Erroll Flynn

(On Cable TV, July 2021) The more you learn about Hollywood history, the more you discover sub-sub-genres with maybe a handful of titles. Sometimes, they even prove to be a lot of fun… for the right audience. Thank Your Lucky Stars can be loosely included in the “wartime musical revue” subgenre, pleasantly overlapping with the “studio self-satire” one. In other words, here we have Warner Bros putting together a loose collection of sketches featuring their own stars, loosely connected with a slight and amusing plot. There’s one important caveat for twenty-first century audiences, though: This kind of satire, heavily based on screen personas, is completely dependent on audiences knowing quite a bit about what is being parodied. So it is that Thank Your Lucky Stars largely depends on audience knowledge of Eddie Cantor, as Cantor sends up his screen persona by playing a dual role as his self-obsessed self and a humbler look-alike. Much of the humour in the narrative is in the mistaken identities, but far more of the film’s laughs come from the various sketches and musical numbers scattered in-between — especially when they feature performers not known for singing, such as Ida Lupino (!) and Betty Davis (!!). Other highlights have S.Z. Sakall intimidating Humphrey Bogart, and Erroll Flynn as a blowhard soldier. Thank Your Lucky Stars served as a fundraiser for the Hollywood Canteen, which also spawned another film of the same name that is very much in the same genre. Cantor himself is fearless in sending himself up (and has a few good comic moments, such as when he finds himself on an operating table), while the sight of Davis crooning about the lack of eligible men is a sight upon itself. The caveat is that the comic revue is only a fraction as enjoyable if you’re not familiar with the names that are featured in it — but if you are, it’s a lot of fun. Like most movies of that subgenre, Thank Your Lucky Stars is worth revisiting regularly as you learn more about Hollywood History.