A Salute to TCM - Give a Girl a Break

MGM, 1953

Starring Marge & Gower Champion, Debbie Reynolds, and Bob Fosse

Directed by Stanley Donen

Music by Burton Lane; Lyrics by Ira Gershwin

Our second small-scale MGM musical didn't start out that way. Apparently, this was originally intended to be a big-budget showcase of some of the newer talent on the MGM lot, with names like Donen, Lane, Gershwin, and Reynolds attached. Somewhere along the line, it got pared down into a less elaborate story about three women who desperately hope to be chosen for the starring role in a big Broadway revue. Does this still wow 'em in the aisles nowadays, or should it be left behind? Let's begin at the Regal Theater in New York as hopeful go-fer Bob Dowdy (Fosse) brings the cast sandwiches and find out...

The Story: As it turns out, there may not be a show. Its demanding star, Janet Hallston (Donna Martell), has walked out. Director and choreographer Ted Sturgis (Gower Champion) puts out an ad for an open audition that draws thousands of hopeful dancers. Ted, Bob, and the revue's composer Leo Belney (Kurt Kaznar) finally whittle it down to three finalists. 

Ballerina Joanna Moss (Helen Wood) is excited for the opportunity, but her husband Burton Bradshaw (Richard Anderson) announces at the same time that he just got a professor job in Minnesota. Bob is enamored with bubbly tap dancer Suzy Doolittle (Reynolds), who has studied for years for a chance like this one. Ted's not happy when his ex-partner Madelyn Corlane (Marge Champion) returns to audition as well. She left him years ago for wealthy Anson Pritchett (William Ching). With each woman enormously talented and each man pushing a different lady, it's going to be hard to figure out which lady would work out best for the show...and in the men's lives.

The Song and Dance: "Dance" is the operative word here. There's some fabulous dance routines in this movie, many of them choreographed by Fosse. He and Reynolds have by far the most fun as the ebulent go-fer who falls hard for her and the vivacious girl who wants a life of her own and a chance to really shine. The gorgeous Technicolor, lovely songs, and nifty costumes bring far more life to this story than its bland Broadway setting does. I also like how most of the action unfolds in less than 24 hours. It really gives you a chance to know all three couples and why the guys fall for their ladies like they do.

Favorite Number: Our first number is the creative chorus routine to the title song. We see little vignettes of several of the ladies who hope to audition. Most of them are terrible dancers or strange singers...except the three who end up getting called back. Bob and Suzy sing how they're "In Our United State" during a charming dance routine in New York as he takes her home from dance practice. We see more of Fosse and Champion's embryonic talents as they remind Leo that "Nothing's Impossible," even reworking a Broadway revue in three weeks. Ted insists on seeing what Madelyn can do right before she's supposed to attend a masquerade party with Anson, resulting in the dynamic "Challenge Dance" on the apartment building roof.

The three men daydream about the kind of dances they want to do with their ladies in three elaborate sequences. Bob and Suzy do an amazing "Backwards Dance" through confetti that falls upwards and balloons that pop, then return to life. Bob tosses in a backwards flip here and in "In Our United State" that must be seen to be believed. "Puppet Master Dance" starts out as a classical ballet routine for Joanna and Leo with her in a pink tutu and him in sequins and tights...until she ends up in fringed trousers for a slinkier jazz version. The Champions get "It Happens Every Time" in a simpler world surrounded by bars to glide around. It ends in the theater, with Ted and the chosen lady singing their heart out to "Applause Applause" surrounded by a striking pink and black set.

Trivia: Wood eventually left MGM for stage work, including as a dancer at Radio City Music Hall. She later appeared in the infamous X-rated film Deep Throat under the name Dolly Sharp. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, the derivative plot feels like MGM just re-wrote and heavily updated it's 1941 hit Ziegfeld Girl and threw in a happier ending for one of the characters. This isn't anything you haven't seen before, going back to the dawn of sound. Second, while most of these people are wonderful dancers, Kaznar and Reynolds are the only ones who are really up to some of the histrionics later in the film when the women learn who makes it and who doesn't. The Champions are charming but not much more than that. You can understand why the failure of this movie ended any ideas MGM had of making them huge stars ala Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. 

The Big Finale: Dance aficionados and fans of Donen or any of the stars involved will want to check this one out for the delightful routines alone.

Home Media: The remastered Warner Archives DVD is currently out of print, but it can be found pretty easily on streaming and through used venues. 

DVD

Amazon Prime

Family Fun Saturday - The Little Prince (1974)

Paramount, 1974

Starring Steven Warner, Richard Kiely, Gene Wilder, and Bob Fosse

Directed by Stanley Donen

Music by Fredrick Loewe; Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner

We head into Thanksgiving week with this sweet family musical. French nobleman Count Antoine de Saint-Exupery wrote the children's book The Little Prince in 1942 as a critique of how strange the adult world can be. This would be the first English language film version of the book; it's also one of the few times Fosse got to dance to his own choreography on-screen, and is the final collaboration between Lerner and Loewe before the latter retired. How does the whimsical story of a pilot (Kiley) who befriends the odd young royal (Warner) of the title look nowadays? Let's begin with The Pilot (Kiley) explaining about how adults didn't take him or his artwork seriously as a child and find out...

