Sweet Rosie O'Grady

20th Century Fox, 1943

Starring Betty Grable, Robert Young, Adolph Menjou, and Virginia Grey

Directed by Irving Cummings

Music by Harry Warren and others; Lyrics by Mack Gordon and others

Of course, there was a reason Grable commanded $100,000 per picture by 1953. She'd been the reigning sex symbol of Hollywood since her own star ascended in 1940 with the success of Down Argentine Way. By 1943, she was the biggest star at 20th Century Fox and one of the most recognizable names in films. This movie and Coney Island codified her success with audiences both in the US and with the soldiers overseas who saw her as the personification of the girl they left behind. Does it still go over well today, or should we stop the presses on this one? Let's begin in London, as stage star Madeline Marlowe (Grable) is finishing her run in her latest triumph, and find out...

The Story: Madeline is engaged to marry Charles, Duke of Trippingham (Reginald Gardiner). She's horrified when Police Gazette reporter Ed Malone (Young) exposes her sordid past as music hall singer Rosie O'Grady. Upon arrival in America, she claims to the press that he's her real fiancee, and they planned it all along. When her subterfuge costs him his job, he writes a song about her that he gets published. This turns into a running feud between her touring show and the Gazette and his boss Tom Moran (Menjou), with the two constantly trying to get even with one another...until Charles shows up, and Sweet Rosie O'Grady decides she's had enough of both men.

The Song and Dance: Song and dance are the operative words here, along with gorgeous period costumes and sets that beautifully recreate the world of London and New York in the 1880's. The stunning Technicolor shows off everyone to best advantage. Grable's having a great time as the smart lady who knows how to get back at someone who's done her wrong, and Young comes off as slightly more personable than a lot of the guys who appear in her films. He even gets a few great moments of his own, especially in the end when he fights Menjou for the incriminating notes she wrote as a joke. (And I don't know what it is about Grable's movies, but once again, there's no real villains. Menjou comes the closest, but even he has his reasons for getting that scoop. Charles and Ed even end up drinking together.)

Favorite Number: The movie opens with Grable and the chorus in wedding outfits performing "Where, Oh Where Is the Groom?" This leads to a genuine number from the 1880's, a comic ballad called "Waiting at the Church" about a bride whose groom isn't what he claims to be. The title song is also from the 1880's, and it's heard many times throughout the film, including as a montage of New Yorkers passing it along from newsboys to people on the street, to Madeline's annoyance. Madeline and Ed get drunk, then give us a medley of songs of the period in their carriage on the way to her apartment; they're joined by the driver (Frank Orth) for "Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl" and "Little Annie Rooney." 

"My Heart Tells Me" is the big ballad, performed by Madeline when she returns to her old haunt Flugleman's at Ed's insistence. The finale starts with newsies yelling "Get Your Police Gazette." This leads into Madeline and the chorus "Goin' to the County Fair" in bright duds as they play games and enjoy the sights. Madeline twits Ed and their feud with a man made up to look like him, "My Sam."

Trivia: Remake of the non-musical 1937 comedy Love Is News with Tyrone Power and Loretta Young, which would turn up again for Power and Gene Tierney as That Wonderful Urge in 1948. Not related to the now-lost silent Sweet Rosie O'Grady from 1926. 

What I Don't Like: The story isn't any better or more interesting than the one for Coney Island. Frankly, even at a brisk 74 minutes, Madeline and Ed's annoying feud still goes on for too long and gets a little mean-spirited. You start to wish by the end that Madeline had chosen to handle his claims in a far more adult manner than playing spiteful games. The new songs, other than "My Heart Tells Me," are kind of dull, too. 

The Big Finale: Charming bit of blarney is fun for fans of Grable, Young, or the musicals of the 1940's. 

Home Media: Currently DVD only from the 20th Century Fox Cinema Archives. 

DVD

DVD - Wabash Avenue/That Lady In Ermine/Sweet Rosie O'Grady

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

20th Century Fox, 1953

Starring Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell, Charles Coburn, and Tommy Noonan

Directed by Howard Hawks

Music and Lyrics by various

This was Monroe's first musical as a star, and the first of three she did during her days as the biggest sex symbol in Hollywood. On Broadway, the 1949 hit made a star out of its Lorelei Lee, Carol Channing. Fox thought it could do the same for its up-and-coming bombshell, pairing her with the already-established Jane Russell and one of the most popular directors in Hollywood at the time, Howard Hawks. How well do the adventures of a gold-digging showgirl and her devoted best friend come off today? Let's begin right with the ladies in question as they perform "Little Girl From Little Rock" and find out...

The Story: Lorelei (Monroe) wants to marry wealthy Gus Esmond Jr. (Noonan), who is sweet, devoted, and can keep her funded in her passion, diamonds. Dorothy (Russell) doesn't care how much money a guy has, long as he's good-looking. The two take a cruise to France for a job, with Gus claiming he'll meet them there, despite his father Gus Sr. (Taylor Holmes) disapproving of their relationship. While onboard, Lorelei flirts with Sir Francis "Piggy" Beekman (Coburn), who owns diamond mines, while Dorothy pursues the male Olympic team. 

Lorelei's interest in Piggy is strictly platonic...but she gets into trouble for it anyway when private detective Ernie Malone (Elliot Reid) photographs them talking together. The women manage to get the negatives off of him, with Lorelei convincing Piggy to give her a tiara as a thank-you gift. Lady Beekman (Norma Varden) isn't amused, Neither is Gus Sr. When Lorelei winds up in court for stealing the tiara, she'll need both Malone's help and her best friend's to get her out of this jam.

The Song and Dance: The ladies are the thing here, and they run with it, whether Dorothy's admiring all the muscles on those athletes, or Monroe's adorably flirting with Coburn. I really appreciate how the ladies' friendship is portrayed. They stand up for each other, to the point where Dorothy takes Lorelei's place in court, and never talk down to or back-stab each other. They're both loyal to the end, when providing for each other's happiness takes precedence over even their men. Coburn is the only one who gets near them as the English lord with an eye for the ladies and a good quality piece of jewelry.

Fox spared no expense on the production, either. They're costumed in gorgeous gowns throughout, including Monroe's iconic shocking pink ball gown during the "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" chorus number. The Technicolor is gorgeous, making that pink number and all those luscious frocks just pop on elaborate cruise ship set.

Favorite Number: "Little Girl From Little Rock" is heard twice, in the beginning as a duet for Dorothy and Lorelei in a show, and in the wedding finale. Dorothy sings "Bye Bye Baby" to all those hot athletes at a going-away party before the ship leaves...and Lorelei picks it up to sing solo for Gus. Dorothy wonders "Ain't Anyone Here for Love" as she wanders among those athletes as they practice. She tries to entice them with sports, but they ignore her, even when she ends up in the pool. After their letter of credit is cut off and they're thrown out of their hotel room, the ladies wonder about what happens "When Love Goes Wrong" in a cafe...and they attract such a crowd, they end up getting a job out of it.

Of course, the iconic number here is the first version of "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend," directed and choreographed by Jack Cole. There's dancers in cotton candy pink ball gowns and men gliding around them...but there's no denying who the real center of this is. Monroe's sheer magnetism holds every frame, and it's simply dazzling. No wonder this has been imitated many times since 1953, including in Madonna's video for "Material Girl." Dorothy gets her own awesome version later, singing it for the judge and jury at the court while dressed in a blonde wig and short, glitzy dance outfit. 

