The Band Wagon

MGM, 1953

Starring Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Nanette Fabray, and Oscar Levant

Directed by Vincent Minnelli

Music by Howard Dietz; Lyrics by Arthur Schwartz

By 1953, the MGM musical was at its zenith. It was one of the most popular entertainments in the entire world, with its biggest films often the top hits of their year. This one, however, had a lot of trouble on the road to filming. Fred Astaire's wife was dying, and he had to focus on this and losing her. Nanette Fabray and Oscar Levant didn't get along. Writers Betty Comden and Adolph Green had to figure out how to turn the original 1931 revue, with unrelated songs and skits, into a full story. How well did they do, with everything else going on? Let's begin with the auction of a famous top hat and cane belonging to former movie star Tony Hunter (Astaire) and find out...

The Story: Tony's friends Lily (Fabray) and Lester (Levant) Martin have written a stage musical that he hopes will be his big comeback. However, they've also convinced Jeffery Cordova (Jack Buchanon) to direct. Cordova is a theatrical wonderkind who has directed three plays on Broadway at once and is currently starring in a fourth. None of those plays were musicals, however, and Tony has his doubts about using him when Cordova insists he wants to change the Martins' fluffy detective story into a pretentious musical version of Faust. He even convinces ballerina Gabrielle "Gaby" Geraud (Charisse) and her choreographer boyfriend Paul Byrd (James Mitchell) to create the dances.

Everything goes badly at first. Gaby and Tony are from different eras and styles of dance and don't get along. Lester is tired of Lily going on about how great Cordova, too, and they end up bickering. Cordova is not only hard to please, but is overfond of huge productions with sets too large for the stage and special effects that hide the dancers. Tony finally quits in frustration. Gaby follows him, finally admitting she thinks he's the better dancer. Dancing together makes them realize they have more in common than they previously believed. Now they just have to convince Cordova that he's barking up the wrong cardboard tree and bring the rest of the show together, too.

The Song and Dance: I've loved this movie since I saw it on TCM in college. It's one of my favorite movies of any genre. Along with Three Little Words, it's probably Fred Astaire's best performance at MGM; it's also Vincent Minnelli's second-best work on a musical after Meet Me In St. Louis. Minnelli manages some wonderful touches, especially the montage that depicts how badly the first version of the show went over by just showing still images of crashes. Even Cyd Charisse does well as Gaby, who gradually comes to enjoy the "lower" form of entertainment as much as she does ballet, Buchanon is appropriately oily as the overconfident director who learns that musicals are harder to pull off than they look, and pianist Levant and Broadway star Fabray are hilarious as the married writers who end up quarreling over how much Cordova took over their original idea.

Favorite Number: The movie begins with a brief "By Myself" as Hunter strolls down New York, looking for his friends. "Shine On Your Shoes" has him dancing around an arcade that used to be a theater lobby, joined by real-life dancing shoe shine man Leroy Daniels. Cordova sings "That's Entertainment," the only new song written for the film, to convince Tony that "there's no difference between Shakespeare's immortal words and Bill Robinson's immortal feet." Watching the two of them and the Martins clown around and hoof it together, you almost believe him. 

Two big chorus numbers that are barely seen in the film, "Something to Remember You By" and "You and the Night and the Music," represent the show during its original rehearsal period. "Music" in particular is drowned out by Cordova's huge special effects. This leads to the film's most famous number, "Dancing In the Dark." Gaby and Tony escape to Central Park, where their dance together is more lyrical and moving than any special effect...and proof positive that high and low art can work together. We get a more comic version of this as Tony, Gaby, and Lily clown around with the German-themed "I Love Louisa" at the chorus members' after-party.

Charisse almost literally glows in her gorgeous yellow gown, singing about that "New Sun In the Sky." Fabray leads a group of hayseed chorus kids on a lively "Louisiana Hayride." Buchanon and Astaire define elegance in their top hat-and-cane duo, "I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan." Despite the number being almost a literal pain to make, Astaire, Fabray, and Buchanon are morbidly hilarious as "Triplets" with dancing knees who wish the others would go away. "The Girl Hunt Ballet" ends the film, with real-life detective novel lover Astaire as the gun shoe who pursues two different versions of Charisse, an ethereal blonde beauty and a low-down, dark-haired vamp in glittering scarlet.

Trivia: The original Broadway Band Wagon revue opened in 1931, with Astaire, his sister Adele, Frank Morgan, and Helen Broderick. It ran almost a year, not bad for the height of the Depression. "New Sun In the Sky," "Dancing In the Dark," and "I Love Louisa" came from this version. This would be the last time Fred and Adele appeared together. Adele retired to get married shortly after the show's run. 

A stage adaptation of the film debuted as Dancing In the Dark in San Diego in 2008. It reverted to The Band Wagon when it played New York City Center as an Encores! special event. 

Cordova was inspired by Broadway director and actor Jose Ferrer, who in the early 50's produced four shows on Broadway and was considering a fifth. The Martins are based on unmarried songwriting team Comden and Green. Fred Astaire really did almost retire for a while in the mid-40's. 

Look for a redheaded Julie Newmayr as one of the models seen during the fashion salon segment of "The Girl Hunt Ballet." 

The number "Two Faced Woman" with Charisse and the chorus was cut from the film. The recording would be used in the Joan Crawford movie Torch Song; part of the number would turn up in That's Entertainment III. 