The Story: He takes to the skies to get away from the straight-laced adult world that can't accept his whimsical drawings. While testing an experimental plane, he makes an emergency stop in the Sahara Desert for repairs. He encounters a little blonde boy in a blue jacket who claims to be the Prince of a very small planet, one that the Pilot figures out is an asteroid. The boy left his beloved Rose (Donna McKechnie) to explore the solar system and other planets. All he finds are bombastic adults who focus so much on their own petty problems, they ignore him. 

He eventually came to Earth, where he first met the Snake (Fosse) and the Fox (Wilder). They both teach him valuable lessons about life and love he passes onto the Pilot. The Pilot's not sure to make of his stories at first, but they eventually become good friends...which makes it harder when the boy becomes ill from a snake bite, and the Pilot could lose him...

The Song and Dance: This whimsical fantasy is a bittersweet delight. Too bad Kiley was generally a stage star and very rarely did movies. He brings both masculine strength and a surprising sensitivity to the role of the Pilot. Bob Fosse and Gene Wilder are the stand-outs as the Prince's two very different animal friends. Fosse's knock-kneed dance style and his natural oily charm made him a perfect snake; skittish and gentle Wilder makes a very sweet fox, too. There's also those stunning Sahara backdrops, especially during Fosse's number and when the Pilot first encounters the Prince, too. 

Favorite Number: We open with a montage of the Pilot as a boy, trying to convince everyone in turn-of-the-century France he drew a boa constrictor eating an elephant. No, all the adults keep saying, "It's a Hat." This becomes a montage of the Pilot growing into a "respectable" adult who claims "I Need Air" when he wants to get away from staid adult responsibility. He tries to convince the Little Prince "I'm On Your Side" after he refers to flowers as vulnerable. We see why the Prince believes flowers to be much stronger when the Rose dances for him and admonishes him to "Be Happy."

The Prince encounters a very adult King (Joss Ackland) and Businessman (Clive Revill) who admonish him that "You're a Child" and have no understanding of so-called grown-up matters. The Pilot isn't sure he does, either, as he admits "I Never Met a Rose." He and the boy come together to find an oasis and appreciate the desert and each other in the joyous "Why Is the Desert." Fosse's "A Snake In the Grass" is probably the purest distillation of his style you'll get on film outside of Cabaret, knock-knees, bowler hat, and all. Wilder and the Prince also have a joyful romp in the grass when the Prince gets the shy Fox to come "Closer and Closer and Closer."

What I Don't Like: The movie is strange and meandering, much like the book it's adapting. If you want something more linear and less dreamy, this isn't the place for you. Also, the songs, while charming, aren't nearly as memorable as those for Camelot or My Fair Lady. The whimsy and some of the preachier moments with the Prince and all those annoying old men on the planets can seem dated and a little obnoxious now. 

The Big Finale: Lovely children's musical deserves to be far better-known. Check it out with your favorite little prince or princess this holiday weekend. 

Home Media: The DVD is currently out of print, but it is available on streaming. 

DVD

Amazon Prime

Damn Yankees

Warner Bros, 1958

Starring Tab Hunter, Gwen Verdon, Ray Walston, and Russ Brown

Directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen

Music by Richard Adler; Lyrics by Jerry Ross

Our second baseball musical this week throws the focus not only back on the game, but those who love it and cheer it on from home. Damn Yankees started as a 1954 novel, The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant. It became an even more successful Broadway musical in 1955. Warners brought in the entire original cast, replacing the leading man with up-and-coming star Hunter, along with director George Abbott. Since Abbott knew more about stage directing than film directing, they hired Donen to help make it look more cinematic. How does this Faustian baseball fantasy look today? Let's begin at the home of middle-aged couple Joe (Robert Schafer) and Meg (Shannon Bolin) Boyd, just in time to see Joe screaming as his beloved Washington Senators lose yet again, and find out...

The Story: Joe is such a die-hard Senators fan, he claims he'd sell his soul for them to win the pennant. No sooner did he make this rash claim than a man named Mr. Applegate (Walston) appears. He tells Joe he can give him the power to win the pennant for the Senators, if he sells him  his soul and leaves his wife for the season. Joe agrees to it, letting Applegate turn him into the much younger Joe Hardy (Hunter), but adds an escape clause that will allow him to return to his wife after the season's over.

Joe is an instant success with the ailing Senators and their fans, but he misses his wife badly and even takes a room in his home so he can be near her. Applegate sends his seductress Lola (Verdon) to tempt Joe into straying. When that doesn't work, Applegate plants a phony news story that Joe is corrupt. It'll take help from all of Joe's fans and the team that relies on him to keep him out of jail and show him that, no matter how much he loves baseball, he'd really rather be hitting a home run with his wife.