Trivia: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes began life as a comic novel by Hollywood screenwriter Anita Loos in 1925. The Broadway musical debuted in 1949 and was a fair-sized hit, running three years. It didn't make it to London until 1962, when it barely ran a year. Lorelei, a revision for Channing that had the story told as flashbacks by a now-wealthy Lorelei, managed to run a year and a half despite bad reviews. A revival of the original show in 1995 did even worse, not even running a week. An Encores! concert in 2012 was slightly better-received. 

Betty Grable was originally considered for Monroe's role, but she asked for too much money. (She would appear with Monroe two years later in How to Marry a Millionaire.)

Russell getting knocked into the pool during the "Anybody Here for Love?" number was an accident, but Hawks thought it worked with the song and it stayed in. 

What I Don't Like: No wonder the ladies are so intent on each other. Most of the men in the film besides Coburn barely register. Noonan's so dull, you can't understand why Lorelei goes back to him for any reason besides his millions. Reid is slightly more interesting as the private eye whose eye ends up on Dorothy, and he at least has a bit more to do.

Wish they could have used more of the original Broadway show. For one thing, why is this the only version of this story not set in the 20's, when the book was originally written? In the show, Henry Spofford was Dorothy's love interest and the one with the disapproving father. Here, he's a kid who helps the ladies out on their cruise. The original show was overloaded with songs; this retains only "Bye Bye Baby," "Little Girl From Little Rock," and "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend." Admittedly, the two new additions aren't bad (I especially like "When Love Goes Wrong"), but couldn't they have brought in even a little more of the original score? 

The Big Finale: If you love Monroe or Russell, or want to see where "Diamond's are a Girl's Best Friend" came from, this is by far the best of her three starring musicals and is highly recommended. 

Home Media: Easily found in all formats.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime

Animation Celebration Saturday - My Little Pony: The Movie (2017)

Lionsgate, 2017

Voices of Tara Strong, Ashleigh Ball, Andrea Libman, and Tabitha St. Germain

Directed by Jayson Thiessen

Music and Lyrics by various

The original My Little Pony toy line ended in the US by 1992. It returned twice, unsuccessfully from 1997 to 1999, and later as part of a series of direct-to-video animated specials from 2003 to 2009. By 2010, Hasbro was ready for another relaunch...but this time, show creator Christy Marx aimed for the same kind of quality animation, music, and writing that could be found in many of the best cable animated shows of the time. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic was a surprise hit, not only with the core audience of 8 to 12 year olds, but adults too, male and female. The show was such a smash, talk began of a feature film version early as 2012. Is this generation of ponies deserving of our trust? Let's begin in Equestria as the Ponies prepare for their big Friendship Festival and find out...

The Story: The Friendship Festival is invaded by an army of monsters commanded by Tempest Shadow (Emily Blunt), a unicorn with a broken horn. She manages to transform three of the four Princesses into stone. The fourth, Twilight Sparkle (Strong), flees with her friends Rainbow Dash (Ball), Pinkie Pie (Libman), Rarity (Germain), Applejack (Ball), Fluttershy (Libman), and Spike (Cathy Weseluck) the dragon to the desert city of Klugetown in the hope of finding the "Queen of the Hippos." What they find is Capper (Taye Diggs), a con-cat who nearly sells them into slavery. Fleeing him, they first encounter a group of bird pirates, then the "hippos" themselves, Hippogriffs who now live underwater. Pinkie Pie manages to befriend the Hippogriff princess Skystar (Kristen Chenowith), but they're thrown out when Twilight is caught trying to steal Queen Novo's (Uzo Aduba) magic pearl.

Twlight Sparkle thinks all is lost when she's captured by Tempest Shadow and her master, The Storm King (Liev Schreiber) after a fight with her friends. Tempest thinks friendship is childish and it's impossible to trust anyone, but Twilight knows better. She and her friends teach everyone in Equestria a lesson in trust when they're the only ones who can stop the Storm King's biggest cloud yet.

The Animation: Colorful and attractive, yes, but some care was put into it. It's not Disney's best, but it does have some nice effects, especially with Rainbow Dash's "Sonic Rainboom" we see when they're doing the number with the bird pirates and the underwater sequences with the Hippogriffs. If nothing else, each character manages to look different from one another and it lacks the problems with continuity that plagued the first film. 

The Song and Dance: Charming tale encapsulates the show's message of friendship and how to maintain relationships, even when things aren't going well. In fact, if you're a fan of the show, you'll probably love this for the most part. The guest cast is nearly as impressive as the one in the first film, with Blunt and Aduba the stand-outs as the unhappy unicorn who thinks the Storm King is the only one who cares about her and the stern queen who would rather hide her people than face the King's wrath. Strong also does well as Twilight Sparkle, especially towards the end when she's trying to make Tempest understand about friendship. 

Favorite Number: We open with a re-written version of the 80's Go-Gos hit "We've Got the Beat" as the Ponies prepare for the Friendship Festival. Twilight insists "I've Got This" when she assures her friends that she has everything under control...even when she really doesn't. Capper insists "I'm the Friend You Need" when the Ponies are lost in Klugletown. Rainbow Dash encourages the Bird Pirates to "Be Awesome" and defy the Storm King during a huge chorus number on their ship that ends in her Sonic Rainboom. 

Pinkie reminds the Hippogriffs that "One Small Thing" can mean a world of difference in an elaborate chorus routine underwater, complete with Busby Berkeley kaleidoscopes. Tempest challenges Twilight to "Open Up Your Eyes" and see the world as she does, a world where trust only gets you hurt and you're the only person you have. The film ends with Pony pop star Songbird Serenade (real-life pop star Sia) performing about how a "Rainbow" will bring everyone together. 

What I Don't Like: Ironically, this has the opposite problem from the first movie. Here, it's the heroes (and anti-heroes) who are more interesting. Schreiber's Storm King is barely in the film, and when he does appear, he's a stock villain with little motive and really annoying dialogue. It's probably fitting that he's so easily taken out in the end. It does share the same problem of an unfocused storyline that's all over the place, and the new characters are neither terribly memorable, nor really do all that much until the very end.

The Big Finale: In the end, though this is better than the first film (it actually wound up being a minor hit in the fall of 2017), it's still recommended mainly for fans of the series, the toys, or the voice actors.

Home Media: As a relatively recent film, it's easily found on all formats. 

DVD

Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime

Muscle Beach Party

American International Pictures, 1964

Starring Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Don Rickles, and Luciana Paluzzi

Directed by William Asher

Music and Lyrics by various

We head back to the beach with Frankie and Annette for some more fun in the spring sun. This was the second official Beach Party movie, and the first to give Frankie and Annette their names for the rest of the series, Frankie and Dee Dee. So, how do the duo deal with their favorite beach being invaded by muscle-bound bodybuilders and a wealthy Italian countess with her eye on Frankie? Let's begin with the kids' heading to the beach in their ancient jalopies and find out...

The Story: The kids are not amused when their usual spot is overrun by grouchy Jack Fanny (Rickles) and his muscle-bound jocks. He's pushing them to get ready for the big Mr. Galaxy contest. Meanwhile, Dee Dee wishes Frankie would do something more with his life besides surfing...but she didn't think "something more" would come in the form of wealthy, beautiful Countess Juliana Giotto-Borgini (Paluzzi). Julie initially sets her sights on hulking Flex Martian (Rock Stevens), but eventually becomes enamored with Frankie. He's excited that she wants to make him a star, until the other kids turn their backs on him. And then there's her manager S.Z Matts (Buddy Hackett) making deals with Fanny...