What I Don't Like: Even for a light-hearted backstage comedy, there's a lot of plot contrivances and unexplained stuff going on. The most obvious is how Cordova got into Tony's hotel room without anyone noticing after the "I Love Louisa" number. (Well, he was Mephistopheles...) There's also all the fact that, of all those great numbers at the end, only "The Girl Hunt Ballet" sounds like it could have been created for the description of the show that Lily and Lester give Jeffery and Tony in the beginning. The others look like they could have come from the original Band Wagon revue. 

The Big Finale: This is one of my favorite movies of all time, period. If you're a fan of Astaire, Charisse, dance on film, or the big splashy MGM musicals of the 40's and 50's, they don't come any bigger, splashier, or more fun than this. Check out this with Singin' In the Rain as a double-feature if you want to know what the MGM musical is all about. 

Home Media: My two-disc DVD set that I've had since it came out is in print but now a bit expensive. You may be better off looking for this on the one-disc Blu-Ray or streaming.

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Cult Flops - Kismet (1955)

MGM, 1955

Starring Howard Keel, Ann Blyth, Vic Damone, and Dolores Gray

Directed by Vincent Minelli

Music by Aleksander Borodin; Lyrics by Bob Wright and Chet Forest 

Wright and Forest's romantic adaptation of the 1911 play was a huge hit on Broadway in 1953. Having had luck turning Scandinavian composter Grieg's music into the operetta Song of Norway, they turned to the more exotic music of Borodin for this Arabian Nights-style fable. MGM already owned the play and almost as soon as the show ended its run, set out to film its musical version as well. How does this tale of lovers and poets who find their fortunes in the course of one fateful day look now? Let's begin in ancient Baghdad, where a poor Poet (Keel) is going about his day, and find out..

The Story: The Poet goes on to have one of the longest days in the history of the universe. First, he's kidnapped by a man named Jawan (Jay C. Flippen) who insists he put a curse on him that caused his son to be stolen. The Poet's given gold coins for removing the curse, but is arrested by the Wazir's (Sebastian Cabot) men. The Wazir is about to sentence the Poet, but then Jawan reveals whom he really is. He ends up making the Poet one of his men instead. The Poet schemes with the Wazir's bored wife Lalume (Gray) to make up an elaborate curse-reversal scheme...and meanwhile discover they're attracted to each other. 

Elsewhere, the Poet's daughter Marsinah (Blyth) falls for the handsome Calliph (Damone), believing him to be the gardener's son. The Calliph declares that he plans to marry a bride that night...to the dismay of the Wazir, who needs him to marry the princess of a neighboring country in order to secure a loan. The Poet tries to get Marsinah out of town, but Lalume hides her in the palace instead. Now the Poet has to figure out how to save them all, before the Wazir figures out he's no more a magician than he is an honest man.

The Song and Dance: If you love Arabian Knights spectacles, you'll really get a kick out of this one. Keel puts in one of his best performances as the hammy, cunning beggar who seizes the opportunity to get him and his daughter out of the gutter, and Gray and her belting more than match him. Cabot's having a good time as the scheming Wazir too. Cole's unusual stylized choreography fits far better in this colorful setting than it did in the biography The I Don't Care Girl, with him redoing several of his ballets from the Broadway show. 

Favorite Number:  We open with the Poet singing in the crowds what "Fate" has in store for him and for all of them if they buy his rhymes. One of the ballets is staged to "Not Since Ninevah" as six slaves perform a lively dance in the market with Lalume. "Baubles, Bangles, and Beads" was one of the big hits; Blyth gets it here as the market sellers press Marsinah with beautiful jewels and fabrics. "Stranger In Paradise" is the soaring hit duet for the Calliph and Marsinah as they declare their love for each other in the garden. We get another ballet with the princesses and slaves, this time to "Night of My Nights" as the Calliph declares he's to wed. "And This Is My Beloved" has Marsinah trying to explain her newfound love to her father, while the Calliph dreams of his beautiful missing bride. 

Trivia: Yes, that was Jamie Farr, better known as Corporal Klinger from the TV sitcom MASH, selling oranges in the marketplace and whom the Poet holds down and calls "the father of none and the son of many." Future TV producer Aaron Spelling also turns up as a beggar.  

The original Kismet was a surprise hit in 1953, running for over a year and going over equally well in London. It was revived with an all-black cast as Timbuktu in 1978, with Eartha Kitt in the Lalume role. It hasn't been seen on Broadway outside of Encores concerts since, but it did turn up as recently as 2007 in England. 

What I Don't Like: Wish they hadn't lost several songs from the original show. The Wazir's comic number "Was I Wazir?" may have been a bit too dark for the movie, with its gristly descriptions of the Wazir's conquests and tortures...but why cut Lalume's part of "And This Is My Beloved?" It's not quite as charming done with three singers. Blyth's all right as gentle Marsinah, but Damone is completely out of his element as the Calliph. He doesn't sound like a ruler. He sounds like the crooner he is. 

It's also obvious Vincent Minelli wasn't interested in Arabian Knights fantasies. The crowd shots in particular look much skimpier than they should, while others come off as less "Arabian fable" than "high school production of Aladdin in Technicolor." 

The Big Finale: Fans of operetta, Keel, or Aladdin-style Arabian swashbucklers will want to throw themselves to fate and give this one a look.

