What makes it different from others?

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Good concept, poorly executed.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Copyright 19 March 1951 (in notice: 1950) by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Strand: 27 March 1951. U.S. release: 24 March 1951. U.K. release: 29 December 1951. Australian release: 26 March 1953 (sic ). 92 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Arriving in New York from London, an unknown musical comedy actress discovers that her mother is not the Broadway star she's supposed to be. NOTES: A re-make of "Honky Tonk" (1929) which starred Sophie Tucker and Lila Lee in the roles now played by Gladys George and Doris Day. The film was directed for Warner Bros by Lloyd Bacon. COMMENT: Doris looks absolutely stunning in this brightly colored Technicolor musical. She's in fine voice too. And though many critics complained about the story I thought it served its musical, comic and dramatic purposes well. Besides being an obvious peg for the wonderful songs, it allows both Billy De Wolfe and S.Z. Sakall some wonderfully comic opportunities, of which naturally they take full advantage. In addition to the dancing of the principals, I also enjoyed the ingenious De Mattiazzi specialty. Florence Bates and Anne Triola are both stand-out in the support cast. Gladys George is almost too convincing. Production values are lavish and credits A-1.OTHER VIEWS: Gorgeously costumed and presented, here's that ultra- pleasant, effervescent and highly photogenic Doris Day, singing and dancing with great vitality and style. Mr. Nelson offers agreeable support and has one vividly choreographed solo number that cleverly leads up to a spectacular finale. Aside from the lively title number (the opening of which has been cribbed from Busby Berkeley's Gold Diggers of 1933) and a nice duet with Day on the other side of a glass door, the other musical numbers are staged in a somewhat more routine, straight style, though still most agreeable. Unfortunately the story on which the numbers are pegged is somewhat less inventive. It's a simple variation on that old Apple Annie routine which Frank Capra filmed a couple of times and also rears its changeling head in such movies as "Lady For a Day". Still, the old story does allow S.Z. Sakall to delight his fans with unashamed mugging, and also provides a similar work-out for Billy De Wolfe (who seems somewhat jaded and understandably bored with his part here). It even slots in two songs for Gladys George. Plus some comic business for our favorite, Florence Bates. All this seems agreeable and even promising. But why does the silly story take itself so seriously? Why do the players act it out with such straight faces? Why is the direction so heavy-handed and tortuously paced? The wind-up is brief enough, so why is the lead-in to the plot so elaborately long-winded? Butler is certainly not the right director for this sort of frothy material. He has neither a deftly light touch nor a sense of pace and movement. He's too over-conscientiously routine. Fortunately, the movie is attractively photographed, costumed and set, even if the budget seems none too expansive. - JHR writing as George Addison.

I called Doris a good dancer in Tea for Two, 1950, one year before this movie Lullaby of Broadway. Doris had a car accident in 1937, which strongly curtailed her dancing future. In this movie, again, her tap steps are somewhat slower than those of Gene Nelson, but I have never heard that Gene's legs had earlier been injured. Doris wasn't just a great singer; she could dance. She must have done a lot of work to even dance for these musical movies, which I must admit I probably like better than her later movies with Rock Hudson, et al. I even liked Doris in her Calamity Jane movie, in which she leaps, bounds and jumps all over the place. That is certainly athletic.I loved Doris' gold gown in this movie; the billowing skirt was the best, but the neck straps I did not care for. Her daytime costuming was demure and ladylike as befitted the day, with high blouse necklines along with strands of white pearls.Gene Nelson was an awesome dancer. His leaps onto the piano and over the head of the pianist were dazzling, but it's too bad he didn't learn from the Nicholas Brothers School of Leaps and Bounds. He was still a great dancer, however, and I just loved his dancing in his 1955 Oklahoma movie.SZ Sakall and Florence Bates are always great scene stealers. They weren't children or animals, against whom other actors traditionally hate to play, but they always are unforgettable. SZ and Florence are always great at playing 'thorns in the side'. I remember Florence as Madame Dilyovska in On the Town.De Wolfe is his usual ditsy insane self, a comic with perfect timing and verbal inflection. Anne Triola is great as his sidekick, but I detected a lot of second class citizenship where her character was concerned. She was always saying she was not as good as that all superior Lefty played by De Wolfe.You can tell that I studied Women's Studies at university. Movies today should not be putting women's characters down as second class and inferior to men.Lefty was such a loser, however, that he had to act as a starving butler to the local brewer. The brewer couldn't even afford to feed Lefty. Lefty should have spent his time going on auditions to try and get back into show business, or was Lefty ever really, truly in show business? Perhaps he used to sing in a crummy dive in the worst sections of the city? Putting on airs, eh, Mr. Lefty?????I love dance movies. This is not 42nd Street. This is not The Red Shoes. It is a classic to me, however. I like to see Doris Day dance with Gene Nelson. I like to see SZ Sakall over and over again in several different movies. I still like the Nicholas Brothers, whom due to period racism I feel were not put in as many dance movies as I would have liked.I am a theatrical historian and movie reviewer. I have a Bachelor of Arts Degree in American History, with close to a minor in fine arts and performing arts of theatre, dance and voice, plus theatrical censorship and critiquing studies.All in all, I rate this movie as Excellent: 10/10

I'm watching "Lullaby of Broadway" right now during TCM's "Summer Under the Stars." The entire production looks good in color (especially Doris). But it's a 100% idiot plot. The whole Runyonesque deception that her mother is a washed-up drunk seems particularly unnecessary. Everyone is aware of this except her own daughter?I find the Gene Nelson's character Tom, who assumes Melinda is a slut, especially creepy. Maybe it's his slick veneer or the fact that he's practically stalking her. One Hollywood essential in the 50's was the happy ending. The easiest way to end a picture was just show that a girl who says "no" really means "yes, take me away." Everybody lives happily ever after. Times have changed, at least I hope so.As a musical, the song and dance numbers look great. I was unaware what a good dancer Doris Day was! There's no denying she is enormously talented performer, whether it's your cup of tea(for two) or not. She made a lot of show-biz pictures- all vehicles that highlight her considerable appeal (the only other performer who comes close is Debbie Reynolds). I hope she comes out of retirement long enough to make an appearance at this years TCM Festival.

An absolute tremendous Doris Day-Gene Nelson musical. Why? There is a great plot here which was similar in a musical way to "Lady for A Day," which later became a Bette Davis-Ann Margret-Glenn Ford remake of "Pocketful of Miracles." Besides the wonderful plot of washed up boozy actress (Gladys George) having her daughter live abroad while she is a chanteuse at a broken singing lounge. Of course, the mayhem begins when Day plans a surprise visit and goes to the house where her mother has said she has lived all these years.The house is inhabited by S.Z. Sakall a Broadway producer, who knew George in her day, and is penny pinching, ever suspicious wife, Florence Bates. Billy De Wolfe and Anne Triola, both formerly of the stage and a friend to the George character, are valets there so that's how George was able to give out the address.The hilarity starts when Sakall starts taking out Day, creating a jealous Nelson and infuriating Bates, the latter suing for divorce naming Day as the correspondent!While all this is occurring, love blossoms between Nelson and Day, and they get involved in a forthcoming show-"Lullaby of Broadway."Day sings hit songs of the period and Nelson, of course, dances up a storm in this lively, entertaining wonderful film.