The Song and Dance: These movies are so strange, but just so much fun, you kind of end up rolling with the weirdness. This movie has a woman whose gyrations are so overwhelming to men, they get flung aside every time she shakes her hips. Harry Von Zipper and his crew are about the only thing they don't throw in here. They're replaced with the muscle-bound lunkheads who are more interested in their bodies than sharing the beach, including real-life bodybuilder Stevens (later known as Peter Lupus). Rickles has a great time in his first of four Beach Party appearances as the grouchy coach who just wants his boys to make a good showing. There's also Hackett and Paluzzi as the rich duo whose boredom causes a lot of the trouble in the first place and Peter Lorre in a short but hilarious cameo in the finale. 

Favorite Number: We open with "Surfer's Holiday" as the kids, some of them hanging off a station wagon, drive down to their favorite beach, singing about their upcoming vacation all the way. Dick Dale and the Del-Tones get "My First Love" and the title song at Cappy's Place, the replacement for their original hangout (complete with Morey Amsterdam managing it again). Donna Loren joins Dale for the "Muscle Bustle," the kids' big chorus dance routine outside of Cappy's that's intended as a joke on the bodybuilders. 

Avalon performs "Runnin' Wild" with the kids later at Cappy's...and it's this song that convinces Julia that he has star potential. (He's also heard singing it over the credits.) Frustrated Funicello sings "A Girl Needs a Boy" after she argues with him over his layabout tendencies. He responds later with his own version, "A Boy Needs a Girl." A very young and thin Stevie Wonder comes on to give the second half of the movie a lift with his adorably upbeat "Happy Street."

Trivia: Peter Lorre's last film. He was supposed to have appeared in the next movie, Bikini Beach, but passed away before filming began. Boris Karloff replaced him. 

Donna Loren's first film. 

Yes, this is the only Beach Party movie to not feature Harry Von Zipper and his motorcycling Rats. 

What I Don't Like: This is a goofy surf comedy musical from the early 60's. You know what you're getting into. It's not high art, and a lot of it either doesn't make sense or is too weird for words (like everyone's reactions to Candy's dancing). This is a little slower-paced than some of the later movies in the series, and perhaps more time could be spent on the beach and less on everyone talking.

The Big Finale: Not one of the best movies in the series, but still recommended for fans of the stars, the time period, Stevie Wonder, or surf rock.

Home Media: Easy to find in all formats. 

DVD

DVD - Midnite Movies Double Feature: Muscle Beach Party/Ski Party

Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime

Where the Boys Are (1960)

MGM, 1960

Starring Dolores Hart, Paula Prentiss, Yvette Mimieux, and Connie Francis

Directed by Harry Levin

Music and Lyrics by various

Spring break is a rite of passage for many college students as they take what is often their first vacation on their own, away from their parents and guardians. Nowadays, it's is notorious for getting so rowdy, some southern and western towns have discouraged college students from visiting all together. In 1960, however, it was still a common ritual, especially for students from northern states.

 This was also the height of the baby boomer teen culture; the kids who were born in the 40's and 50's were now old enough to have a language and culture of their own and movies that spoke to them. Girls in particular had a new freedom that even their liberated flapper mothers hadn't seen. How is this reflected in the story of four female college students who travel to Ft. Lauderdale for some fun in the sun and learn hard lessons doing so? Let's begin as a narrator (Paul Frees) explains the delights of sunny Florida before heading north to a college in a blizzard and find out...

The Story: Merritt (Hart), Tuggle (Prentiss), Melanie (Mimieux), and Angie (Francis) are four young collegiates who head down to Ft. Lauderdale hoping to find fun, sun, and lots of good-looking guys. Tuggle wants to start a family and sets her sights on goofy TV Thompson (Jim Hutton). Angie (Francis), a fine singer, is interested in eccentric bespectacled jazz musician Basil (Frank Gorshin). Merrit falls for suave, wealthy senior Ryder Smith (George Hamilton). The more promiscuous Melanie (Mimieux) thinks junior Franklin (Rory Harrity) is in love with her.

Nothing works out the way the girls expect. Tuggle is disgusted when a drunk TV chases ditzy mermaid nightclub performer Lola Fandango (Barbara Nichols) two nights before they leave. Merritt decides that, no matter how she feels about Ryder, she's not sure she wants to go all the way yet. Things go seriously sideways when Melanie's relationship with Franklin ends in tragedy, and they all begin to wonder just how important sex - and landing a guy - is.

The Song and Dance: I'm impressed with this one. I came in expecting a goofy early female-oriented Beach Party movie and got a fairly realistic look at four blossoming young women and the choices they make about sex and romance. A lot of this, including Tuggle's honesty about wanting to be a "baby machine," is shockingly frank for the time (and even now). Mimieux and Hart are utterly heartbreaking in the last twenty minutes, after Melanie's late date with Franklin turns into date rape and she nearly commits suicide. In fact, I really appreciate the casting. No adults pretending to be kids here. Everyone is in their late teens or 20's. (Mimieux, in fact, was 19 during filming.) 

Prentiss has some great comic moments as the tallest and frankest of the ladies. She's so cute with Hutton, I can understand why they made four more movies together. There's also some great modern "cool" jazz, written by real-life cool jazz musician Peter Rugolo.

Favorite Number: Francis performs the title song, a #4 hit, over the credits. Gorshin and his band are seen performing two instrumental jazz pieces, one when the ladies first go out, one later in the film, and they're both fine examples of the "cool" or what Gorshin calls "dialectic' jazz that was popular with real-life college students at the time. Francis also gets to sing the energetic "Turn On the Sunshine" with Gorshin and his band. Lola Fandango introduces herself with "Have You Met Miss Fandango?" at the Elbo Room, before the show gets out of hand and TV jumps into the tank after her.

Trivia: Dolores Hart later became a nun; she's now a Mother Superior. 

Movie debut of Connie Francis and Paula Prentiss.

This movie cemented Ft. Lauderdale and the Southern Florida area as the most popular place for spring break. By the mid-80's, however, things got so out-of-control, the mayor of Ft. Lauderdale took stronger steps to discourage spring break partiers in the city.

What I Don't Like: Other aspects haven't dated well. Double standards between men and women are well and truly in force here. The only girl who gets "punished" is the one who actually ends up having sex. The others, including Merritt, talk a good game but remain chaste "good girls." The date rape sequence is handled with surprising sensitivity for the time, but nowadays, those boys would get into a lot more trouble for abusing a woman. And while some real-life Lauderdale locations (including several bars) are used for filming, most of the beach sequences look like the projected backdrops they are. 

The Big Finale: If they can get past those double standards, many real-life college students may still enjoy this look at how four young women handle hard lessons in sex and love during one very memorable spring break. 

Home Media: Easily found in all formats; it's on disc from the Warner Archives.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime

Animation Celebration Saturday - My Little Pony: The Movie (1986)

De Laurentis Entertainment Group, 1986

Voices of Alice Playton, Rhea Pearlman, Madeline Khan, and Cloris Leachman

Directed by Michael Joens

Music and Lyrics by various

Care Bears was just one of many animated TV shows in the 1980's created to sell a toy line. Standards for children's advertising were lowered in the early 80's, leading to every sort of thing being sold to children, from toys to junk food to clothes and music. My Little Pony was originally My Pretty Pony, a fairly realistic soft brown toy horse made by Hasbro in 1981. That pony tossed off a baby version and two more in pink and yellow with symbols on their rumps. Those last two eventually inspired a revamp of the whole line into a series of smaller, more colorful fantasy-oriented horses, each with their own rear symbol and flowing manes. 

