The Unsinkable Molly Brown

MGM, 1964

Starring Debbie Reynolds, Harve Presnell, Ed Begley, and Hermione Badderly

Directed by Charles Waters

Music and Lyrics by Meredith Wilson

We end our Women's History Month reviews with this rousing biography of one of Colorado's great ladies, featuring one of MGM's biggest stars of the late 50's and early 60's. Though the stage version wasn't quite as big of a hit as Wilson's The Music Man, it was still popular enough for MGM to option it as a huge vehicle for Reynolds and Presnell. Presnell was a big, strapping baritone not unlike Howard Keel the decade prior. MGM was willing to give him a big build-up and Reynolds the role of her career as the scrappy backwoods girl who rises first to Denver society, then to one of the heroines of the Titanic disaster. How does this story look today, especially as a far campier Titanic-based musical spoof prepares to hit Broadway next month? Let's begin with a tiny baby being flung along in raging rapids...and surviving...and see why this was so popular in the early 60's...

The Story: Brassy tomboy Molly Tobin (Reynolds) has big dreams. She heads to Leadville, Colorado to make enough money for a trip to Denver and marriage to a wealthy man. Her plans are derailed when she falls in love with Johnny Brown (Presnell), a poor miner with no desire to ever work the mine he owns. He's equally in love with Molly, teaching her to read and write and even building a cabin for her. 

When he does finally have a big strike at the mine, it propels them into Denver high society, just like Molly wished and hoped for. Denver high society, however, isn't ready for them. Gladys McGraw (Audrey Christie), the queen of wealthy Denver matrons, rejects them as being too vulgar. Mrs. McGraw's mother Buttercup Grogan (Badderly) suggests the duo go to Europe for some "polish." Molly loves it, but Johnny feels out of place among the princes and duchesses. Molly invites them to Denver, but Johnny brings his mining friends around too and ruin the introduction. 

Furious, Molly returns to Europe, only to realize she misses Johnny and Colorado. She returns on the S.S Titanic...and becomes not only one of the survivors when the ship hits an iceberg, but one who encouraged morale and kept at the captain to rescue more people. She returns to Denver as one of its greatest heroines, and to Johnny as the one man who could really keep up with her. 

The Song and Dance: Reynolds never had more fun than she did in this movie, especially the first half when she's brawling with her brothers, with drunk miners, and with J.J Brown. She had such a blast playing Molly, she got an Oscar nomination. Presnell and Begley nearly match her as the laid-back miner who preferred the simple life in Colorado to his wife's ambitions and her hilarious father. Gorgeous cinematography filmed in the actual Colorado and stunning costumes beautifully depicting backwoods Colorado and Denver and European high society in the 1900's and early 1910's help too.

The Numbers: We open with Molly brawling with her brothers, telling them "I Ain't Down Yet." She teaches herself to play "Belly Up to the Bar, Boys," competing with other local dancers and ladies of the evening for their attention. Johnny claims "Colorado, My Home" twice, in his introductory sequence when he's looking over his land, and later when he and Molly return to Colorado after their European trip. "I'll Never Say No," Johnny tells Molly as he teaches her to read and write, builds her a bigger cabin, and even gets the brass bed she wanted. "He's My Friend," says Buttercup, Mr. Tobin, Molly, and Johnny as half the royals in Europe sing awkwardly along. "Johnny's Soliloquy" is a brief reprise of "Colorado My Home" as he admits that he misses Molly.

Trivia: Molly Brown was no backwoods girl when she married "Leadville" Johnny Brown in 1886, but a spirited young lady of 18 who, indeed, had been looking for a wealthy husband. She actually ended up much-beloved in Denver society, as an early and ardent feminist and crusader for worker's rights. Yes, she not only survived the Titanic disaster, she pushed her lifeboat captain to look for more survivors, though the "unsinkable" nickname apparently didn't become more common until after her death in 1932. Unlike in the movie, she and Johnny legally separated, though Molly didn't remarry after Johnny's death in 1922. Their home in Denver and their summer home at Bear Creek, Colorado still exist today as museums.

The original Broadway show opened in 1960 with Tammy Grimes as Molly and Presnell as Johnny and ran for two years, pretty respectable for the time. Alas, despite the success of the film, it's rarely been seen again. It didn't make it to London until 2009. It was heavily reworked to include more of the real-life story of Molly Brown for a run at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts in 2014. This heavily revised version turned up briefly off-Broadway in 2020, and it's also available for regional productions. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, this takes forever to get where it's going. Those two hours can drag at times, especially during Molly's European jaunts in the second half. Second, note the historical inaccuracies above. This also isn't for people who like their musicals on the quieter or more introspective side. This musical is as noisy and brash as its heroine. Meredith Wilson's score isn't bad, but it's not quite at the level of The Music Man, either. And I wish we could have heard more of it. All but five numbers were cut. "He's My Friend" was written for the film (and has since been added to stage versions).