Home Media: On streaming and disc, the latter from the Warner Archives.

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Cult Flops - Bells are Ringing

MGM, 1960

Starring Judy Holliday, Dean Martin, Jean Stapleton, and Fred Clark

Directed by Vincente Minelli 

Music by Jules Styne; Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green

Arthur Freed and his tight-knit Unit produced many of MGM's famous most famous musical productions, from The Wizard of Oz to Gigi...but by 1960, MGM and musicals in general were in trouble. Between the collapse of the studio system and television increasingly encroaching on older and family audiences, Freed's musicals were no longer the major cash cows they'd been through the mid-50's. Did Bells are Ringing allow the Freed Unit to go out in a blaze of glory, or should we hang up on this bell? Let's begin with a musical commercial for the New York answering service Susanwserphone, and find out...

The Story: Ella Peterson (Holliday) is a switchboard operator at Susanswerphone with a habit of getting involved with her clients, despite her cousin Sue (Stapleton) constantly reminding her she's only supposed to be giving messages. She's especially fond of playwright Jeff Moss (Martin), who just separated from his partner and is now supposed to come up with a play in 24 hours. She speaks to him in a warm, friendly old lady voice he calls "Mom." 

Upset when she can't get through to him with a message telling him to write his play or else, she goes to his apartment to deliver it. He's smitten with her sincerity and honesty, though she nervously calls herself "Melisande Scott." That goes so well, she dresses up to bring messages to two of her other clients, a dentist (Bernie West) who composes songs on his air hose, and a young actor (Frank Gorshin) who needs to give up imitating Marlon Brando punks to get parts. She's not as happy when Jeff invites her to a fancy party where she feels out of place and small and runs out. Not to mention, one of their clients are actually gangsters using their "record" business as a front for illegal horse betting, and they're even less happy when Ella accidentally switches one of their orders.

The Song and Dance: Martin and Holliday make a surprisingly cute couple in this charming and colorful romantic comedy. You'd never guess Holliday was sick during filming, or that this would be her last movie. She's wonderful as sweet, nervous Ella, who is more at home spreading joy among strangers than at a party or bottling up her natural inclination to help. Stapleton and Eddie Foy Jr. have their own fun with the gangster subplot, especially when they're on a date at "The Gypsy" bar and she's reveling in his fancy talk. Gorshin and West are hilarious in their brief roles as Ella's most unique clients, especially Gorshin's attempt at a bad Brando imitation. 

Favorite Number: We open with the title song against a montage of beautiful, glamorous ladies all waiting breathlessly for messages that only Susanswerphone can deliver. Holliday talks about how "It's a Perfect Relationship" between her and Jeff, even though they've never met. Bookie J. Otto Pranz (Foy Jr.) leads a chorus of unlikely gamblers in a subway tunnel extolling how "It's a Simple System." Ella and Jeff sing about how it's "Better Than a Dream" when she's thrilled to have met him and he's thrilled to have found a girl who is sweet, sincere, and able to push him to really work. Jeff sings on Times Square streets to tell all of New York how "I Met a Girl." Fed up with being told not to help and scared to explain everything to Jeff, Ella belts to Sue how "I'm Going Back" in a fare-thee-well finale. 

The big ones here are the standards "Just In Time" and "The Party's Over." The latter is a sweet duet for Ella and Jeff as they dance and clown for tenement audiences before entering the high-society party. After the party goes badly, Ella flees and laments that "The Party's Over."

Trivia: More of the stage score was filmed but cut, including the comedy number for Ella and Inspector Barnes (Dort Clark) "Is It a Crime?" and the rest of "Mu Cha Cha." "Crime" exists and is included on the DVD, along with a new song for Dean Martin that was also filmed but cut, "My Guiding Star." 

Holliday and Stapleton reprise their original roles from the Broadway production. It was a huge hit in 1956, running three years. A 2001 revival with Faith Prince as Ella had backstage problems and got poor reviews, barely lasting two months. It did better in a small-scale London revival in 2010 and in concerts in New York and Chicago. 

What I Don't Like: What's an answering service, many modern viewers may ask? An answering service provided messages for business people or busy families who often didn't have the time to answer every phone call that came through in the mid-20th century. The arrival of affordable answering machines in the 70's and 80's killed them off quickly, well before cell phones came into regular usage. 

Between the story revolving around a type of business that most people nowadays haven't heard of, the silly gangster side plot, and references to Brando method acting and all those celebrities in "Drop That Name' at the party, this musical is incredibly dated. I suspect that's a big part of the reason most subsequent revivals haven't done as well (even reviews for the Encores concert in 2006 complained about it). 

The Big Finale: Charming romantic comedy is worth checking out for fans of Holliday, Martin, or the big Broadway shows of the 50's and 60's. 

Home Media: Easily found in all major formats; DVD and Blu-Ray are currently available from the Warner Archives.

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On a Clear Day You Can See Forever

Paramount, 1970
Starring Barbra Streisand, Yves Montand, Jack Nicholson, and Larry Blyden
Directed by Vincent Minnelli
Music by Burton Lane; Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner

Streisand was on a roll after the success of Funny Girl, and while Hello Dolly! ultimately lost money, she wasn't the reason. Vincent Minnelli, admiring the success of huge historical musicals like The Sound of Music, wanted to turn the 1966 Broadway fantasy into a three-hour movie epic. Paramount initially agreed, until they saw the results and cost, and slashed the running time. Was all the tinkering worth it? Let's start on the roof of an apartment building in New York, as Daisy Gamble (Streisand) sings to her plants and makes them grow, and find out...