The Song and Dance: Other than cutting a few songs and revising some lyrics, this is one of the few Broadway shows of the 50's and 60's to make it to the screen almost as it was in the theater. Verdon's vamp routine may be a bit much, but she has more fun reminiscing about old times and naughty doings with Walston and in quieter moments with Hunter. Bolin is touching as Joe's neglected wife, who first wishes he'd pay attention to her and not the ball game, then wonders where he went to. Jean Stapleton had one of her earliest roles as a neighbor of the Boyds who becomes one of Joe Hardy's biggest supporters. Extra points for the outdoor shooting that included footage from several real vintage stadiums, including the Los Angeles version of Wrigley Field and Washington's Griffith Stadium. 

Also, I do appreciate that they made the tenacious sportswriter a woman at a time when female journalists were frequently still consigned to the society or lifestyle pages. 

Favorite Number: We kick off with Meg and other wives in a unique diamond split screen lamenting how they lose their husbands to baseball "Six Months Out of Every Year." Manager Benny Van Buren (Russ Brown) gives his discouraged team a pep talk by insisting they gotta have "Heart" to play better. Sportswriter Gloria Thorpe (Rae Allen) declares Joe Hardy to be "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Mo" and baseball's newest sensation. 

Applegate brings Lola in, and she assures him she'll have no trouble seducing this rube. All it takes is "A Little Brains, A Little Talent," and a lot of hip-wiggling. She tries everything she can, including a stripping routine and ending up in his lap, to get Joe to stray. She may think that "Whatever Lola Wants," she gets...but Joe remains faithful to his wife. Verdon does better performing a terrific mambo with choreographer Bob Fosse (whom she later married) to "Who Got the Pain?" at the tribute show for Joe. Disgusted with all the love going around, Applegate reminisces about how "Those Were the Good Old Days" when people were wicked and souls were far easier to gather. Lola and Joe get drunk in a nightclub together after the trial, claiming they're "Two Lost Souls," then getting other lost souls at the bar to join them in a raucous routine.

Trivia: Damn Yankees was one of the biggest Broadway musicals of the mid-50's, lasting three years in its original run. It proved nearly as successful as a TV musical in 1967 with Lee Remick as Lola and Phil Silvers as Applegate and in a 1996 revival with Bebe Neuwirth as Lola and first Victor Garber, then Jerry Lewis as Applegate. Neither the original nor the revival did well in London, barely making it a few months. 

Fans of vintage Washington DC baseball know this is based after real-life. There was a team called the Washington Senators, and they really were terrible for most of their existence, including in 1958. Indeed, they finally gave up in Washington two years later and moved to Minnesota, where they're now known as the Minnesota Twins.

There's currently talks for a remake with Jim Carrey as Applegate and Jake Gyllenhaal as Joe Hardy.

What I Don't Like: First of all, let's discuss Hunter. While I disagree with Abbott about him not looking like an athlete, I do think he was stiff and a little dull for most of the movie. He was also only a fair singer and not a dancer, prompting the elimination of Joe's two major ballads ("Near You" and "A Man Doesn't Know") and keeping him on the fringes of most of the numbers. 

It's easy to tell which director was in charge of which numbers. Most of the film is shot like a play and can be pretty static, especially in scenes where people are just talking. There are some numbers, though, notably "Two Lost Souls" and "Shoeless Joe," that try to do more with the camera. Those were likely Donen's doing. Donen was said to have worked better with the actors, too, which may be why people seem to perk up during those scenes.

The Big Finale: If not a home run, this is still a solid hit to the outfield for fans of the stage show, Verdon, Fosse, or baseball. 

Home Media: Easily found on disc from the Warner Archives and streaming It's currently free at Tubi and Amazon Prime.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime

Tubi

Cult Flops - It's Always Fair Weather

MGM, 1955

Starring Gene Kelly, Cyd Charisse, Dan Dailey, and Michael Kidd

Directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen

Music by Andre Previn; Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green

This began life as Comden and Green's sequel to the 1949 hit On the Town. When Kelly's co-stars from that film Jules Munshin and Frank Sinatra proved to be unavailable, they changed the story to focus on three unrelated best friends during World War II who meet again ten years later. Donen wasn't happy to work with Kelly again; in fact, their friendship fractured during the making of this film. They weren't the only ones with problems, either. How problematic was this unusually dark musical? Let's turn back the clock and start at a bar in New York, just as World War II ends, and see three former soldiers begin a friendship they think is forever...

The Story: Angie Valentine (Kidd), Ted Reilly (Kelly), and Doug Hallerton (Dailey) have big dreams for their futures after they're released from the Army. Angie wants to become a celebrated chef, Ted a lawyer, and Doug an artist. They vow to meet again at the same bar 10 years later, despite Tim the bartender (David Burns) claiming it won't last.

Each man goes their separate ways, but their lives don't become anything like they hoped. Doug goes into the high-paid world of advertising, but he hates his job creating copy for a cutesy campaign and his marriage is crumbling. Angie loves his wife and huge family, but wishes he ran more than a diner. Ted's a shady gambler who wins a corrupt prize fighter in a poker game. When they meet again in 1955, they learn they have nothing in common and hate each other.

