Alice Faye's reign at 20th Century Fox, which overlapped with Betty Grable's, started earlier than Grable's and ended sooner - and on a sour note. Faye actually came with the old Fox Film Corp. when Zanuck founded 20th Century Fox and was at first a Harlow type, eventually developing into the Alice Faye moviegoers came to love. When she was given a dramatic role, in the 1945 "Dark Angel," the film was re-edited to favor Linda Darnell, and a disgusted Faye left Fox and never returned.Here she's on top in "Hello Frisco, Hello" also starring John Payne, Lynn Bari, Jack Oakie, June Havoc and Laird Cregar, a big, colorful turn of the century musical in the Fox tradition. Alice plays Trudy Evans, the linchpin in a group formed by the ambitious Johnny Cornell. Johnny isn't content with the Barbary Coast - he wants Nob Hill. After opening a series of clubs, he becomes interested in a beautiful widow (Bari) who can give him the respectability he wants. When she goes broke, he tries to buy her house. To the heartbreak of Trudy, who's been in love with him all along, the two eventually marry.There's one song after another in this musical, including Faye's beautiful rendition of "You'll Never Know," which became a smash hit. Faye's voice was so unusual - low, sultry and smooth, and it fits the music here perfectly. She is beautifully photographed and costumed as well. Oakie and Havoc provide comic support, and Bari is excellent as the woman who wins Johnny away from Trudy.The big problem with the film is the character of Johnny (Payne), who is a real louse and a user to boot as he strings Trudy along. Personally, I would have let him stew in his own juice but this is Hollywood after all. And the plot is so secondary to the wonderful music and stars. Highly entertaining.

Wonderful music and sumptuous color mark this great 1943 film. The song You'll Never Know won the academy award that year and deservedly so.This is a sparkling musical where John Payne really shines as Johnny Cornell, a street hustler, who goes from rags to riches. While I thought that Clark Gable would have been fabulous in the part, Payne is quite good here.Alice Faye seemed to just get better and better. Continuing her tradition in "Alexander's Rag Time Band," she goes through a lot to get her man.Jack Haley and June Havoc give great musical support to Payne and Fay. Havoc looks just like Lucille Ball in several scenes. Hard to believe that just 4 years later, she portrayed Jewish secretary Elaine Wales in "Gentleman's Agreement." I guess that's what acting is all about.The devil here is Lynn Bari, a socialite from Knob Hill who is wiped out only to marry an up and coming Cornell and then take him for a financial ride.Of course, love conquers all at the end but you will feel so good after seeing this film. They just don't make musicals like this anymore.

It doesn't matter a great deal since "Hello, Frisco, Hello" doesn't purport to be historically accurate, but I found it odd that a number of the film's songs are anachronisms. A few, particularly "You'll Never Know," were written for the movie, but the others are a melange of songs from the past, except a past that came after the film's setting, which is, roughly speaking, San Francisco in the middle of the nineteenth century. Yet Alice Faye sings "Ragtime Cowboy Joe", which wasn't written until 1912. Of course, the same thing happens in other movies. Many of the songs in "Singin' in the Rain" were written in the sound era but show up in the film during the silent era. But I can't be hard on the movie which introduced the beautiful "You'll Never Know" and allows its star to sing it more than once.

Unlike many musicals from Warners and MGM, the scenes of stage performance in those from 20th Century Fox look as though they could actually be performed on a stage, with straight front shooting, and relatively little camera movement, except for close-ups. This approach works, if you have actors who can draw you in simply by their talent, Talent is abundant here, and the musical numbers are believably staged. Fortunately, there are many of these: enough to carry the hackneyed plot. After more than twelve years in films, Jack Oakie could still do comic dance and joke routines far superior to those of most; and is helped wonderfully by June Havoc, who should have received one of the co-star billings in the titles, instead of being listed second in the supporting cast. John Payne was the studio's dependable leading man, in both musicals and light drama. The beautiful Lynn Bari, who never broke through to star status, shines in the thankless role of the selfish society girl.But Alice Faye is at her best in her last major musical for Fox. It's easy to see why Archie Bunker occasionally referred to her as his feminine ideal. She is gorgeous in Technicolor close-ups. Here, as in other films she wears period costumes more convincingly than most other actresses, who seem to be dressing up for a costume party. Her voice was unique, and her delivery understated; unlike many of her contemporaries, she can still be heard on CDs. I didn't count, but she must have sung ten or more numbers, alone or with Payne. Oakie and Havoc, including an opening and closing rendition of her signature "You'll Never Know". In a years later TV interview, she commented that toward the end of her Fox career she was being replaced by Betty Grable, whose more overt sex appeal made her famous during the war years, but whose career as a top attraction did not last as many years as Faye's (about ten) What impressed me was that she made that comment without any tone of bitterness. Incidentally, this is not a criticism of Grable, who had a winning, self-deprecating personality in later years. In another TV interview, when she was asked how she became a star, she responded: I could sing a little, dance a little, and act a little, but I had great-looking legs. I can't help comparing these two ladies, both of whom had long-lasting show business marriages, and both of whom seemed to be nice persons, with some contemporary "stars".