The Story: Daisy goes to psychiatrist Marc Chabot (Montand) to cure her of a five-pack-a-day smoking habit. Her fussy fiancee Warren (Blyden) is hoping to get an important job with benefits, and his wife has to be perfect. After she goes under, Chabot discovers through questioning that she lived a previous life during the early 1800's as Lady Melinda Winpole Wayne Tentrees, a temptress who dropped one husband and used her ESP to make her second husband very rich before he betrayed her. He also learns that Daisy herself has ESP; she's able to make flowers grow with her singing and knows when the phone rings before it does.

Chabot is fascinated by Melinda and starts bringing her out even when Daisy isn't there. His theories on reincarnation aren't as well-received and get him into trouble with school dean Dr. Mason Hume (Bob Newhart). The school wants him to drop the research and spare them further embarrassment. Daisy has no idea what's going on until she hears one of his recordings of their sessions. She's livid that he loved her former self, not who she currently is, and refuses to come back...until he calls her one last time...

The Song and Dance: Streisand dominates this very strange musical fantasy. She sings the vast majority of the music, including the hit "What Did I Have That I Don't Have?" and a reprise of the standard title song. Minnelli always did do wonders with color, and this movie is no exception. It starts off with stunning time-lapse photography of brilliant flowers growing thanks to Daisy's voice, and there's the sumptuous scenes of Regency England (filmed in the real Brighton and East Sussex).

Favorite Number: The time-lapse flower number opens the film, with Daisy encouraging the plants to "Hurry Up! It's Lovely Out Here." Melinda's first song is "Love With All the Trimmings" as she seduces Lord Tweltrees at a royal banquet...and later after she gets him. Daisy tries to "Go To Sleep" after a date with Marc, but all she can think of is him and how different he is from Larry as she tosses and turns in her colorful bedding. "What Did I Have That I Don't Have?" is an angry and heartbroken Daisy wondering how Marc fell for someone who is only in her head after she hears the tapes, and Streisand really powerhouses through it. "Come To Me" shows off New York in its late 60's glory as Marc sings for Daisy to come back to him wherever she is...and somehow, half the city is able to sing along and try to convince her to return!

Trivia: The movie was originally over three hours long, but Paramount ultimately wasn't happy with the results and made Minnelli lose almost an hour of footage. Among the casualties were a duet for Streisand and Nicholson as her ex-stepbrother Tad (Nicholson) "Who Is There Among Us Who Knows," Daisy and Warren's duet "Wait 'Til We're Sixty-Five," and two chorus numbers in the Regency segments.

The original Broadway show debuted in 1965 and ran for almost seven months, not bad for the time. A slightly revised version turned up in an Encores! concert with Kristin Chenowith as Daisy/Melinda in 2000. The show got a far heavier revision in 2011 that turned Daisy into David Gamble, a gay flower shop owner who had been a torch singer named Melinda in a previous life. That wound up being one of the bigger flops of 2011, running less than a month.

What I Don't Like: This fluffy little story should not have been drawn out for two hours, let alone three. No wonder most revivals to date haven't made sense of the plot. Montand and Streisand reportedly didn't get along and have zero chemistry, which may be why this one of the rare musicals where the leads don't end up together and are perfectly happy with that. (Granted, the stage version did toss them together, so they get a little credit for not going for the obvious ending.)

Montand can't really sing or provide the necessary "oomph" to his two big numbers "Melinda" and "Come To Me." Nicholson and Newhart are barely in the movie and don't do much when they do appear. Most of the Regency sequences are really more there to show off the fancy costuming than anything, and said costumes are gorgeous but really smack more of the early 70's than the early 1800's, especially the turbans many of the ladies wear.

The Big Finale: Recommended mostly for fans of Streisand and the epic Broadway adaptations of the late 60's and early 70's.

Home Media: Easy to find in all major formats; the DVD is currently available via the Warner Archives.

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Happy Thanksgiving! - Meet Me In St. Louis

MGM, 1944
Starring Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brian, Tom Drake, and Louise Bremer
Directed by Vincent Minnelli
Music and Lyrics by various

Yes, I know this one is set on every holiday but Thanksgiving...but it does discuss the importance of home, family, and being thankful for those around us and what we have. It was a huge hit during World War II, at a time when many Americans were fondly looking back at the simpler, gentler world of their youth. How does this nostalgic trip into the life of the Smith family in 1903 look now? Let's peek on the Smiths at their home in St. Louis, Missouri and find out...

The Story: As we join the Smiths, the biggest excitement in the family is oldest sister Rose's (Bremer) beau calling her long-distance from New York during a family dinner and the construction of the World's Fair that will debut in the spring. Second-oldest sister Esther (Garland) is more interested in drooling over John Truitt (Drake), the handsome boy next door. She tries to encourage him during a family party, but he's oblivious to her advances. She finally gets through to him on a trolley ride to the fair grounds under construction.