Hasbro advertised them with two prime-time syndicated specials in 1984 and 1985. After the success of those and The Care Bears Movie, they decided the Ponies were ready for their own feature-length showcase. Were they right, or should this be dropped in a vat of Smooze? Let's begin in Pony Land, where all of the equine residents are preparing for their Spring Festival, and find out...

The Story: Baby Lickety-Split (Playton) is excited to show off her own dance move in the Baby Ponies' spring show, despite Spike the Dragon (Charlie Adler) admonishing her that it's a bad idea. He turns out to be right. She spins in the wrong direction and sends the other babies sprawling. Dance mistress Buttons (Sheryl Bernstein) harshly scolds her for ruining the show, upsetting her so much that she runs away. Spike joins her. After Lickety-Split's attempt to fly sends them crashing down a waterfall, they eventually discover a whole race of ugly-but-kind creatures named Grundles. Their King (Danny DiVito) explains that a trio of witches destroyed their kingdom...and they'll have no trouble doing it again.

The witch is Hydia (Leachman), an evil old biddy whose dark magic destroys creatures that just annoy her. She almost wishes she could destroy her bumbling daughters Draggle (Kahn) and Reeka (Pearlman), who can't even flood the Ponies properly. She finally gets them to make Smooze (Jon Bauman), a nasty slime creature that devours all in its path. After it destroys the Ponies' original castle home, their human friend Megan (Tammy Anderson) and her siblings Molly (Keri Houlihan) and Danny (Scott Menville) join several of them to ask the Moochick (Tony Randall) for a new home. He directs them to Flutter Valley, the home of the Flutter Ponies, the only creatures that can stop the Smooze.

The Animation: This was rushed out in ten weeks...and I'm afraid it looks it. It's not much above the specials or the subsequent TV show. It also has many of the same problems as the Care Bears films, including horrible continuity. Ponies frequently turn up where they shouldn't be, or are colored wrong. The ponies themselves move stiffly and don't have much variation besides their colors, but the backgrounds are frequently lush and detailed, especially in the Witches' volcano castle and the Ponies' green and vivid world. 

The Song and Dance: I'm surprised they rounded up such an impressive voice cast for this. Randall is carried over from the specials, but DiVito, Playten, and the comediennes voicing the witches all play characters created for the film. The witches in particular are hilarious. Kahn and Pearlman steal the show as the abused daughters who just want to live their lives and get their demanding mother off their backs. I like some of the newer characters, too. The Grundels in particular make a nice contrast to the witches and prove that not every ugly creature that turns up in a cartoon is necessarily bad.

Favorite Number: We open with the theme from the specials, which describes the Ponies' preparations for their Spring Festival. Lickety-Split angrily tells Spike "I'll Go It Alone" after the incident at the dance show, but Spike won't let her wander around on her own. Hydia laments her daughters' incompetence and that they can't be an "Evil Witch Like Me." Draggle and Reeka gleefully claim "I'll Do the Dirty Work"...so long as they don't have to deal with that carnivorous Flume! They join the Smooze in claiming "Nothing Can Stop the Smooze," including Ponies and rainbows. 

"Home" is Randall's big number, as the Moochick suggests different dwellings for the Ponies to replace their lost castle, only for them to reject them all. DiVito and the Grundels may look monstrous, but they're more than happy to point out "Grundels Good" in their underground home. When all seems lost, Lickety-Split laments "What Good Would Wishing Do?" into a well...but there's someone else down that well who could help them more than they'd ever know...

Trivia: Hasbro didn't have nearly as much luck as American Greetings with their franchises. Neither My Little Pony nor Transformers: The Movie went over well at the box office (though the latter is now considered a cult classic). The latter was such a huge flop, the similar GI Joe: The Movie went straight to video. 

What I Don't Like: Let's start with Lickety-Split and Buttons. Though the movie makes it look like Buttons was fully in the wrong - she does regret yelling at the kid later - even Spike pointed out that Lickety-Split shouldn't have been inserting her own moves into the show. Buttons did overreact...but she was right that Lickety-Split caused trouble. Lickety-Split spends most of the remaining movie being rather bratty, at least until she sees what happened to the Grundels and realizes there's worse things out there than being yelled at. 

The witches dominate the movie to such a degree, they only serve to illustrate how bland the other characters are. Most of the Ponies introduced here would be at least a little more interesting in the My Little Pony and Friends TV show that debuted in 1987. Disappointingly, neither Randall nor DiVito have as much to do as the ladies besides their brief numbers. Some of the songs and the Ponies' dialogue can be too sickeningly sweet for words. Megan's "There's Always Another Rainbow" is needed as a hope spot, but it's marred by too-syrupy music and drippy lyrics. There's also the all-over-the place plot. The movie awkwardly cuts between Lickety Split and Spike, Megan and her group, and the group looking for Lickety Split without much rhyme or reason. 

The Big Finale: Though there's some funny performances and decent songs, this version largely hasn't dated well. It's only for major fans of the comedians in question, the Generation 1 Pony toy line, the specials, the TV show, or young girls who will enjoy the colorful ponies and ignore the confusing plot and so-so animation. 

Home Media: Not currently on streaming, but you can find it on the original Rhino Entertainment DVD, or bundled with the 2017 My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic film on Blu-Ray.

DVD

Blu-Ray - 2 Film Collection: My Little Pony

Happy St. Patrick's Day! - The Commitments

20th Century Fox, 1991

Starring Robert Arkins, Michael Aherne, Angeline Ball, and Maria Doyle

Directed by Alan Parker

Music and Lyrics by various

We salute the day of all things Irish with one of the most Irish movies in existence. This adaptation of the book of the same title was a huge hit when it came out, especially in its native Ireland and the UK. Its soundtrack of R&B and soul covers was even bigger, going platinum all over the world. I remember having the cassette when I was a teenager and loving the passionate music. Does the film reach the heights of its score, or should it be left in the Dublin tenements? Let's begin with a young man searching for a different sound on the streets of Dublin, Ireland and find out...

The Story: Irish soul music-lover Jimmy Rabbitte (Arkins) wants to create his own soul band to rival the great groups of the 60's. He holds auditions, but ends up hiring his buddies, people he met on the street, and the attractive Natalie Murphy (Doyle) and her friends as backup singers. They're taken under the wing of trumpet player Joey "The Lips" Fagan (Johnny Murphy), who claims he went on tour with half the singers who ever lived. 

Getting the band together isn't easy. There's tons of fights, mainly between huge, egotistical lead singer Deco Cuffe (Andrew Strong) and the others. Things become even more heated as the band grows more popular. Deco gets angry with drummer Billy Mooney (Dick Massey), Joey seduces all of the female members of the band, and their bouncer Mickah (Dave Finnegan) takes over the drums when Billy quits. Joey says he get them a show with a major soul star from America...but will that be enough to keep these unruly Dublin scrappers from self-destructing? 

The Song and Dance: You can't get much more modern Ireland than this. The gritty cinematography was filmed at actual homes and locations throughout the northern end of the city. The performances are raw and real, especially from Arkins as music-obsessed Jimmy and Strong as the singer whose huge ego is a match for his massive bulk and equally enormous talent. 

The music is incredible. Whether they're playing at a church or a Dublin night club, the songs are expertly filmed and sung with all the passion of the soul performers Jimmy adores. There's a reason the soundtrack went double platinum in the US and Canada and five times platinum in Australia. It's presented with all the sweaty, nervous energy of a rowdy nightclub concert with a band on the verge of success, and makes you feel like you're really in the crowd, watching these people pour their hearts into the songs.

