Copyright 29 November 1940 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy: 21 November 1940. U.S. release: 29 November 1940. Australian release: 17 April 1941. Original length: 9,000 feet, 100 minutes. Cut to 8,757 feet (97 minutes) in Australia and to 92 minutes in U.S.A. by deleting a song number, "Get Out and Get Under", featuring Faye, Grable and Oakie.SYNOPSIS: 1915-1919. Rags to riches to rags and back story of a couple of song publishers, one of whom is dumb (and greedy) enough not to realize Alice Faye is a loyal, sensitive girl who's in love with him.NOTES: Tin Pan Alley originally went into production in Technicolor. About half the film was photographed in color (approximately the first half, although there are a couple of later sequences in which the grainy lighting and too-thick make-up indicate original color cinematography) before the process was abandoned. Why is a good question. Two reasons: (1) The Sheik of Araby number ran into censor difficulties ("too much showgirl") and had to be re-shot. It certainly looks less daring in black-and-white. (Perhaps the Nicholas Brothers and Princess Ammon were also added at this stage to give the number "class"); (2) Zanuck felt that Technicolor flattered Grable at Faye's expense. Alice had made her color debut in Hollywood Cavalcade in which she looked great but had no competition. Immediately Tin Pan Alley was in the can, Zanuck rushed Alice into That Night in Rio, her second Technicolor feature, this time with a safe co-star - Carmen Miranda.Alfred Newman won an Academy Award for Best Score. This was the film's only nomination. Because of the color/black-and-white compromise, photography and art direction were ineligible for nomination, but it is strange that "You Say the Sweetest Things, Baby" was not proposed for Best Song. It's not only the first song Harry Warren and Mack Gordon wrote for Alice (it remained her personal favorite of all her numbers) but it's given such a stand-out treatment with such an elaborate musical reprise, I can't figure how any nominator could possibly miss it.The film was remade in 1950 as I'll Get By, with June Haver and William Lundigan directed by Richard Sale.COMMENT: There has to be a higher rating than 100% for this movie. Alice of course dominates the film but she is not allowed to completely overshadow the rest of the cast - as some critics have claimed. True, the script has John Payne elbowing Betty Grable aside to give Alice a shot at "Moonlight Bay", but Betty is by no means neglected. Although she has no romantic steady, she has a couple of solo production numbers as well as joining Alice for "Hawaii" and the movie's delightfully zesty showpiece, "The Sheik of Araby".Comedian Jack Oakie has a regal share of the limelight too, while Payne has if anything even more footage. And there's a grand supporting roster including Allen Jenkins, Elisha Cook and Charles Wilson (all of whom have some delightful running gags), not to mention Esther Ralston, Billy Gilbert, the Nicholas Brothers and Billy Bevan who are also given their opportunities to shine.It's to Alice's credit that she's so electrifying we still pine when she's off-screen (which is really quite often), especially during the straight Payne episodes. Fortunately the songs are an incomparably breezy lot - and they are given a marvelously aggressive orchestration and often an all-stops-out treatment with elaborate reprises and thrilling montages. The sound of course is absolutely dazzling.Walter Lang's pacey direction makes the most of the picture's superb production values. No expense whatever has been spared on lavish sets and crowd scenes. And what about those incredible period costumes that Alice and Betty fill so gracefully? All told, marvelous entertainment with catchy songs, amusing business and a power-plus cast. Hollywood zest at its best!