That might have been that, if Doug's fellow advertising executive Jackie Leighton (Charisse) hadn't found out about their reunion. She thinks their story is perfect for Madeline Bradville (Dolores Gray), a singer with a popular late-night TV show specializing in guests with heart-tugging histories. The guys aren't sure at first...but they later discover that the reunion has changed their lives, and their perception of who they really want to be.

The Song and Dance: You've probably already noticed from the plot description, but despite the upbeat musical numbers and sunny title, this is not your typical MGM musical. I don't know too many other musicals that realistically explore how hard it can be to maintain a friendship, why friends grow apart, and how connecting with others can help us find ourselves. Though Kelly's good in the role of the heel who realizes he can be something better, the real stand-outs are Dailey as the artist who gave up his dreams for a soulless executive job and Dolores Gray as the temperamental TV diva whose toothpaste smile hides a selfish heart. 

Favorite Number: "The Binge" is the famous instrumental number set after they join a rejected Ted in getting drunk all over New York. They're so gone, they tap dance in an alley with trash can lids on their feet. "I Shouldn't Have Come Here" is the guys' number at the fancy restaurant where Doug takes the others on his expense account. They sing their frustrations and their opinions of what the others have become in a rant set to "The Blue Danube Waltz." 

Charisse joins a gaggle of punch-drunk fighters at Stillman's Gym as she relates her encyclopedic knowledge of boxing and shows off her great gams in "Baby You Knock Me Out." The trio do a triple split-screen tap routine that makes great use of the CinemaScope camera in "Once Upon a Time." Ted realizes that "I Like Myself" in Kelly's last great solo number, a virtuoso tap dance on roller skates through the streets of New York. "Situation-wise" is Dailey's big number, as he gets drunk at a company party and reveals what he hates about his job. Gray reveals her true material girl nature as she tells a group of fawning young men "Thanks a Lot, But No Thanks" and finds creative ways to get rid of them. 

Trivia: Gene Kelly bought the roller skates used in "I Like Myself" at a store down the street from his home in Los Angeles. They were ordinary skates that weren't altered for the number, making his dancing there all the more extraordinary. 

Three numbers - a solo for Kidd and his children at the diner, "Jack and the Space Giants," a comic duet for Kelly and Charisse, "Love Is Nothing But a Racket," and "I Never Thought They'd Leave" for Gray - were cut from the film. Footage of the first two, along with more of "The Binge," have been found and is included on the DVD, along with the audio for "Leave."

Gray's character, her show, and the "Thanks a Lot" number spoofed the cheery excesses of TV during the pioneering 50's, especially The Dinah Shore Show and the sob story game shows Queen for a Day and Strike It Rich. 

What I Don't Like: First and foremost, this is obviously not for you if you're looking for a more upbeat or optimistic romp through New York. It's as dark as the MGM musical was willing to go in 1955. I wish they'd made better use of choreographer Kidd...but this was his first acting job in the movies, and he's so stiff in what little dialogue he does have, maybe it's just as well. They at least should have kept Kelly and Charisse's comic duet in. The romance between the two feels perfunctory and there just because musicals were still required to have a romantic subplot then. It doesn't help that Dailey, Kelly, and Kidd lack the chemistry of Kelly, Sinatra, and Munshin. They're more believable as fracturing strangers than the best buddies they claim to be in the opening sequences. 

The Big Finale: Too mature and thoughtful for its time and for many audiences even today, this odd hybrid of sunniness and cynicism is worth checking out for the amazing dance routines alone. 

Home Media: Easily found on disc and streaming, the former from the Warner Archives.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime

Royal Wedding

MGM, 1951
Starring Jane Powell, Fred Astaire, Peter Lawford, and Sarah Churchill
Directed by Stanley Donen
Music by Burton Lane; Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner

Powell came into her first adult role at MGM nearly by accident. She replaced Judy Garland, who was still having personal problems, and Judy replaced June Allyson, who got pregnant and dropped out. Stanley Donen replaced Charles Walters after Walters had trouble with Garland. After all that trouble, how does the story of a brother-sister team who fall in love on a trip to England during the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Phillip, Duke of Ediburgh, look now? Let's start on Broadway with the big number from the show Every Night at Seven and find out...

The Story: Brother and sister dance team Tom and Ellen Bowen go over to London with their show just in time for the big wedding, thanks to their fast-talking agent Irving (Keenan Wynn). On the boat over, Ellen meets handsome but broke Sir John Brinsdale (Lawford), who prefers chasing women to settling down. Ellen falls hard for him, but she has a different beau every week. Meanwhile, her brother has his sights set on lovely chorus girl Anne Ashmond (Churchill), but she's engaged to a man in Chicago. Tom turns to the Irving's veddy British twin brother Edgar (Wynn) to find out more about him...and make sure everything turns out right in time for that big wedding!

The Song and Dance: With Donen at the helm, the emphasis is firmly on the "dance" side of things. The wonderful numbers and charming performances by the four leads are the main reason to catch this now. This was Powell's first adult role, and she runs with it, more than matching Astaire in her acting and her dancing ability. Wynn manages to pull off his unusual dual role as the extremely different set of twins equally well, and Albert Sharpe adds authenticity as Sarah's crusty father, the owner of a local pub.