Little sisters Tootie (O'Brian) and Agnes (Joan Carroll) go out as "horrible ghosts" to join the kids for playing tricks on Halloween. When one of their pranks goes wrong, Tootie runs home crying, claiming John Truitt hurt her. Esther runs over to him and pounds on him before she learns that Tootie lied. He was actually trying to keep the girls from the police. Mr. Smith (Leon Ames) creates even more havoc when he comes home and reveals that he took a new job in New York and they'll be moving there after Christmas. Everyone is upset, until he reminds them that they're still together.

It comes to a head at the local Christmas ball and afterwards, where Esther realizes how much she loves John and how upset she is when he can't come. After he sees Tootie destroying her snowmen because she can't bring them along, Mr. Smith finally realizes how much his family loves their home and how important St. Louis is about to become.

The Song and Dance: Garland was trying to distance herself from the kiddie roles she'd mostly played until then and was wary of playing another moony teen, but she ended up putting in one of her best performances as love-struck Esther. I especially loved her laying into John Truitt - do not attack that girl's family or get her upset! In fact, the entire cast is a delight, including O'Brian as the rather macabre Tootie, Ames as the eternally exasperated patriarch of the family, Majorie Main as the down-home maid Katie, and Harry Davenport as sassy Grandpa.

The production is just lovely, especially for wartime. The Technicolor cinematography and the historically-accurate sets and costumes give us a wonderful feel for a changing St. Louis of the early 20th century, from girdles and pianos to the glowing gowns at the Christmas ball and those snowpeople poor Tootie destroys. The Halloween sequence is incredibly atmospheric and spooky, with some wonderful, shadowy work from Vincent Minnelli.

And..I just love how realistic all this is, even now. Having grown up in a family of mostly women, I remember what it was like to have your whole family hear you talk to boyfriends on the phone (even after cell phones came into regular usage), drool over a guy from afar, and get Dad back in the loop when he comes home from work.

Favorite Number: We open with the title song, which is ably passed from family member to family member as we're introduced to everyone. "Skip to My Lou" is a delightful chorus number for the younger family members and their friends, while Garland and O'Brian do an adorable cakewalk to a genuine 1903 hit, "Under the Bamboo Tree."

Garland gets to sing the film's three best numbers. She introduces the longing "The Boy Next Door" as she admires Truitt from afar in the opening number. "The Trolley Song" is another big chorus number, probably the film's most famous, as Esther excitedly sings about how she found love on the trolley, with some fairly spirited choreography. The standard here is the touching "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," which Esther sings to comfort Tootie Christmas Eve and assure her that everything will be fine, despite the move.

Trivia: "Merry Little Christmas" had even sadder lyrics when it was first written. Garland thought they were too depressing to sing to a little kid and requested that they be changed.

A TV version debuted in 1959, with Jane Powell as Esther and Patty Duke as Tootie. A 1966 pilot with Shelley Fabares and Celeste Holm wasn't picked up for a regular series. It debuted as a Broadway show in 1989, but it lasted less than a year.

Garland met and fell in love with Minnelli while working on this movie.

What I Don't Like: My sisters and I loved this movie. Dad, on the other hand, was baffled, and many men may be likewise. The Halloween sequence used to scare my brother silly when he was a kid, and it may be a little much for some other younger members of the audience as well.

The Big Finale: One of my favorite musicals, and one of Garland's best movies. Check this one out with your own family over Thanksgiving dinner.

Home Media: Easily found in all formats, including two 2-disc special editions.

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Cult Flops - Yolanda and the Thief

MGM, 1945
Starring Fred Astaire, Lucile Bremer, Frank Morgan, and Mildred Natwick
Directed by Vincent Minnelli
Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Arthur Freed

This was a major pet project of producer Arthur Freed, who was grooming Lucile Bremer to be MGM's next dancing star. It seemed to have everything going for it - an excellent cast that included Fred Astaire as Bremer's partner, memorable dances, a gorgeous production, and Vincent Minnelli's assured direction. Audiences and critics at the time didn't know what to make of it, and it wound up one of Freed's bigger flops. What happened? Let's take a train ride to the fictional Latin American country of Patria and find out...

The Story: Yolanda Aquitania (Bremer) is now the richest young woman in Patria, having just inherited her parents' oil business. Yolanda is a naive beauty who was raised in a convent and has no idea of how to handle such matters. Her prayers for guidance are overheard by a con man and thief named Johnny Riggs (Astaire). Hoping to get at her millions, he pretends to be her guardian angel. She allows him into her house, introducing him to her aunt (Natwick) and taking him into her confidence. He's happy to get her money for him and his partner Victor Budlow Trout (Morgan)...until he realizes he's fallen for her. Meanwhile, Yolanda is wondering why she has some very earthly feelings for this heavenly creature, and a gentleman named Mr. Candle (Leon Ames) seems to be hanging around, offering guidance of his own.

The Song and Dance: This may be the most unusual musical Fred Astaire ever did, even more than Finian's Rainbow. He's quite believable as a slinky con artist and gentleman thief (as he would be in the TV show It Takes a Thief over 20 years later), full of charm and airy enough that you can understand why Yolanda falls for his ruse. Natwick and Morgan are also good as Yolanda's strong-willed aunt and Astaire's dithery partner. Ames gets a rare non-fatherly role as the real guardian who has every intention of making sure everything works out all right in the end.

The movie is worth seeing for the production design alone. This is one of MGM's most gorgeous Technicolor movies of the 40's and 50's. The eye-catching design and lush tropical backgrounds pop off the screen, thanks to Vincent Minnelli's assured direction. Even when the fantasy comes off as too pretentious or arty, there's at least always something to look at onscreen.