The Big Finale: If you love the brash, brassy musicals of the 50's and 60's or are a big fan of Reynolds, come on down and get to know the toughest, funniest lady to ever come out of Colorado.

Home Media: Easily found on all formats. The Blu-Ray is from the Warner Archives.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime

Somebody Loves Me

Paramount, 1952

Starring Betty Hutton, Ralph Meeker, Billie Bird, and Robert Keith

Directed by Irving Brecher

Music and Lyrics by various

We return to Woman's History Month with our second Betty Hutton biographical film. Hutton was still one of Paramount's biggest stars when she appeared in this film on one of the pioneering ladies of jazz. She's paired here with Ralph Meeker, then an up-and-coming leading man who was just coming off the original run of Mister Roberts. How well do they do as one of the most popular couples in vaudeville during the 1920's and 30's? Let's begin with Blossom Seely (Hutton) singing in a San Francisco nightclub in 1906...right before the San Francisco earthquake hits...and find out...

The Story: The first theater to reopen after the quake recovery is Grauman's Vaudeville. The manager said he'd put Blossom and her friend Essie (Bird) on the bill, but Blossom is last. Not only that, he gives her best song to the more refined headliner Nola Beach (Adele Jergens). Essie makes use of a banana and a hungry monkey to make sure Blossom gets that song. Not only does she get the spot, she's a sensation who becomes one of the top vaudeville headliners. 

While traveling in Paris, Blossom sees handsome Benny Fields (Meeker) and his buddies Forrest (Henry Slate) and Henry (Sid Tomack) performing at a club. She invites the guys to perform with her, but she really wants Benny. The other two go on without him after their number, which infuriates Blossom and Benny and causes Benny to break up the act. Blossom and Benny become a team, but he's consistently late for rehearsals and is always out with some girl...before he reveals that he wants to marry her. She's thrilled at first, but when she goes on vacation without him, he claims he married her for her fame. They break up, but he can't get bookings without her. She arranges for him to get a solo act...but he doesn't appreciate it until her friend Sam Doyle (Keith) points out how much she cares about him and wants him to be happy.

The Song and Dance: For all the Technicolor and lavish gowns for Hutton and Bird, I like how intimate this is compared to most biographies of this ilk. The focus is where it should be, on the two leads and Blossom's two best friends. Hutton herself is surprisingly subdued for her, though she does get to have fun tearing through two of Seely's signature numbers, "Toddlin' the Toledo" and "Way Down Yonder In New Orleans." Meeker matches her well as the tough guy who thinks he's marrying her for her fame, but ends up falling for her anyway. Oh, and look for Jack Benny introducing the two of them with a brief but hilarious routine with his violin. 

The Numbers: We open in that saloon in San Francisco with Blossom attempting the "Teasin' Rag" and "I Can't Tell You Why I Love You but I Do" before the earthquake hits. The more elegant Nola Beach sings "Honey, Oh My Honey" and starts "Toddlin' the Toledo" before a hungry monkey sits on her dress train. Blossom finishes the song in a far more energetic style. We then get a medley of "Dixie June," "San Francisco Bay," and "Smiles" for the doughboys in the trenches during World War I, ending with a major celebration after the end of the war. 

Meeker gets his first number on the ship to America, "I Cried for You." Their big number leads, with a stereotypical black maid dressing Blossom, leads into the more romantic "Rose Room." Blossom has way more fun with the black and yellow "Way Down Yonder In New Orleans." Forrest and Henry get into big trouble doing a number on their own afterwards, which leads to Benny breaking up the act. "Jealous" is a far simpler act, just the two of them at the piano...but it's a pretty accurate assessment of her feelings about his carousing. After they marry, she declares she'll "Love Him."

The one major chorus number is also the film's most problematic today. Hutton sings "Wang-Wang Blues," "Mister Banjo Man," and "Dixie Dreams" in blackface. Her rendition of "Dixie Dreams" is lovely, but it's also hard to separate it from the racial connotations. Benny's "I'm Sorry I Made You Cry" is drowned out by a noisy and indifferent audience and two comics who tear off his clothes. They sing "On Your Own Little Feet" together in her room, then he reprises "Dixie June." He reprises the number with chorus girls at the theater, along with "Thanks to You." They finish with "Somebody Loves Me."

Trivia: Unlike many film biographies, this one had a happy ending in real-life and on-screen. Seeley did go into retirement after the death of vaudeville in the mid-30's. The relative success of this film pushed her and Fields back out into the limelight. They performed together on stage, record, and television until his death in 1959. She would continue into the 60's as a solo act, becoming one of the great female jazz singers of the 20th century until her death in 1974. 