Favorite Number: "Every Night at Seven" is the title number of Tom and Ellen's show-within-a-show, the whimsical story of a prince who falls for a maid. He and Powell also get my favorite number from this, playing street toughs whose relationship has soured in "How Could You Believe Me When You Said I Loved You When You Knew I'd Been a Liar All My Life?" (Yes, the title is that long.) Powell sings "Open Your Eyes," but their dance winds up being more complicated than they thought when the ocean liner hits a storm and keeps rolling. Powell's big solo is the lovely Oscar-nominated ballad "Too Late Now."

Astaire gets three of his most famous solos here. He dances with a hat rack in a gym in "Sunday Jumps" while waiting for Powell to appear. "You're All the World to Me" has Astaire so thrilled with his feelings for Churchill that he's literally dancing on the ceiling of his hotel room. "I Left My Hat In Haiti" is a more traditional chorus number that has Astaire pursuing a beauty and his chapeau amid the colorful citizens of the Caribbean.

Trivia: The story was inspired by Astaire's relationship with his sister Adele in the 20's and 30's. They really were a popular dancing team who broke up when she married a duke.

So, how did they pull off "All the World to Me?" The room was actually a barrel. The camera and its operator were mounted to an ironing board that could move along with the room.

Sarah Churchill was the daughter of British prime minister Winston Churchill.

What I Don't Like: This is about as fluffy a story as you can get...and ironically, other than the pub and a couple of actors, there's not really much British flavor. It was filmed in its entirety in Hollywood. The emphasis on Princess Elizabeth's wedding also very much dates it to the late 40's-early 50's.

The Big Finale: A charmer with some lovely performances; worth seeing for the delightful musical numbers alone.

Home Media: It's in the public domain, so you can pretty much pick it up anywhere, usually for under 10 dollars.

DVD
Tubi

Happy Memorial Day! - On the Town

MGM, 1949
Starring Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Jules Munshin, and Vera-Ellen
Directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen
Music by Leonard Bernstein and Roger Edens; Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green

We're honoring Memorial Day and those who fought and died for our country with a story of the adventures of three sailors on leave in a wacky New York City. This would be the third and final pairing of Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly, and their second movie together about sailors on shore leave. It was a huge hit in 1949, but how does it measure up nowadays? Let's join those sailors as they disembark their ship and find out...

The Story: Chip (Sinatra), Gabey (Kelly), and Ozzie (Munshin) are in New York for a day of adventure. Ozzie and Gabey intend to pursue glamorous women, while Chip just wants to see the sights. Gabey sees a poster of New York's Miss Turnstiles for the month, Ivy Smith (Vera-Ellen), on the subway and falls in love at first sight. He takes the poster, prompting the cops to come after them for damaging property. The trio split up, searching for the elusive Ivy all over town. Chip finds cab driver Hildy Ezerhay (Betty Garrett), who'd rather he came up to her place than see all the sights in his dated guidebook. Ozzie falls for anthropologist Claire Huddesen (Ann Miller) at the Museum of Natural History, but he knocks over a dinosaur, sending them off and more cops after them.

Gabey does finally find Ivy practicing at Symphonic Hall. She tries to act aloof at first, but eventually agrees to a date with him that night. The trio and their ladies meet at the Empire State Building for triple date to several nightclubs. Gabey's upset when Ivy takes off. Hildy tries to replace her with her sniffly roommate Lucy Schmeeler (Alice Pearce), but when Gabey discovers that Ivy's working at Coney Island, they all end up following her there.

The Song and Dance: The first musical to shoot on location (if just briefly in the beginning and end), On the Town is a joyous romp with fun performances from just about everyone. Kelly and Vera-Ellen are warm and charming as the gob who wants to date a pretty girl and the girl who thinks she has to show off for him. Garrett's hilarious as the woman cab driver with more than driving a guy around town on her mind.

Favorite Number: Two of the ballets from the original Broadway On the Town made it here, the funny "Miss Turnstiles" that shows what Gabey hopes his fantasy girl looks like, and "A Day In New York," which pretty much reprises Gabey's storyline up to that point. Garrett tries to get Sinatra up to her apartment in one of the few songs retained from the original show, "Come On Up to My Place." The title number is an exuberant romp for the leads on the Empire State Building when they're about to go out for the night. Miller and Munshin have a great time describing "Prehistoric Man" at the museum.

Trivia: Kelly and Donen had to do a lot of talking to convince MGM to let them shoot in the real New York; MGM figured they'd be fine on the lot. They filmed in vans to block groupies from chasing Sinatra.

The original Broadway show debuted in 1944, and was one of the first major projects of Comden, Green, and Bernstein. It's been revived three times in New York since then, most recently in 2014.

What I Don't Like: I really wish Edens wasn't so against Bernstein's original score. Some of the songs are gorgeous, and it's disappointing that they weren't used. Most of his replacements are a bit bland. While I appreciate the historic location filming, the very real shots of the guys in New York makes the sets used in the rest of the movie look that much more fake.

