Martin Bradley "Pin Up Girl" is a very typical wartime musical from Fox, not in the front rank but pleasant enough nevertheless. There's not much in the way of plot and what plot there is is ridiculous but it looks good in glorious Technicolour and it has Betty Grable, Joe E Brown as well as the great Martha Raye. None of the songs are particularly memorable and John Harvey isn't much of a leading man. Otherwise it's a passable enough way to spend an evening especially when the Condos Brothers are tapping their toes.

JohnHowardReid This movie has everything going for it – great cast, competent director and a screenplay originally prepared by Hollywood's top writing team of Robert Ellis and Helen Logan. Alas, the studio brought in Earl Baldwin to revise the script, when studio head, Darryl Zanuck, decided to use the movie as a boost wartime vehicle for Betty Grable. Now I know a lot of people love Betty Grable. She has lots of pep, I'll give her that, but for me, peppy is not a quality that appeals unless it's firmly based on common sense. And although Betty was strong on brain power in real life, on the screen she was almost always cast as an idiot. "Pin Up Girl" is no exception. This time, she promises to marry almost every serviceman who accosts her, even though she has no intentions whatever of doing so. This is her way of boosting the morale of the servicemen, but, as you and I know, it's an idea laced with peril, particularly if we take her stratagem a step further and realize that it's based on a latent idea that the servicemen will be killed in action. For me, this puts a shadow over the whole movie. And there were other things I didn't like. I mean, just about all the characters are idiots. How could anyone be so stupid that they couldn't recognize Grable, even though she might be wearing glasses and slightly change her hair style. This sort of stratagem will work on the stage, but it's unsuitable for movies – unless, of course, you make the character a twin. And alas, I thought the marching girls outstayed their welcome too. They repeat their moves at least ten times. Even five would been more than sufficient, especially as their uniforms are so unattractive. Joe E. Brown is disappointingly cast in an inconsequential role (he doesn't even get a chance to use his famous yell) and hero John Harvey as he himself admitted, lacks screen charisma (though evidently he came over extremely well on the stage). So, all told, this is a very disappointing movie riddled with problems. Available on an excellent Fox DVD.

bkoganbing With the title of Pin Up Girl this film could only star Betty Grable. As the GI favorite in World War II only Rita Hayworth ranked up there with Betty and those legs.With a plot thin as a Gillette razor blade and a leading man who is the definition of bland Betty and the rest of the talented musical cast carry this one. But make no mistake she's box office draw.Betty is a USO hostess in Missouri and she and friend Dorothea Kent get the call to serve as typists in the Navy Department. But that's after first going to New York and appearing in Joe E. Brown's nightclub and scoring a big hit. Betty's also a big hit with John Harvey, medal winner from the South Pacific now on shore duty.But after getting a lecture from another desk bound sailor Eugene Palette, Harvey thinks Betty's just using him as a career booster. So what does Betty do? She puts on a pair of glasses and fools Harvey until the final moments of the film that she's someone else. It does work for Clark Kent and as I remember also for Lynda Carter in Wonder Woman.But with all those numbers from folks like Martha Raye, Charlie Spivak's Orchestra, the Condos brothers, but most of all Betty who really cares about a truly silly plot. Pin-Up Girl cleaned up at the box office, made a lot of money for Darryl Zanuck and 20th Century Fox.The last number with Betty drilling the WACS was a thinly disguised attempt to hide her pregnancy. She hated the number and everyone else did including me.No deep thoughts here, just sheer entertainment.

MartinHafer "Pin Up Girl" is only a fair musical comedy. I say fair because the plot is VERY predictable and I've seen such plots many times. On top of that, the show has too many musical numbers...way too many.The show begins with two ladies, Lorry (Betty Grable) and Kay (Dorthea Kent) in New York. When they cannot get a table at a fancy restaurant, Lorry begins lying her head off--saying that they are supposed to have dinner with a famous war hero, Tommy Dooley (John Harvey). Unfortunately, the real Dooley shows up and Lorry keeps lying more and more instead of fessing up. She tells them that they are Broadways stars and that she is the leading lady named Laura.The next day, Lorry and Kay head back to Washington, DC, where they work at the War Department. Now considering there were 128123081340123 servicemen in Washington during the war, the odds are against Lorry and Tommy meeting again. Well, if you think this, you obviously know nothing about movie clichés! In fact, it turns out that Lorry is a secretary and she is assigned to work with Tommy!! But, in a 'clever move', she puts on glasses and quickly convinces him she is NOT Laura (sort of like Clark Kent). Considering Grable's famous figure, it's utterly mystifying how the guy even noticed she was wearing glasses!! Lorry agrees to help the lovestruck Tommy to find this dream girl! Now if this plot sounds pretty stupid, then you'd be absolutely correct. It's utterly ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is that such a bold-faced liar would end up with the guy by the end of the film--but you know that she will--even with Molly (Martha Raye) trying to break up this romance, as she wants Tommy for herself.In addition to a formulaic and cliché-ridden plot, the film features several songs too many. In particular, the Broadway style song and dance numbers make the film very stilted. Naturalistic songs that are sung between the leads are not in this one--just stage-bound ones that seem to make the plot grind to a halt. The only thing I really liked about this silly film was seeing Dorthea Kent playing a 'normal' person--too often in her films her style was VERY broad, nasal and annoying. Here, she is pretty good.So is this film for you? Well, if you simply adore old musicals and/or Betty Grable, then perhaps. However, there are many, many musicals of the era that are much better--with better casts, songs and plots.