Favorite Number: The songs at that first church performance give us a taste of what's to come for the rest of the movie. We get "Mustang Sally" with Strong and the ladies, a dynamic "In the Midnight Hour," and Doyle's "I Never Loved a Man." Jimmy joins the girls for "Treat Her Right," as he wishes Joey would do just that. Singer Niamah Kavanaugh joins the ladies for "Destination Anywhere" and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man." Ball's big solo is the Tina Turner number "I Can't Stand the Rain." Doyle gets "Bye Bye Baby" at the concert that's interrupted by Billy accidentally knocking his cymbals into Deco. The movie ends at the nightclub with one of its hit singles, the searing "Try a Little Tenderness."

Trivia: Glen Hansard, who played guitarist Outspan Foster, went on to write and star in another gritty Irish working-class movie musical, Once. 

A stage version debuted at London's Palace Theater in 2013 and ran for two years. There's been two tours since then, including one that concluded last year.

What I Don't Like: Heed that R rating. This has many of the same problems as the later Once, including thick accents that can occasionally be hard to decipher and a metric ton of swearing. There's a lot of violence, too, including two major fist fights, and at least one couple is seen naked (though it doesn't get into anything sexual). The ladies aren't always treated the best, either. This goes along with the working class Dublin setting and characters, but it may be pretty rough for anyone who prefers their musicals more uplifting or family-friendly. 

The Big Finale: Highly recommended for something different on St. Patrick's Day or adult fans of soul and R&B.

Home Media:  Easy to find in all major formats.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime

Paddy O'Day

20th Century Fox, 1936

Starring Jane Withers, Pinky Tomlin, Rita Cansino (Hayworth), and Jane Darwell

Directed by Lewis Seiler

Music and Lyrics by various

Jane Withers was sort of 20th Century Fox's anti-Shirley Temple. She usually played spunky or even mean girls who could hold their own in a fight and certainly wouldn't put up with nasty old codgers or snooty ladies. Like Temple and Bobby Breen, most of her movies were short musicals about orphans who triumph over those who would tear them away from the right quirky family. Rita Cansino was making her fourth film, and was a year away from changing her name to Rita Hayworth and becoming one of the most beloved stars of the 1940's and 50's. How well do they work together in this story of an immigrant girl who comes to the US and makes her way among Russians and the Long Island elite? Let's begin on the boat, as Tamara Petrovich (Hayworth) dances for the crowds going to America, and find out...

The Story: Tamara is looking after eight-year-old Paddy O'Day (Withers) on her way to meet her mother, a cook in a wealthy household. After they arrive at Ellis Island, Paddy's told that her mother is very sick, and she'll be sent back to Ireland. She runs away from the orphanage there and goes to New York in search of her mother. She doesn't find out until she makes it to Long Island that her mother has died. Dora the kindly maid (Darwell) and the stuffy butler Benton (Russell Simpson) agree to keep her there and hide her from the immigration authorities.

The house belongs to two spoiled and fretful old maids. They live with their shy son Roy (Tomlin), who's only interest is the rare stuffed birds he collects. He first encounters Paddy when her dog Tim chases his aunts' cat and they hide in his room. Roy is taken with her and doesn't rat her out when her dog chews one of his birds. Tamara and her brother Mischa (George Givot) come looking for Paddy. Not only does he agree that she should stay with them, but Mischa talks Roy into becoming a partner in his Russian-themed nightclub. His aunts are shocked when they come home to find their nephew enjoying his life with vodka and real birds, and decide for one and for all to get rid of the immigrant menaces that disrupted their household.

The Song and Dance: I really like Withers. I think I like her even more than Temple. Talk about a spunky kid. She has no trouble beating up a boy in New York who picked on her and Tim, or telling the aunts off for being spiteful old biddies. There's some nice dancing, too, via a young Rita Hayworth in her fourth film. Gentle Darwell as the soft-hearted cook, Vera Lewis and Louise Carter as the obnoxious aunts who can't understand why anyone who is different than them could be happy, and Francis Ford as good natured Officer McGuire also come off well. Some nice directing touches for what's more-or-less a B musical, too, including a well-done montage of Paddy being overwhelmed by the noise and sights of the Big Apple. 

Favorite Number: We open with Hayworth doing a fast and complicated Russian dance to a sprightly instrumental balalaika tune. Withers sings "Keep That Twinkle In Your Eye" three times, after Hayworth does her number on the boat, briefly later that night when she goes to sleep dreaming of America, and in the finale after she's found her family. Tomlin's big number is him admitting how he's "Changing Ambitions" for his Russian beauty. 

Withers and Hayworth both get big chorus numbers in the nightclub near the end. Withers does "I Like a Balalaika" with the male chorus as they play the title stringed guitar for her. Hayworth gets her own big chorus routine as she wonders "Which Is Which," and which handsome Russian suitor she wants.

What I Don't Like: Too bad the story is sticky melodrama only a notch above Temple and Breen's movies. This is also a good time to discuss Tomlin. He was a popular songwriter and orchestra leader in this time period; some of his songs are still performed today. He also occasionally appeared in movies...and while he was charming, he was also bland, especially compared to feisty Withers. He's more believable as a reclusive bird scholar than a guy with a mustache telling his aunts to live it up. (In fact, he was a geology scholar in real life and would go on to own an oil company later in his career.) 

The Big Finale: If all of Withers' child star vehicles are as much fun as this one, I'm going to look for more of them. Highly recommended for fans of 30's musicals or the films of other child stars of this period like Temple, Breen, or Deanna Durbin.

Home Media: Currently out of print on the 20th Century Fox Cinema Archives. You're better off looking for this one used.

DVD

Family Fun Saturday - A Cinderella Story: Starstruck

Warner Bros, 2021

Starring Baliee Madison, Michael Evans Behling, April Telek, and Lillian Doucet-Rouche

Directed by Michelle Johnson

Music and Lyrics by various

The Cinderella Story movies were so popular with their target audience, they continued even when the pandemic raged. This is the most recent one to be released. In keeping up with the times, this one was released to streaming first, well before it debuted on disc. How does this version of the story differ from other retellings of Cinderella, or even from the other movies in this series? Well, for one thing, we start off on a farm, with Finley Tremaine (Madison) acting out a scene for the animals in her family's barn yard...

The Story: Finley dreams more of anything of becoming a great actress, but she's currently stuck on the farm, doing chores while her vain stepmother Valerian (Telek), spoiled and shallow stepsister Saffron (Doucet-Rouche), and cynical and lazy stepbrother Kale (Richard Harmon) let her wait on them hand and foot. They refuse to let her go to an audition for a western musical about Billy the Kid filming in her country town, but she manages to sneak on the set anyway. She impresses the director Trevor (Matty Finochio) with her singing and fancy rope tricks, until she has to chase her pig John Ham and ends up in the mud. 

Still hoping to land a role, she dresses as a cowboy and calls herself Huck. That not only gets her into the movie, it gives her a chance to befriend Jackson Stone (Behiling), the film's star. Unfortunately, Saffron and Valerian get roles as background extras, with Kale trying to weasel in as their manager. She has to dodge them and find a way to keep them from selling her farm, before she loses her beloved home and her dream.