The Big Finale: If you're a fan of any of the cast, ballet on film, or the MGM musicals of the 40's and 50's, this is a classic favorite that's worth going on the town to check out.

Home Media: As one of the most popular Golden Age MGM musicals, this is easily found in all major formats.

DVD
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime

A Salute to Stanley Donen - Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

MGM, 1954
Starring Howard Keel, Jane Powell, Russ Tambyn, and Julie Newmar
Directed by Stanley Donen
Music by Saul Chaplin and Gene dePaul; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer

We head into more robust territory for the first musical western to appear on this blog. This was not expected to be a hit in 1954. MGM threw all their hopes and finances into their adaptation of the Broadway show Brigadoon, but this is the one that audiences and critics took to, making it one of the biggest hits of the year. It was one of the few musicals my younger brother and very macho stepfather would watch without complaint. Let's head to a small backwoods town in Oregon in 1850 to see just how well this dance-heavy tale works today...

The Story: Adam Pontipee (Keel) rides into town, hoping to marry a good, strong woman who will help him take care of his farm and his six wild younger brothers. He eventually convinces Millie (Powell), a cook at a local tavern, to marry him. She thinks she's creating a new life and isn't thrilled to be saddled with caring for such an uncouth family at first. Millie won't put up with their rudeness and lack of social graces. She finally gets them all cleaned up - even Adam - and teaches them to dance for a big barn raising party in town. The men in town aren't happy with seeing six handsome bachelors who are interested in the only women around and first compete with them, then pick on them. After one attacks Adam, Gideon, the youngest brother (Tambyn), starts a brawl that ends with the girls angry, the townspeople angrier, and no barn.

The boys, however, can't get their ladies out of their heads and threaten to leave. Inspired by a book Millie brought with her about the kidnapped Sabine Women, Adam suggests they abduct the girls and bring them up to the farm to be married. They do just that, causing an avalanche in the pass leading to their farm to keep them from escaping. Millie's horrified. She banishes the boys to the barn. Stung by Millie telling him off, Adam's the one who leaves. He eventually returns in the spring to find that the boys are now in love with the girls, and Millie is pregnant. They now understand why kidnapping the ladies wasn't the best idea...but it's the ladies who have other plans.

The Song and Dance: With Donen and choreographer Michael Kidd in charge, the emphasis here is firmly on the "dance" side of things. Four of the seven brothers and all of the brides but Powell were trained dancers; Russ Tamblyn was an acrobat, hence some of his more death-defying feats on the boards in the Barn Raising Ballet. Powell gets top honors as Millie. She may be a dreamer, but she's also a spitfire who has no qualms about turning the dinner table over on the boys when they eat like pigs or telling Adam off after they kidnap the girls. No wonder she managed to whip the guys into shape so quickly. Also look for Tommy Rall as Frank, the most hot-headed of the brothers, and Julie Newmar as Dorcas, the oldest and boldest of the brides.

If nothing else, I give them credit for the unusual setting. I don't know many westerns that are actually north-westerns (or many musicals that are set in Oregon). Oregon's cold winters even come into play as part of the plot.

Favorite Number: The brothers get at least three awesome ensemble numbers, the most famous of which is "The Barn Raising Ballet." Their face-off against the men in town is one of, if not the most famous, chorus routines in film history, with the guys performing increasingly difficult stunts to show off for their prospective women.

I'm even fonder of "Lonesome Polecat," with the boys doing some wonderful dancing as they chop wood and do other chores. Their spirited "Goin' Courtin'" with Millie, as she teaches them how to dance like gentlemen, is also a lot of fun to watch. Powell also gets the lovely "Wonderful, Wonderful Day" as Adam brings Millie home for the first time. The brides also have a nice ensemble number of their own, "June Bride," and brides and brothers come together for "Spring, Spring, Spring."

Trivia: Special kudos to the costuming department for taking inspiration from the pioneer characters in the film and making the best of their limited budget. The women's dresses in the film were made from antique quilts head costumer Walter Plunkett apparently found at a Salvation Army. Not only are they unique and colorful, but their being made from old quilts is historically-accurate to that time and place, too.

The limited budget is also why most of the movie was filmed on an obvious soundstage. Much of their budget went to the bigger and more heavily publicized Brigadoon. Apparently, the only scene shot in the real outdoors was the escape through the pass with the girls, which was filmed in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Some folks may have noticed that Benjamin, the second-oldest brother in orange, doesn't take part in (or has limited roles in) most of the dances. He was played by Jeff Richards, who was actually a former baseball player. Julie Newmar could dance, but as his partner, ended up off to the side a lot of the time as well.

There was a stage version that debuted in 1978 and eventually made it to Broadway in 1982, where it played only five performances. It did a little bit better in London, and has since become popular with regional theaters. A modernized TV show from 1982 lasted only a season and is best-known for introducing River Phoenix as the youngest brother.

