It's a mixed bag of songs, sketches, dramatic skits and gags for this early sound review. Warner Brothers went out of their way to try and out-do MGM's "Hollywood Revue", and in some aspects, they did, skewering their friendly rival's all-star early sound musical by giving it a good-hearted goose. This is an important look at Hollywood's transition from the silent era to sound, and practically every contract player takes part. The comedy skits seem extremely dated, and the photography can be a bit static, but overall, it's fun.
While "Hollywood Revue" took the balcony sequence from "Romeo and Juliet", "Show of Shows" gave John Barrymore's soliloquy from "Richard III" with lavish results. A musical number entitled "Singin' in the Bathtub" takes Broadway's Winnie Lightner and gets a dig in at "Singin' in the Rain" from MGM with her hysterical delivery of the lyric, "Never Take a Shower. It's an awful pain. Singin' in the shower's like singin' in the Rain!". The over-sized bathtub and hysterically clad chorus is a sight to behold.
A lavish final makes up for some of the precision numbers (marching chorus girls in a drill routine is really static), but the Myrna Loy number, "Nip-O-Li" will raise eyebrows with its stereotyping of the Asian culture. At least it gets two-strip Technicolor photography to give its audience a "wow!" moment. If you can go into this with a view of Hollywood history, you can get past the slow points, dated comedy and often offensive stereotypes.
While "Hollywood Revue" took the balcony sequence from "Romeo and Juliet", "Show of Shows" gave John Barrymore's soliloquy from "Richard III" with lavish results. A musical number entitled "Singin' in the Bathtub" takes Broadway's Winnie Lightner and gets a dig in at "Singin' in the Rain" from MGM with her hysterical delivery of the lyric, "Never Take a Shower. It's an awful pain. Singin' in the shower's like singin' in the Rain!". The over-sized bathtub and hysterically clad chorus is a sight to behold.
A lavish final makes up for some of the precision numbers (marching chorus girls in a drill routine is really static), but the Myrna Loy number, "Nip-O-Li" will raise eyebrows with its stereotyping of the Asian culture. At least it gets two-strip Technicolor photography to give its audience a "wow!" moment. If you can go into this with a view of Hollywood history, you can get past the slow points, dated comedy and often offensive stereotypes.