The Song and Dance: The western theme gives this one a bit of a lift compared to some of the more typical movies in this series. This is the only Cinderella Story movie to end without a ball, fancy gowns, or some kind of a metaphorical glass slipper. She doesn't need them. No goofy and unnecessary best friend sidekicks, either, unless you count Finley's animals. The real focus is on her ambitions, not on romance.  There's decent shots of the wide open spaces of Vancouver, Canada, too. Madison and Behling aren't bad as the central couple. She's sweet and endearing, especially when talking to her animals. He's one of the better "prince charmings" in the series, even if it seems ridiculous that he can't see through her thin disguise. 

Favorite Number: Finley's "I want" song "My Own Story" is heard twice, in the opening as she sings of her acting dreams to the animals on the farm, and later when she's happy they're finally coming true. There's two brief instrumental dance routines for the chorus, a hoedown during the audition, and another number at the "saloon" during filming that ends with "Huck" showing off some amazing rope tricks. Finley claims "I Can't Be Stopped" as she shows off at the audition...but she can be, by her own pet pig John Ham. Valerian and Saffron attempt "We're Sisters" at the audition...but not only is their number absurd, it's obvious that they're terrible performers, and that the only reason Trevor keeps them around is as eye candy and comic relief. Jackson joins the chorus for the driving "Welcome to the Show" in the actual film as "Billy the Kid" and his men manage a fair bit of menace as they sing of their intention to take the opposition down.

What I Don't Like: How the heck does no one see through Finley's "Huck" disguise? You'd think Jackson would, at least. It's painfully obvious. This one does at least try for a shred of originality with its movie and farm backdrops. I also give them credit for going for a stepbrother here instead of the usual second stepsister. Harmon does have a few good moments dealing with John Ham and trying to convince Jackson to let him be his manager, but Telek and Doucet-Rouche have far less to play and aren't nearly as interesting. For all the attempts at unique touches, this still features most the cliches inherent in the Cinderella Story films, from the meet cute encounter to the dull music without a tinge of the country inherent in the setting. 

The Big Finale: While I enjoyed this a little more than the previous film in the series Christmas Wish, it's still mainly recommended as slumber party or birthday background fodder for 8 to 14 year olds. 

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming. 

DVD

Amazon Prime

Musicals On Streaming - The United States Vs Billie Holiday

Hulu, 2021

Starring Andra Day, Trevante Rhodes, Garrett Hedlund, and Leslie Jordan

Directed by Lee Daniels

Music and Lyrics by various

Lady Sings the Blues was far from the last movie to cover Billy Holiday's tumultuous life. This one is actually based on a book not about Holiday, but on the history of drug addiction in the US. Chasing the Scream goes into the history of anti-drug laws and their impact, which includes Holiday and her troubles with the law. How did this become the story of a woman hounded by the FBI supposedly for her heroin habit, but really because her civil rights beliefs upset the wrong government officials? Let's begin, not with Holiday, but with the discussing of an anti-lynching bill that didn't make it through Congress in 1937, and find out...

The Story: In 1957, shortly before her death, Billie tells the story of her involvement with the US government to reporter Reginald Lord Divine (Jordan). Flashback 10 years to 1947, when FBI agent Harry J. Anslinger (Hedlund) believes that Holiday's song "Strange Fruit," about the lynching of a black man in the south, is a threat. He gets Agent Jimmy Fletcher (Rhodes) to catch her doing drugs at one of her concerts and has her arrested. 

After she gets out of prison, she has a sell-out appearance at Carnegie Hall before she's set up again, this time by her newest lover John Levy (Tone Bell). Fortunately, the courts side with her after Fletcher admits she was framed. Fletcher follows her on tour, but the others are suspicious and even get him to do drugs with them. He and Billie fall for each other, but she says Jimmy could do better and marries Louis McKay (Rob Morgan). 

Neither the marriage nor the interview can do much for Billie. Anslinger continues to hound her, even when she's dying of liver failure in the hospital...but she reminds him that "Strange Fruit" and her performance will continue to live on record and in people's memories.

The Song and Dance: Singers looking to break into acting seem to do well with Billie Holiday. I'd never believe this was Day's first real dramatic role. She was incredible as Holiday, a searing ball of nerves even when the script is all over the place. Rhodes is nearly up to her as the man who loved her and regretted baiting her for the rest of his life. Look for R&B singer Miss Lawrence as Day's eye-patch-sporting friend Miss Freddy and Natasha Lyonne as Tallulah Bankhead. I love the historically accurate costumes and sets too, especially the stunning gowns and jewelry Day wears onstage. 

Favorite Number: Our first number is the one that caused all the trouble, the anti-lynching song "Strange Fruit." Day sings it twice, at the concert that's disrupted by the FBI, and near the end of the film. Once she gets out of prison, we hear "I Cried for You" and "Solitude." "Tigress & Tweed" was one of two songs written for the film, and its break-out hit - it was nominated for a Golden Globe; the other is "Break Your Fall." "Tain't Nobody's Bizness" is also heard twice, when Day sings it on tour, and in a recording by Bessie Smith. We get a touching "Lover Man" at Carnegie Hall, and Holiday's own "Lady Sings the Blues" later on. The credits roll over an adorable performance of "All of Me" with Billie trying to teach Fletcher how to dance.

Trivia: Day's feature film debut. She said she lost 40 pounds and started drinking and smoking to get the role.

What I Don't Like: Once again, a lot of this was fabricated. Apparently, the government really did have more interest in Holiday's drug activities than in her civil rights activism, and Anslinger had no personal vendetta against her or "Strange Fruit." Her relationships with women are downplayed, but she did have lovers of both sexes, including Bankhead. She never did "Strange Fruit" as her first number, and the FBI never would have arrested her or anyone in the middle of a concert. 

I'm more concerned about the unwieldy script. It wanders all over the place with no rhyme or reason, jumping back and forth between characters and time periods. Jordan's reporter character is annoying as an audience surrogate, and kind of unnecessary. Also, this and Lady Sings the Blues are very much for adults. There's a ton of swearing, violence, a heavy sex scene, and Day appears fully nude at one point to show off the scars from her addiction. 

The Big Finale: Worth seeing for Day's searing performance and the music alone if you're a fan of Holiday and want more of the story after Lady Sings the Blues. 

Home Media: At the moment, it's exclusive to Hulu. 

Hulu

The Helen Morgan Story

Warner Bros, 1957
Starring Ann Blyth, Paul Newman, Richard Carlson, and Alan King

Directed by Michael Curtiz

Music and Lyrics by various

Helen Morgan is another jazz singer with an unfortunate history. Originally a farmer's daughter, she also overcame humble beginnings to be a major star during the 20's and 30's, lost her money due to bad choices and the Wall Street crash, was used and abused by her husbands and lovers, and died young from years of alcoholism. The movie about her life had almost as many problems. It had been announced early as 1950, but they couldn't find the right Morgan until studio head Jack L. Warner insisted on Blyth. How does she do with the tale of a woman who reaches the heights as the most famous torch singer of the Roaring 20's, only to lose it all to alcoholism? Let's start at a carnival in Chicago, where con man Larry Maddox (Newman) sells phony land in Florida and find out...

The Story: Helen Morgan (Blyth) is the only one of Maddox's hula dancers who keeps going, even when it starts raining. Morgan is determined to become a star, with or without Maddox's aid. Maddox eventually reconnects with her and convinces her to appear in the Miss Canada contest as Miss Saskatchewan. She wins, but is forced to drop her title when they find it was fixed. 