Favorite Number: Two big dance routines are among Astaire's best duets with someone other than Ginger Rogers. The elaborate dream ballet has Astaire fleeing an airy, gauze-covered Bremer, who insists on marriage when he's not sure he's ready. "Coffee Time" is a jazzy, fun duet with Bremer in a yellow and white dress that nearly explodes against a wavy black and white dance floor, with the chorus in brilliant primary colors swirling around them. "Yolanda" is a lovely ballad for Astaire when he's convincing her that he's an angel, played on a (dubbed) harp and capped by a nice solo.

What I Don't Like: I agree with Astaire that the movie's trying too hard to be psychological and arty. It mostly comes off as pretentious. The fantasy element feels forced and awkward. Bremer is stiff and too old for her role as a former convent girl when she's not dancing.

The Big Finale: Worth seeing for the stunning costumes, sets, and color and delightful dances alone. If you love ballet on film or are a fan of Astaire, Minnelli, or the Technicolor MGM musicals of the 1940's and 50's, you'll want to float in on a cloud and check this one out.

Home Media: Currently only on DVD via the Warner Archives.

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Cult Flops - Brigadoon

MGM, 1954
Starring Gene Kelly, Cyd Charisse, Van Johnson, and Barry Jones
Directed by Vincent Minnelli
Music by Fredrick Loewe; Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner

MGM had high hopes for this adaptation of the hit 1948 Broadway show, so much that they cut the budget for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and gave it to this film. As you can tell from the title of this entry, things didn't go nearly as well as they expected. People at the time decided they preferred westerns to fantasy and flocked to Seven Brides instead. What happened here? Let's head to the title village in Scotland as the mist is rising over the Highlands and find out...

The Story: New Yorkers Tommy Albright (Kelly) and Jeff Douglas (Johnson) stumble into Brigadoon, a quaint village in the Scottish Highlands, after getting lost in the mist. The citizens are preparing for the wedding of Jean Campbell (Virginia Bosler) to strapping young Charlie Dalyrumple (Jimmy Thompson). Jean's older sister Fiona (Charisse) is in no hurry to go courting, but she and Tommy find themselves falling for each other. Jeff is far less interested in the too eager Meg (Dee Turnell).

Mr. Lundie (Jones), the head of the school, explains to Tommy and Jeff what's going on. The town's priest wished to protect it from witches and other bad spirits, so he prayed for a miracle. Brigadoon only appears once every 100 years. Outsiders can visit, but no resident can leave, or they'll break the spell and the townspeople will die. Harry Beaton (Hugh Loring), who is heartbroken that Jean is marrying another, rushes out during their wedding ceremony in an attempt to leave and destroy the town. It's Jeff who inadvertently stops him, and Jeff who convinces Tommy that he can't stay for some girl he only just met. True love, however, always finds away...even across time.

The Song and Dance: There's several things to admire about this unusual Scottish romance. The cast, especially Jones as the teacher who relates most of exposition about the town and Loring as they angry and vengeful Harry, are the best of the cast, along with some biting wisecracks from an enjoyably sarcastic Johnson. The beautifully done costumes and huge soundstage sets ably recreate the fantasy setting and admittedly deserved their Oscar nods.

Favorite Number: Probably the best and most famous of the lovely dance routines here is "The Heather on the Hill" pas de deux. Kelly and Charisse convey their passion far more ably here than they do when they speak. Kelly has a decent solo to "Almost Like Being In Love," and has fun joining Thompson for "Go Home to Bonnie Jean." I love the nifty wedding ceremony, which really brings the colorful Highlanders and their culture to life.

Trivia: The original plans were to film this in Scotland...but bad weather and budget problems forced them onto a highly detailed soundstage set.

Five songs from the original show and one dance were dropped. "Come to Me, Bend to Me" was deemed extraneous, Kelly couldn't handle "There but For You Go I" or "From This Day On," and the censors had a fit over the ribald lyrics in Meg's songs "My Mother's Wedding Day" and "The Love of My Life." The first three and "The Sword Dance" were at least filmed. "Come to Me," "The Sword Dance," and "From This Day On" still exist in full and are included on the solo DVD and Blu-Ray; only the audio exists for "There But For You."

The Broadway show has been revived many times since 1948, most recently in a concert at the New York City Center in 2017. There's also a TV movie from 1966 with Robert Goulet as Tommy, Peter Falk as Jeff, and Sally Ann Howes as Fiona.

According to Wikipedia, people still ask about the vanishing village in the Highlands to this day when they're roaming around Scotland.

What I Don't Like: MGM should have sprung for the on-location filming, or at least filmed it outside. This show is as much about its setting as the characters, and while the sets are nice, they also make everything seem cramped and confined. They should have gone for Technicolor, too. The Ansco color lacks its vivid hues and is too muted for such a tale, especially given Vincent Minnelli's affinity for brilliant hues.

But even filming outside wouldn't have overcome deficiencies in the cast and story. Kelly and Charisse have more chemistry in their dances than they do in the book scenes. With her two numbers cut, the role of Meg, which is supposed to bring comic relief to a fairly heavy tale, is little more than a bit part. Charisse was never much of an actress outside of her dancing, and that's especially obvious during the second half where she and Kelly are parting.

