This Is the Life

Even though they made lots of musical comedies for Universal during World War II, this is the last of the Donald O'Connor-Peggy Ryan movies I'm reviewing on this site since the studio blocked many of the others from being uploaded on YouTube. As in many of them, Peggy has a torch for Donald but he has it for someone else, here being Susanna Foster. She in turn, has the hots for a medical Major (Patrick Knowles) who ends up being turned down for another service round because he's no longer physically able enough. Then there's his former wife (Louise Albritton) who's an independent photographer to deal with. But never mind all that and just enjoy Donald and Peggy in their dances and songs and even Ms. Foster when doing her operatic numbers. There's also a handsome young male singer (Ray Eberle) singing "All or Nothing at All" and an African-American quartet (Bobby Brooks Quartet) warbling a song in falsetto with one of them then talking in baritone! So on that note, This Is the Life was a very enjoyable B-musical for the era. P.S. Jonathan Hale, playing O'Connor's father, was in between playing Mr. Dithers from what was originally supposed to be the final entry of the Blondie movie series-Footlight Glamour-to the new beginning one of a year later called Leave It to Blondie. And I just watched again on YT, Peggy's number-"Let's Play House"-from Here Come the Co-eds which was a wonderfully comic number with Lou Costello in which he says, "I feel just like Donald O'Connor!"