However, that does bring her into contact with lawyer Russell Wade (Carlson). After Maddox and his buddy Benny Weaver (King) bring Helen and her friends Sue (Virginia Vincent) and Dolly (Cara Williams) into the US as cover for illegal liquor, Helen breaks it off with Maddox. Despite Sue's tragic death, she does become a star in speakeasies. After she's arrested when her current place of employment is raided, she calls Wade, who gets her out. 

She becomes so popular, Maddox creates a showplace just for her, the Helen Morgan Club. He even manages to convince impresario Florenz Ziegfeld (Walter Woolf King) to hire her for his new Broadway historical epic Show Boat. Shortly after the show opens to glowing reviews, Helen learns that Wade put up the money for the Helen Morgan Club...and its raided and destroyed. Worse yet, Helen loses her money in bad investments and the Stock Market Crash. She's reduced to living as a penniless drunk in New York. Even as she bottoms out and ends up in Bellvue Hospital, Maddox hasn't forgotten her...and he's determined that she know others haven't, either.

The Song and Dance: Blyth's strong performance as Morgan and a great production bolsters this otherwise fairly routine story. Blyth doesn't look much like her, but she's a similar type, frail and aching, and she looks terrific on those pianos. This comes from the era where moviegoers were beginning to expect more from their musical biographies than a few nifty tunes and fancy numbers, and it's fairly dark for the 50's. This includes a suicide (and Helen and Dolly's realistically horrified reaction to it), Maddox being beaten to a pulp several times, and Helen trying to sing in a bar when she's hit rock-bottom and no one recognizes her. They do a great job in the first half portraying the late 20's, with fairly accurate and lavish costumes and hair for the time and terrific nightclub sets. 

Favorite Number: Our first real number is "If You Were the Only Girl In the World," which is Helen and her friends' attempt at an audition for a show. They do manage to make it into "Avalon," but Maddox knows Helen was made for better things. At Helen's first nightclub performance, we get the chorus doing an intentionally cheesy girls-and-legs routine to "The Girl Friend" before Helen comes on with the touching "The One I Love (Belongs to Somebody Else)." She eventually gets "Love Nest" there as well, now perched on that piano. 

We next get a montage of her at Gassher's Bar, the speakeasy that gets raided. She performs the Gershwin hit "Do, Do, Do" and "Breezin' Along with the Breeze" before she ends up in the slammer. Uptown, the real Rudy Vallee performs his hit "My Time Is Your Time," leading into Helen's "The Man I Love." Her big song at the Helen Morgan Club is the more upbeat "Sunny Side of the Street." A male vocal group gets a nice "I Want to Be Happy" at the Show Boat post opening party. We then get a medley of Helen's triumphs abroad, with "Someone to Watch Over Me" in London, "Deep Night" in Madrid, and "April In Paris" in that city. Cara Williams is briefly seen joining the chorus near the end for "Sweet Georgia Brown." Helen attempts "Somebody Loves Me" at rehearsal for her latest show, but she's so drunk, she sounds terrible. 

The movie ends with one of the songs most associated with her. She sings "Can't Help Lovin' That Man" at the big dinner finale for everyone who adores her.

Trivia: In real life, Morgan's attempt at a comeback was cut short when she died of liver disease in October 1941. 

Doris Day was initially cast as Morgan, but she thought the role a little too dark. Others considered included Susan Hayward, Jaye P. Morgan, Patti Page, Kathryn Grayson, Judy Garland, Julie London, Lizbeth Scott, Jennifer Jones, Peggy Lee, Yvonne DiCarlo, and model Nancy Berg. 

This would be Blyth's last film.

Known as Both Ends of the Candle in England, after the poem by Edna St. Millay that Helen reads near the end of the movie. 

What I Don't Like: Why did they dub Blyth? She had a gorgeous soprano that was far closer to Morgan's actual voice than Gogi Grant's belting. I have no idea why Jack L. Warner thought that was a good idea, or why he practically shoved Newman into this. Newman fought with everyone from Warner to old-school director Curtiz, and it shows in his lackluster and listless performance. Larry Maddox was fictional. Morgan actually married three times, and although her last husband was her manager, his name was Lloyd Johnston. She never bottomed out as seen in the film and continued to perform in nightclubs, radio, and onstage until her death. Though I give them kudos for going slightly more realistic, especially in the beginning, this is still ultimately the same type of melodrama that turns up in film biographies to this day. 

The Big Finale: Dark and depressing soap opera is mainly for big fans of Morgan, Blyth, or Newman. Everyone else is better off looking up the real Morgan's recordings and her performance in the 1936 Show Boat. 

Home Media: Currently available on streaming and DVD, the latter from the Warner Archives. 

DVD

Amazon Prime

Animation Celebration Saturday - Once Upon a Time (1973)

G.G Communications/Constantin Film, 1973

Voices of Eva-Maria Werth, Arnold Marquis, Ursula Heyer, and Tilly Lauenstein

Directed by Rolf Kauka

Music by Peter Thomas; Lyrics by Roberto deLeonardis

I had to do a little research on this one. Apparently, Rolf Kauka was a fairly well-known cartoonist in Germany during the mid-20th century. His Fix & Foxi comic strip was so popular, by the 1950's, he had his own publishing  house. This would be his only venture into feature films. Is this combination of one of the best-known Grimm's Fairy Tales in the world and one that's less popular outside of Germany as much fun as those comics characters, or should they be dropped down a well? Let's begin with the narrator introducing sweet Maria (Werth), her rich drunkard father Mr. Bottle (Marquis), and Maria's little dog Bello, and find out...

The Story: Their lives are changed when a gypsy posing as a fortune teller (Lauenstein) manages to con Bottle into marrying her. She and her spoiled and haughty daughter Mary Lou (Heyer) take over his home, buying themselves rich clothes and jewlery and forcing Maria to do all the work. Mary Lou's so obnoxious, she even steals the horse from what she thinks is a hunter (Uwe Paulson) and throws the garnet necklace he gave Maria into the well.

Mary Lou is shocked when it turns out the horse and the necklace actually belong to a prince. She and her mother promise a shoe maker who has his eye on her (Wolfgang Spier) Mary Lou will marry him if he makes her a garnet necklace. It doesn't pass muster with the Prince, which forces her to go after the real one. Maria and Bello come along, too. They learn that Mother Holle (Tina Eliers), who makes the snow fall with the help of her children, has the necklace. Mother Holle says she'll give the necklace to whichever girl is worthy...and when Maria easily agrees to help Holle and the beings in her world with their work, while Mary Lou complains and demands the necklace, it becomes very obvious which one deserves the Prince's heart.

The Animation: I can definitely see this coming from a comic book artist. The first half in the regular world isn't really anything special. It looks rather like a Hanna Barbara TV show or movie from this era, with its wide-eyed, slender young women and Prince, grotesque stepmother and Mr. Bottle, and warm Mother Holle. Once the movie drops down that well, we swap out Hanna Barbara for Yellow Submarine.  Everything is eye-popping bright, with its psychedelic train, talking trees laden with apples, and adorable soft curly-haired cows. There's some nice shots when Bello is tied up in the woods and as the snow/feathers fly. 

The Song and Dance: I give them credit for trying something a little different. Cinderella's been done many times, but this is the only animated adaptation I've seen of the German fairy tale Mother Holle. When it focuses on the story and the fantasy, it's actually rather charming. The second half in particular is fairly unique and just a lot of fun to watch, due to the trippier animation and strange characters, like that talking tree. (I also like that the king thorougly approves of his son marrying a commoner. He wants new blood and to get out of his job and focus on bee keeping quick as possible.)