Jack Oakie (Calhoun) and John Payne (Harrigan) are a couple of songwriters on Tin Pan Alley. They need a hit to pay their rent and Oakie puts in a call to a friend Alice Faye (Katie) to come and help them out performing songs. She brings along her sister Betty Grable (Lilly). They achieve success but things don't go as planned especially with the romance between Payne and Faye. Can they all get together again by the end of the film? Have a guess… The cast are fine with Betty Grable coming across as the most likable. Alice Faye is a bit precious, John Payne is a bit negative while Oakie has loads of energy. He is, however, a good balance for Payne who can be a bit moody. As for the songs, I liked them all, especially the first one that Faye and Grable sing and dance to. There is a running joke throughout the film as Oakie keeps changing the words to the song but I reckon it needs no improvement from this opening number. "Moonlight Bay" is another standout as is the whole "Sheik of Araby" sequence with the Nicolas Brothers doing their thing! I disagree with other reviewers in that I found "America I Love You" to be the worst offering.As regards the story, the Nora Bayes reference was lost on me and, unfortunately, will be lost on many others. However, it was made clear that she is big news, and if she comes knocking at your door to sing one of your songs, then you don't turn her down. And this is where the film gets a little silly. Payne gives her the song to sing and Faye seems hostile to the idea. Faye should be supportive of this move – what a coup! The next bit also doesn't make sense, as success for Payne doesn't seem to take off for him once Faye leaves to join her sister. The whole point of giving Nora Bayes the song was to gain instant success on the back of it.The story is slight but it is the musical segments that bring the score for this film into a higher bracket. They are the only memorable parts of the film and the only parts worth re-visiting.

Tin Pan Alley was the first try at a successful experiment Darryl Zanuck was trying. An actor who was as good looking as Tyrone Power and could contribute musically to the film. He found one in John Payne this was the first of four films that Payne and Faye did together. They were scheduled to do a fifth with The Dolly Sisters, but Alice retired after being offered that script.Payne slipped very well into Ty Power's hero/heel character that he patented at 20th Century Fox. Payne's character Skeets Harrigan and his partner Jack Oakie are trying to hit it big in the music publishing industry pre World War I. He meets Alice Faye and her sister Betty Grable doing a vaudeville act and he falls for Faye bigtime. He loves her, but he wants success more. How they resolve their ambitions is crux of the movie.Alice Faye and Betty Grable in their only film together play the Blane sisters. Alice is in good voice as always and she gets the best songs in the film. Payne partners her in the film's best number America I Love You and he also reprises with her in the only original song for the film, You Say The Sweetest Things, Baby.You Say The Sweetest Things Baby was written by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Mack Gordon. Gordon had written with Harry Revel a whole group of songs that Faye introduced. But Revel left Fox and Darryl Zanuck teamed Gordon with Warren who had just left Warner Brothers. It was a felicitous teaming and Gordon and Warren wrote a whole group of some of the best loved tunes of the 40s, Chatanooga Choo Choo being the most famous and also You'll Never Know, probably Faye's best loved song.In watching films like Tin Pan Alley something is lost unless you're an amateur historian like me. Esther Ralston does a cameo as Nora Bayes who was one of the best loved vaudeville stars pre-World War I. In 1940 people still knew who Nora Bayes was. Now I'm sure she draws a great big "who" from most people if they're asked who she is. A key scene in the movie is after Faye has delivered a smash version of America I Love You, Payne gives in to Nora Bayes request for the song because of his ambition. That's totally lost on younger viewers.Actually Nora Bayes did introduce a very famous World War I era song, written by a guy who normally introduced his own material. She gave the first public performance of Over There written by George M. Cohan and documented nicely in Yankee Doodle Dandy.You never ever go wrong watching an Alice Faye film.

Alice Faye was my favorite singer actress and made so many good films when I was in High School. Tin Pan Alley was especially entertaining and had our favorite Ethel Merman. As always she was the great belter; remember her in Alexander's Ragtime Band with Tyrone Power and Don Ameche. Both Power and Ameche played in several of Alice's films; and then there were Jack Oakie and June Havoc; what an amusing pair they were! The films I liked best were Tin Pan Alley 1940; The Gang's All Here and Hello Frisco Hello both 1943; and State Fair remake with Pat Boone and Bobby Darin (1960s?) In 1985 Alice Faye was at the Arlington Theater promoting health care products, and I had the privilege of talking to her. She was a great lady and very nice!