What I Don't Like: Millie is definitely not the only person who has problems with the kidnapping plot nowadays. That the boys are shown to be awkward and not terribly social is only a mild excuse. They're lucky they weren't strung up and probably deserved far worse than Millie's tongue-lashing and the snowballs with rocks in them that the girls pelted them with. A few sexist lyrics here and there don't help. At the very least, it's the girls who, much like Millie, eventually take matters into their own hands.

The Big Finale: Terrific performances, fun songs, and some of the best and most energetic chorus routines ever committed to film more than overcome the occasionally awkward and dated plot. If you're a fan of dance, or have a man in your life who thinks he's too macho for musicals, try this one on him.

Home Media: Alas, the two-disc DVD set is currently out of print, but there is a Warner Archives Blu-Ray, and it can be found on several streaming platforms and in at least two DVD musical collections.

DVD
DVD - 5 Film Collection: Musicals
Blu-Ray
Google Play

A Salute to Stanley Donen - Singin' In the Rain

MGM, 1952
Starring Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor, and Jean Hagen
Directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly
Music by Nacio Herb Brown; Lyrics by Arthur Freed

Director and choreographer Stanley Donen, who passed away on February 21st, made some of the most beloved musical movies of all time. This week, we're going to look at two of them. Although it wasn't a huge hit when it came out, Singin' In the Rain is now generally considered to be the greatest original movie musical of all time. Does the story of the changes wrought in Hollywood by the coming of sound - and how the cast and staff of one fictional studio is effected by it - live up to that lofty hype? Let's head to the Chinese Theater in Hollywood for the premiere of Monumental Pictures' latest blockbuster and find out...

The Story: Don Lockwood (Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Hagen) are Monumental's biggest stars. Their every move is followed by legions of adoring fans, who lap up their romantic swashbucklers. Turns out that their romance - and much of Don's life story - is as fictional as their movies. Don's a former vaudevillian and stuntman who loathes his shrill and obnoxious leading lady, but tolerates the publicity for the sake of their careers. Avoiding the fans, he leaps into the car of actress Kathy Seldon (Reynolds), who first screams at him, then calls him out on silent film pantomime not being "real" acting. He then runs into Kathy at the after-premiere party, where she's a chorus girl. Fed up with his teasing, she tries hitting him with a cake, but gets Lina, then runs off.

A few weeks later, Don and Lina are just starting to film their next big costume adventure when studio head R.F Simpson (Millard Mitchell) shuts them down briefly to turn the production into a sound film. Meanwhile, Don and his musician friend Cosmo Brown (O'Connor) find Kathy working on the lot. Don confesses his love to Kathy, and she admits that she wasn't quite truthful about not having heard of him before.

Their romance progresses far better than the film does. The production of the new movie is filled with nothing but headaches with the new, capricious sound equipment and the fact that Lina's Brooklyn accent and shallow manner is all wrong for her role. The movie's preview is a disaster, until Cosmo comes up with the idea of turning it into a musical and using Kathy to dub Lina. Everyone is happy with this...except Lina, who has no desire to share stardom or Don with anybody.

The Song and Dance: "What a glorious feeling," indeed! This is a delightful ride, with a hilarious script, gorgeous costumes, and some of the funniest performances of any movie musical. Hagen and O'Connor get top honors as the ditzy dame whose attempt to prolong her fifteen minutes of fame brings about her downfall and Don's deadpan best buddy. Reynolds does quite well for this being one of her earliest roles; I especially love her calling Don on his hammy acting in his movies when he ends up in her car. Kelly has a lot of fun, both parodying his own swashbuckling image and matching O'Connor's quips.

As someone who has been studying 20th century history for most of her life, my favorite non-musical scenes (along with Don and Kathy in the car) are the filming of the ill-fated original version of The Dueling Cavalier and the botched premiere afterwards. With many people who had actually worked on early talkies still on the lot in the 1950's, screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green had no shortage of real-life inspiration. Some of what happens to Lina, Don, and the crew in those scenes - including the places where the microphone ends up - actually occurred on the sets of early sound movies.

Favorite Number: Given how famous the musical numbers in this movie are, it would be easy to say "all of them!" Special kudos to O'Connor and Kelly's "Fit as a Fiddle," where they somehow manage an energetic vaudeville routine while playing violins (those audiences had no taste) and to O'Connor, Kelly, and Reynolds' "Good Morning." Poor Reynolds worked so hard to keep up with that number - she was gymnast, not a dancer - her feet eventually bled. Other favorites include O'Connor and Kelly's other big duet "Moses Supposes," O'Connor's wild salute to slapstick "Make 'Em Laugh," and, of course, Kelly's famous romp in the rain to the title song, one of the happiest scenes in musical history.

Trivia: Reynolds isn't the only one who had trouble keeping up with the fast-paced numbers. O'Connor's "Make 'Em Laugh" was so physically exhausting for him, he ended up in the hospital for several days. Kelly danced the title number while he was sick with a very bad cold, making his joy and high spirits during that sequence all the more remarkable.