Favorite Number: "Hallelujah!" is barely a number, just the words repeated over and over as the Stepmother swings Mr. Bottle around after she's conned him into marriage. Mr. Bottle laments all the money he's spending on the screechy Mary Lou and her mother in the shopping montage "Marvelous I Say." The very mid-70's pop ballad "Maria" turns up three times, when the Prince sings it after he and Maria meet, as a duet for Maria and the Prince in her imagination at the well, and later back at the well after she's lost the necklace. 

Two jolly little Asian gentlemen "Go Round and Round In Circles" after the sisters arrive in Mother Holle's world. Maria thinks they're adorable. Mary Lou finds them to be an annoying nuisance. ("Round and Round" is also performed by the chorus in the end credits.) Mother Holle's hungry toddlers sing "The Porridge Song" as Maria feeds them, with them singing her praises in the end. The children also sing of "Mother Holle" as they and the girls shake the pillows and make it snow. 

Trivia: Originally released in black and white in 1973; the color version debuted in 1975. The English-dubbed version was released in 1976. It's not known whose voices were used in the dub. 

What I Don't Like: This is one strange movie. Characters are either bland (Maria and her Prince) or so abrasive, it's hard to watch them (Mary Lou, Mr. Bottle and his wife, the cobbler, Mother Holle's screaming kids). Too much time is spent in the first half with the cobbler and the notary (Harry Wustenhagen) and their antics while trying to make the necklace and get Mary Lou to marry him, and with the boar the hunters chase. It's obvious padding and has little to do with the rest of the film. 

The Big Finale: Worth checking out at least once on a rainy day if you love fairy tales like I do or want to try a different take on Cinderella. 

Home Media: The DVD is long out of print. Your best bet for this is streaming. Tubi currently has it for free.

Tubi

Lady Sings the Blues

Paramount, 1972

Starring Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, and James Callahan

Directed by Sidney J. Furie

Music and Lyrics by various

Billie Holliday and Bessie Smith have a lot in common. Both lived troubled lives in the early and mid 20th century, though Holliday's heyday came slightly after Smith's. They survived abusive childhoods to live troubled lives, had extensive lovers of both sexes, were frequently abused and used by those they loved, earned a ton of money only to lose it all, and both died tragically in their 40's. If anything, Holliday may have had it even worse, suffering from drug addiction along with the abuse and ending up in prison several times. This was also intended to be a vehicle for a major R&B diva of the time, in this case Diana Ross. Ross had appeared on TV with the Supremes, but this would be her first major movie. How did she do as Holliday? Let's begin in 1936, as Holliday is being arrested for drug possession, and find out...

The Story: We jump back to 1928, where we see the young Elenora Fagan working as a cleaning girl in a brothel in Baltimore. After she's attacked at home by a drunk patron, she runs away to live with her mother Sadie (Virginia Capers) in New York. That doesn't turn out to be much better. She's right back to cleaning in brothels again. After realizing that being a prostitute isn't for her, she manages to get a job as a singer in nightclub with the help of a friendly piano player (Pryor). Her first night's work doesn't go well, until one interested patron (Williams) gives her a fifty-dollar tip. 

Billie finds her falling for that rich and handsome patron, Louis McKay. A year later, band leaders Reg (Callahan) and Harry Hanley (Paul Hampton) sign her to be their lead singer for a tour of the south in the hope of landing a network radio job. That job turns out to be more perilous than she anticipated when they encounter the lynching of an African-American man and are almost run down by the Klu-Klux-Klan. She's so shaken by what she's seen, it leads her to start taking drugs after she collapses onstage. Louis isn't thrilled about that and gets her to come home. 

Even when they return to New York, things don't come easy for Billie. She's unable to sing on the radio, due to the sponsors disapproving of her race. Trying to avoid her family's disappointment leads to drinking and returning to drugs. She ends up so desperate for a fix, she nearly attacks Louis. After her mother dies, she finally checks herself into drug rehab, but has no money. Louis pays her bills. Alas, even when Louis proposes to her, she's arrested for drug possession. Once out of prison, she tries to give up performing, but loves singing too much. Her agent (Vic Morosco) books her into Carnegie Hall in the hope that she'll be able to regain her cabaret license. While his ploy doesn't work, the show is a sell-out and cements her as one of the great jazz performers of all time. 

The Song and Dance: Ross made a smashing debut in this searing melodrama. She goes through every bit of heartbreak you can imagine, from drug addiction to abuse to landing in jail and manages to mostly make it believable. Suave Williams nearly matches her as the wealthy man who truly loves her. They're backed by a stylish and lavish production with gorgeous dresses for the ladies, dapper suits for the gentlemen, and beautifully done sets with just enough grunge to look like the Harlem and south of the 1930's and 40's. 

Favorite Number: Elenora's first favorite song, and the one heard throughout the first half-hour or so of the film, is "'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do" by Blinky Williams. She herself sings it later in the film as part of her second southern tour...and it's a perfect reflection of how she feels about life and herself. Her first song at the Harlem club is "All of Me." They're not impressed by "The Man I Love," either. She does better by "Them There Eyes" after she finally accepts that $50 from Louis. "Gimme a Pigfoot and a Bottle of Beer" is her song once she's settled in at the club and has become more popular. 

We see "Any Happy Home" during a montage of the tour, with her not able to get through her own "Don't Explain" without collapsing from exhaustion and fear. "Strange Fruit," which she records after the witnessing the lynching, was controversial at the time for its pro-Civil Rights themes. She gets her own "God Bless the Child" later. Even Louis realizes she's being "Mean to Me" when he comes to see her on tour. "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" and "Our Love Is Here to Stay" depict her relationship with Louis, during her first year singing in Harlem and after she's gotten out of jail. She finally gets her own "'Tain't Nobody's Bizness" later before being arrested. 

Trivia: The movie and the soundtrack wound up being two of the biggest hits of 1972, and Ross was nominated for an Oscar. 

Other women considered for Holliday included Diahann Carroll, Lola Falana, and Cicely Tyson. Paul Winfield was considered for McKay. Dorothy Dandridge was considered for an earlier Holliday project, but died before it got anywhere. Ava Gardener had also been considered. Diana Sands and Abbey Lincoln were in the running when the project was revised.

Diana Ross' film debut. She and Williams would appear together again three years later in the non-musical drama Mahogany. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, there's a lot more to Holliday's tumultuous life than depicted here. Like Bessie Smith, she was bisexual and had affairs with women and men. Unlike Smith, her biopic centers on one relationship with McKay, but she had at least two other husbands and many male and female lovers. We don't hear about how she basically supported her mother in the 40's and 50's, or that she played Carnegie Hall two more times...and was arrested two more times, including while she was dying of liver disease in the hospital. Nor do we hear about her basically being an early Civil Rights advocate, a bit of a surprise given the era this was made in. 

Second, this is even more of a standard melodrama than Bessie's story...and even rougher stuff. Be wary of that R rating. There's several harrowing scenes of abuse in all forms, from verbal to physical to realistic portrayals of drug and alcohol abuse. This is not for someone looking for a more upbeat or romantic story. And Pryor, for all his importance in getting Billie recognition early-on, otherwise doesn't have a whole lot to do later in the film other than cheer Billie on and get beaten to a pulp. 

The Big Finale: If you love Ross, Williams, or Holliday and can handle the darker scenes, this is a highly recommended portrait of one woman's struggle to overcome addiction and her own fears. 

Home Media: Only on disc at the moment, but they're easily found, often for under $10.  

DVD

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