.Maybe Technicolor would have brightened things. Hard to say, but I still think a livelier story and better backstage plot would have helped considerably. As it is, only ALICE FAYE's loyal fans will warm up to this one.