Amazon.com: The second half of this 1943 Technicolor musical is an excuse for MGM's contract talent to perform songs and sketches in a big show at an Army base. Unfortunately, more than an hour passes before the show arrives, stranding the viewer with a thin service comedy about an opera singer (Kathryn Grayson) tagging along to a military camp in hopes of reuniting her estranged parents, whose names are Bill and Hillary (no comments, please). Romance comes in the form of private Gene Kelly, a former trapeze artist who misses the glory of his former life. Grayson warbles, and Kelly has one nifty solo dance (with a mop and broom), but the all-star revue is the movie's main attraction. The song selection is generally poor ("I Dug a Ditch in Wichita" is performed twice), with Lena Horne's sultry take on "Honeysuckle Rose" an exception. She's backed by Benny Carter and His Orchestra. Specialty player Virginia O'Brien delights with one of her deadpan numbers, Eleanor Powell tap dances, and Judy Garland delivers with a boogie-woogie lilt on "Jumpin' Down at Carnegie Hall." Comedy sketches with Red Skelton and Frank Morgan are stubbornly unfunny. Then there's José Iturbi, the Spanish-born conductor, making his film debut at the beginning of his run as MGM's supposedly cute highbrow. Director George Sidney would team up two years later with Iturbi, Kelly, and Grayson in Anchors Aweigh, a much more enjoyable musical confection. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Thousands Snore
Of all the Technicolor shows created "for the boys" in WW II, this is the most insipid. Aside from Kelly's mop/broom dance and Lena Horne, this is a real yawner. Rooney (who must be the last survivor) ... Read More
Rating: - And I Want Uncle Sam !
"Thousands Cheer" is one of those many morale building movie musicals released during World War II. A little plot, a lot of color and everybody on the lot showing up to entertain us. This movie should ... Read More
Rating: - Thousands Cheer
Why MGM have you not allowed this MOVIE to go onto DVD, don't listen to those that say the first hour is boring, this has to be one of the best musicals of the era if not of all time, I have just about ... Read More
Rating: - DVD DVD DVD !!!!! NOW MGM !!!!
We have been patiently waiting since 1992 for this movie to be put out on DVD. Its Time NOW MGM!!!
Rating: - I wouldn't miss it; but don't run to see it, either...
MGM turns out a middling production with Thousands Cheer. This film has the weakest plot I've seen in years. In fact, the plot is so thin that it becomes difficult for me to write anything cogent about ... Read More
- Thousands Snore
- Thousands Cheer