Hutton was pretty much the only person who wasn't dubbed. Meeker was dubbed by Pat Morgan, Adele Jergens by Barbara Ames, Sid Tomack by Le Clark, and Henry Slate by Jack Baker. 

Film debut of character actor Nick Adams.

Hutton's last movie for Paramount.

What I Don't Like: First of all, see all that dubbing above. Couldn't they have found someone whose singing voice actually sounded like it belonged to Meeker? Morgan's voice is way too deep to be Meeker's. Second, this is about as typical of a biography as you can get. Meeker usually did film noir or drama and is not the first person you think as a leading man in a musical, and Hutton is oddly subdued for her. (She'd just come from surgery to remove growths on her throat, which explains a lot about her performance.) It has some bright spots and good songs, but is largely pretty ho-hum. 

The Big Finale: This is mainly for major fans of Hutton or the big 50's biographical musicals. 

Home Media: Which makes it just as well that the only place you can currently find it is YouTube.

YouTube

Happy St. Patrick's Day! - Song O' My Heart

Fox Film Corporation, 1930

Starring John McCormack, Maureen O'Sullivan, Alice Joyce, and John Garrick

Directed by Victor Borzage

Music and Lyrics by various

Top O' the evenin' lads an' lasses! This year, we go way far back and celebrate St. Patrick's Day with one of the great Irish tenors of the early 20th century. John McCormack was known for being the quintessential Irish singer, with his beefy appearance, ringing tones, and frequently sentimental choice of material. His popularity had dropped off somewhat by 1930, but he was still well-known enough for Fox to offer him his choice of material and pay him the princely sum of $200,000 to star in the film. Is this operetta drama worthy of McCormack's artistry, or should it be left at home? Let's start with two frequent gossips at the Irish village where Sean O'Conlon (McCormack), lives, Peter (J.M Kerrigan) and Rafferty (J. Farrell MacDonald) and find out...

The Story: Sean has retired to the village despite his promising career to be near his beloved Mary (Joyce), and her two children, teenager Eileen (O'Sullivan) and young son Tad (Tommy Clifford). He had once loved Mary, but her sour Aunt Elizabeth (Emily Fitzroy) convinced her to marry for money. Her husband abandoned them and left them high and dry, forcing them to move back in with strict Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth doesn't approve of Fergus (Garrick), the handsome young man whom Eileen is in love with. Fergus is poor, and leaves the US to make money to support her. To help Mary and her children, producer Fullerton (Edward Martindel) convinces Sean to go on a concert tour in America. The tour is a great success, until tragedy forces Sean to return to the country and people he's always loved the most.

The Song and Dance: I do give this some credit for being one of the better-shot and more unique films of its era. McCormack's presence assures that there are no huge, out-of-place chorus numbers or goofy backstage drama. It was partially filmed in the real Ireland for Fox's experimental widescreen "Grandeur" format, and that shows in the decent cinematography for the early talkies era. The cast is pretty accurate, too. O'Sullivan kicked off a six-decade career with her winsome performance here. Kerrigan and MacDonald have a high time as two village men whose comments bookend the action. It almost feels like an early preview of The Quiet Man in black and white, with a lot of the same attention to detail that marked John Ford's later magnum opus.

The Numbers: Our first number is "Then You'll Remember Me," which Sean performs at his home with his usual accompanist Vincent (his real-life long-time pianist Edwin Schinder). The children of the village beg him for a fairy tale about a princess or a leprechaun, which turns into "A Fairy Story By the Fire." Sean performs "Just for Today" accompanied by the organ at the village church as Mary wistfully listens outside its walls. He delights his friends in the town with the traditional comic number "Kitty My Love, Will You Marry Me?" at his home and sings "The Rose of Tralee" for Mary after the party. She hears him sing it again in her mind after he leaves just before her death.

Sean's first number in the big concert sequence is "Plasir d'Amour." "Little Boy Blue" is accompanied by heartbreaking images of stuffed animals and toy soldiers covered in cobwebs waiting for their young owner to play with them again. This is followed by "Ireland, Mother Ireland." After Fullerton gets the word of Mary's death, he keeps it from Sean until he's sung "I Hear You Calling Me." The film ends with Sean singing "I Feel You Near Me" for his new family, Tad and kindly neighbor Mona (Effie Ellsler). 

Trivia: As mentioned, this was filmed in regular 35 millimeter film and Fox's experimental 70 millimeter "Grandeur" film. Most movie theaters at the time weren't set up for widescreen film, and the Grandeur version was never seen and is currently lost. 

First film for Maureen O'Sullivan and last film for Alice Joyce.