The only songs in the movie that weren't written by Brown and Freed were "Make 'Em Laugh," "Moses Supposes," and "Fit as a Fiddle." Comden and Green wrote "Laugh," which closely resembles Cole Porter's "Be a Clown." (Reportedly, Porter didn't mind, but Irving Berlin did complain to music director Roger Edens, who basically told him to stuff it.) Edens wrote the music for "Moses Supposes," Comden and Green the lyrics. Freed did write the lyrics for "Fiddle," but Al Hoffman and Al Goodheart wrote the music.

Just to make things even more confusing, Jean Hagen actually used her own voice to dub some of Debbie Reynolds' performance of Lina's lines ("Would You?" was dubbed as well).

What I Don't Like: While "The Broadway Melody Ballet" has amazing dancing by Cyd Charisse and Kelly, it does seem slightly shoe-horned in to give Kelly another ballet after the success of the one at the end of American In Paris. The costumes are actually quite historically accurate (both for the 17th century and the 1920's), but the makeup and hair, on men and women, are pure 1950's and can take one out of the time period slightly.

The Big Finale: For once, the critics are 100 percent right. This is a delightful look at one of the most chaotic periods in Hollywood history; the script and the musical numbers alone are worth checking out.

Home Media: Quite easily found in most formats, including several streaming companies. If you can dig it up, look for the original 2-disc Special Edition DVD that I have. The second disc includes performances of the songs from the movies they came from, some of them fairly rare.

DVD
DVD - 5 Film Collection: Musicals
Blu-Ray
YouTube

A Dreamer, A Photographer, and a Funny Face - Welcome to the Blog

Hi there, everyone, and welcome to Musical Dreams, my home for my musical movie reviews! I've loved musical film all of my life. One of the first movies my mother took my sister and me to see in the theater was the 1983 version of Annie with Carol Burnett. When I went looking for movie blogs online, I found tons of general movie reviews sites, and sites that specialized in other genres, like horror or sci-fi, but none for musical film. I'd like to fill that gap.

I'll post every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday with a review of a musical.You'll find all kinds of musicals here. Old musicals from as far back as the dawn of sound in film. The latest movie musicals just out of the theater. Animated musicals, originals, and musicals based on stage shows. Musicals that were hits, musicals that flopped, and musicals that are now considered to be "cult" oddities. I may even review the occasional television musical.

So slip into your dancing shoes and warm up your vocal chords, because we're going to explore the wide world of musicals, in all their forms, fantasies, and foliables.

And speaking of fantasy, that brings us to our first review...

Funny Face
Paramount, 1957
Directed by Stanley Donen

The Story: Jo Stockton (Audrey Hepburn) is shocked when Quality Magazine invades her quiet Greenwich Village bookshop, looking for an intellectual backdrop that'll make their models appear more intelligent. She's more interested in philosophy than fashion and sees them as shallow. They finally shut her out...but Dick Avery, the photographer (Fred Astaire), sees a spirit and freshness in her that their other models lack. He convinces her to come to Paris for a big shoot. She's only interested in meeting her idol in "empathicalism," Professor Flostre (Michel Auclair), and hanging out at the local cafes with other radicals.

As Dick takes her from landmark to landmark, she becomes more self-assured, even giving him suggestions for the final shot. She and Dick seem to be enjoying one another's company and the fruits of their work...until she learns that Flostre's giving a lecture the night of an important gala event. She's late for the event and argues with Dick, then leaves when their fighting turns the gala into a disaster. He and Maggie Prescott (Kay Thompson), the editor of Quality, go to Flostre's in search of her. Flostre, however, is not as noble as Jo believes him...and Dick may understand empathy a little more than she thinks.

The Song and Dance: This is partly what we today would call a "jukebox" musical, in this case for George and Ira Gershwin. Four of the songs were taken from their original 1927 Broadway Funny Face, but absolutely nothing else. (Including the remaining three songs, which were written by musical arranger Roger Edens.) Audrey Hepburn uses her own voice here, and while no opera diva, she sounds just fine, especially pairing with the equally imperfect but ageless Astaire on "He Loves and She Loves." It's also a joy to see Thompson, who was usually a musical arranger for MGM and today may be best-known as the author of the Eloise children's books.

Favorite Number: As someone who has always loved color, my favorite part of it may be how it's used to contrast the bright world of fashion with the dressed-down, drab world of the philosophers and beatniks. "How Long Has This Been Going On," with Hepburn swirling around the monochromatic book store in a brilliant green and yellow picture hat, is a prime example. "Clap 'Yo Hands," with Astaire and Thompson doing a wacky gospel spoof in a smoke-filled cafe while wearing the only colors in the place, is another. Hepburn gets to show off her early ballet training in a trio with two fellow philosophers in a smoky cafe.

What I Didn't Like: The parody of philosophy and what most would now call "hipsters" comes off as a bit dated today. While I find that the similarities in Astaire and Hepburn's airy personas transcends any age limitations, some may find the pairing of the 58-year-old dancer and the 20-something starlet to be a bit creepy.

The Big Finale: If you're a fan of Astaire, Hepburn, the Gershwins, Donen, or fabulous 50's fashion, this is one of the best non-MGM movie musicals of the 50's, with some lovely dance numbers an a few iconic Hepburn shots. Highly recommended.