The biggest problem is...despite its ongoing popularity, this was never my favorite Lerner & Loewe musical. In some ways, you have to agree with Jeff and Harry that the whole "miracle" seems less like a miracle at times and more like a curse. People can come, but they can't leave, and what's supposed to happen to Brigadoon in the future, as civilization continues to push its way into the Highlands? It feels more creepy than romantic to me. Not to mention, the priest did this without consulting the townspeople or asking them how they felt about the whole thing. Couldn't there have been a better way to protect them from bad spirits?

The Big Finale: Some great duets and ensemble numbers don't make up for the inherent problems with the book, casting, and sets. Apparently, a lot of people who did see it in the theater in the 50's or on TV later have fond memories of it, but it's not a huge favorite of mine. For fans of Kelly, Charisse, Johnson, or the MGM musicals of the 1950's only.

Home Media: The DVD and Blu-Ray are currently available from the Warner Archives, and it's on several streaming platforms.

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Oscar Winners - Gigi

MGM, 1958
Starring Leslie Caron, Louis Jordan, Maurice Chevalier, and Hermione Gingold
Directed by Vincent Minnelli
Music by Fredrick Loewe; Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner

Along with having many things in common with our previous film An American In Paris, this one also has a lot in common with My Fair Lady, which would have still been running on Broadway when this movie came out. It uses a lot of the same creative team, once again has a story involving the relationship between a vivacious girl and a middle-aged man, and a cool old guy steals the show and has some of the best numbers (including a duet with the equally cool old lady). How does the story of a charming teenager and her relationship with a wealthy playboy look now? Let's return to Paris, this time in the early 1900's, and find out...

The Story: Parisian school girl Gigi (Caron) doesn't understand why her Grandmama (Gingold) keeps sending her to dull lessons in manners and charm with her strict Aunt Alicia (Isobel Jeans). She thinks it's all silly. Her grandmother and aunt would disagree. They're training her to become a courtesan - a high-class call girl - so she'll have some security later in life.

Gigi's not the only one who's bored. Gaston Lachaille (Jordan) is also tired of living the outsized and outrageous life of a playboy and dilettante. He's especially fed up with his latest mistress Liane (Eva Gabor) after she cheats on him with her ice skating teacher. His uncle Honore (Maurice Chevalier) encourages his partying, but he's weary of the whole society scene. He visits Gigi and her grandmother to escape the tedium and spend time with with the vivacious teenager. Gigi gets him to take them to the seaside, and they have a wonderful time...but now Grandmama and Aunt Alicia are convinced that the time is right for Gigi to make her debut as an adult. Gaston's not as sure that he's ready for Gigi to grow up; he fears he'll lose the charming "little sister" who brought  him so much delight.

The Song and Dance: This is considered to be the last major original musical from the famous "Freed Unit" at MGM...and what a way to go! Vincent Minnelli's work in this is outstanding, some of the best he ever did. There's a few outright gorgeous shots here; my favorite is right before the finale, as Gaston is contemplating why Gigi got so upset after he dragged her out of Maxim's. We see him at night, in silhouette against a flowing, glittering fountain, and it's framed beautifully. I adore his use of color here, from the brilliant red room where Gigi and her grandmother live to the glowing pastels of Paris in the spring. Most of the film was made on location in France, including the real Paris, and it's all the better for it.

What I really love about this one is how intimate it is, especially compared to some of the more "epic" musicals of the 50's and 60's. For all the sumptuous trappings, it's really just the story of a man watching a young girl grow up before his eyes...maybe a little too quickly for his taste. It's a relatively quiet story compared to some of the larger ones we'll be seeing here next week, and for all the talk of courtesans and the life they lead, it's actually quite elegant and classy.

Favorite Number: The title song won the Oscar, probably for the scene in which Gaston sings it while wandering around a stunningly-shot Paris, but my two favorites from this score occur before and during the trip to Trouville. Having won her vacation with Gaston in a card game, Gigi celebrates with "The Night They Invented Champagne." The song is energetic and fun, especially Gingold and Jordan's spontaneous little dance. Grandmama has her own fun with Honore at Trouville when they recall their original affair many years before in the rueful and witty "I Remember It Well."

Maurice Chevalier revived his career in the US with his performance of "Well" and two more hits. He opens the movie with "Thank Heavens For Little Girls" and responds to Gaston's romantic difficulties with Gigi towards the end with "I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore."

Trivia: It won nine Oscars in every category it was nominated, including Best Picture, cinematography, score, adapted screenplay, song, editing, costumes, and production design. It was a record at the time, one that would be bested a year later by another big MGM movie, Ben-Hur.

Two of the songs heard here were originally written for other projects. Gigi's wistful ballad "Say a Prayer for Me Tonight" was intended for Eliza to sing before the ball in My Fair Lady, but was cut before the show hit Broadway. Lerner had originally penned the lyrics and title of "I Remember It Well" for a Broadway show he did with Kurt Weill called Love Life and re-wrote them slightly to fit Gigi.

There was a Broadway version that debuted in 1973, with long-time stage star Alfred Drake as Honore, Daniel Massey as Gaston, and Karin Wolfe as Gigi. It was a surprise flop, only lasting four months. A revival in 2015 with Vanessa Hudgens as Gigi made a little over two months.