What I Don't Like: First of all, there's McCormack himself. He's a genial presence, but he's no actor and is in over his head with some of the more melodramatic sequences. There's also the fact that the Irish stereotypes are even more thick on the ground here than they are in Quiet Man, without that film's stunning color or often hilarious script. There's also the simple fact that this is straight melodrama only a step above some of the weepy Al Jolson sob stories from the late 20's and early 30's. It's not for people looking for something more upbeat, or those who aren't opera or McCormack fans. This is pretty much a concert with an Irish soap opera surrounding it.

The Big Finale: Mainly for fans of McCormack or the more melodramatic films of the early talkie era.

Home Media: Thanks to it now being in the public domain, it can be easily found on streaming for free with commercials.

Tubi

The Roku Channel

Incendiary Blonde

Paramount, 1945

Starring Betty Hutton, Arturo de Cordova, Bill Goodwin, and Barry Fitzgerald

Directed by George Marshall

Music and Lyrics by various

Our first of three Women's History Month movies is also the first of two vehicles we'll be seeing featuring energetic comedienne Betty Hutton. Of the four biographies she appeared in, this one might suit her the most. Texas Guinin lived a colorful life from the late 1900's through the early 1930's, working everything from rodeos to Broadway to films, ending up as "queen of the nightclubs" in the 20's, singing and talking to the customers in her own lavish speakeasies. How well does the film do with depicting her wild Roaring Twenties world? Let's begin with the rodeo coming to Waco, Texas, and find out...

The Story: Texas Gunian (Hutton) may be a goofy tomboy, but she's no fool. The new owner of the rodeo, Bill Romero Kilgallon (de Cordova), is so impressed when she manages to stay on a bucking bronco, he hires her on the spot...and she holds out for more money. Press agent Tim Callahan (Goodwin) is even more so after he sees her act "rescuing" a child. She's in love with Kilgallon, but he's married to an invalid. She ends up going off to become a Broadway star with Callahan, but then follows her old friend Cherokee Jim (Charlie Ruggles) to Hollywood to become a movie star. 

She does well, getting back together with Bill to make their own features, but Bill runs afoul of gangsters and ends up convincing Texas to sell out and get the money. Back in New York, Texas has few prospects until she inadvertently discovers how well she can handle a nightclub crowd. Her songs and talking directly to them jazzes up speakeasy-goers and brings in the crowds. Unfortunately, they also attract gangster Joe Cadden (Albert Dekker), who takes over the club and Texas' contract. Texas is still a smash, and with Bill's wife having passed on, she's hoping to marry him...but his getting caught between warring gangsters and her realizing she has a terminal illness makes them realize how impossible that is.

The Song and Dance: When she's allowed to do the rip-roaring comedy that she does best, Hutton has way too much fun here. This may be the biographical role that suited her best. Guinan was a tough-talking tomboy who lived one of the most colorful lives of the early 20th century, not too far from Hutton herself. She really throws herself into Guinan's trademark nightclub patter and that bucking bronco in the opening. Great production, too, with gorgeous Edith Head costumes and some nice Technicolor cinematography, especially in the first half.

The Numbers: We open with Texas singing "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" with her siblings as they watch the rodeo parade. We get  montage of Texas moving up from chorus line cutie to featured dancer to a star with shows based around her, including the (rather stereotypical) African spoof "Oh By Jingo" with her shaking her hips in feathers among "natives." "What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?" is a more romantic roundelay, with Hutton in a massive lavender gown and picture hat singing to a handsome leading man. 

Texas joins three acrobats throwing each other around to ad-lib and get herself kicked out of the show...but them throwing her around turns out to be so hilarious, she ends up staying in the show. She gets the energetic "Row Row Row," turning a fur coat and a table into a boat and sweetheart, while black pianist Maurice Rocco earns the contract Texas gives him with his incredible instrumental "Darktown Strutters Ball." Texas sings "It Had to Be You" on New Year's Eve, right before she and Bill are supposed to get married.

What I Don't Like: It's true that Texas Guinan did start out in wild west shows, she did make silent movies at her own production company (and two sound features, one of which is currently lost), and she was "the queen of the nightclubs" who resurrected her career singing and mingling with the crowds in the speakeasies she owned. Her life was even more colorful than that, with her clubs frequently getting raided, her telling truth-skirting interviews to the press, and her living with two men for years without marrying either. Her only known legal husband bore no resemblance to either de Cordova or Goodwin, both of whom are dull in thankless love interest roles. Only Fitzgerald as her Irish father who is even more inclined to embroider the truth comes anywhere near Hutton.

The Big Finale: Despite the heavy cliches, this is colorful enough to rate a look if you're a fan of Hutton or the big bright Technicolor musicals of the mid-late 40's.

Home Media: To my knowledge, this is currently only available on YouTube in a blurry copy taped from a TCM showing. 

YouTube