What I Don't Like: First of all, they way they treat Lianne's attempted suicide is appalling. Granted, they do mention she's done this before and survived, but the men in particular celebrate it and their ability to drive women mad. There's also the whole "courtesan" thing to consider. On one hand, I can understand Aunt Alicia and Mamita wanting niece and granddaughter to have some means of support in her later years, and courtesans were among the few women in Belle Epoque Paris with any real means of controlling their freedom, but they're basically training her to be a very fancy prostitute...and as she frequently complains, she has little say in the matter. She does have a point in her solo "The Parisians" that love is a lot more than that - it's the reason Gaston is bored.

Chevalier's "Thank Heavens" can come off as less slyly winking and and more uncomfortably close to pedophile territory for many audiences today, especially given he sings this around little girls in the opening. (There's a reason Mamita and Aunt Alicia perform this song in the 2015 stage revival.) Also, like My Fair Lady, the intimate story allows for very little dancing. Mamita and Gaston's routine in "The Night They Invented Champagne" is pretty much it.

The Big Picture: The elegant production, lovely music, and outstanding cast helps one overlook some of the more questionable or dated aspects of the plot. If you're a fan of Chevalier, Minnelli's other work, or the musicals of MGM's "Golden Age," this is absolutely worth checking out.

Home Media: As an Oscar-winner and one of the most popular musicals of the 1950's, this is quite easy to find in all major formats, including some streaming platforms.

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Oscar Winners - An American In Paris

MGM, 1951
Starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant, and Georges Guetary
Directed by Vincent Minnelli
Music by George Gershwin; Lyrics by Ira Gershwin

Our first two Oscar-winners this week have a lot in common. Both are set in Paris, were made by MGM's famous "Freed unit" during the 50's, star French gamine Leslie Caron, were scored by popular composer-and-lyricist parings, and involve the romance between an older man and a younger woman. American In Paris is the modern-set one; along with taking home the Best Picture Oscar, it won Gene Kelly his only Oscar for his contributions to screen choreography. Does it soar like the dancers in its famous ballet in the finale? Let's head to Paris in the years following World War II and find out...

The Story: After World War II, American Jerry Mulligan (Kelly) stayed on in Paris to pursue his dream of painting. He's basically a starving artist in a tiny one-room apartment over a cafe, but he's happy having coffee and chatting with his buddy, the equally struggling pianist Adam Cook (Levant). Adam introduces him to his friend Henri (Guetary), who speaks eagerly of his new lover, Lise (Caron).

Jerry's career starts to take off when a rich American widow, Milo Roberts (Nina Foch), takes an interest in his work and offers to sponsor an art show for him. She brings him to a bar to meet her fashionable friends, but he's more interested in Lise. He tries dancing with her, with little success; he does better visiting her at the perfume shop where she works the next day. They go on dates and fall in love, but she keeps running off. Meanwhile, Milo rents an art studio for Jerry and says he'll be able to pay her back after his art exhibit. Jerry, however, is still in love with Lise...but he and Henri have no idea that the woman they love is one and the same.

The Song and Dance: As slight as the story is, it's relatively mature for a big Technicolor MGM extravaganza of the 1950's, with Jerry objecting to being kept for his looks rather than his work and Lise insisting that she stays with Henri because her protected her during World War II. Kelly, Caron, and Foch are all quite good as the central lovers, but they're overshadowed by the gorgeous costumes, production design, and cinematography, all inspired by real-life French artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Favorite Number: Gene Kelly has fun with French urchins, teaching them "I Got Rhythm" near a street flower shop. The kids have a great time watching Kelly's energetic tap dance. He also gets a rather sweet number with Levant, Guetary, and the old folks in the cafe in the opening, "By Strauss." In more traditional girls-and-stairs mode, Guetary scores with a flashy "I'll Build a Starway to Paradise." Caron and Kelly do a lovely pas de deux by the Seine to "Our Love Is Here To Stay." Levant's best moment is his dream sequence where he becomes a one-man orchestra - including conductor! - during a performance of the Concerto In F.

By far the most famous sequence from this film - and likely the reason it won Best Picture - is the famous American In Paris Ballet in the finale. Kelly, Caron, and the MGM chorus run through a riot of sound, color, and jazzy ballet, all done with stunning costumes and choreography evoking that Belle Epoque Paris of the early 20th century.

Trivia: That's Noel Neill, Lois Lane in the original TV Adventures of Superman, as the snooty art student who wants to discuss Jerry's paintings with him when he first displays them at Montmatre.

Two stage versions of this show debuted in the late 2000's-early 2010's. The first seems to have been limited to a regional theater at Houston. The second came to Broadway via France in 2015 and was a hit, running over a year.

What I Don't Like: The fine performances and gorgeous production help to mask the fact that the story is slight, and at times, a bit of a bore. Jerry and Lise aren't terribly exciting characters, and Jerry and Milo can both come off as a tad creepy with how they chase younger members of the opposite sex. By the end of the movie, you stop caring who's going to end up with whom and wonder when they're going to make it to that ballet.

The Big Finale: The ballet alone makes this worth checking out at least once if  you're a fan of dance, Kelly, the Gershwins, or Minnelli's work.

Home Media: Look out for the beautifully restored two-disc Special Edition DVD and Blu-Ray; it's also on several streaming platforms.

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Cabin In the Sky

MGM, 1943
Starring Ethel Waters, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Lena Horne, and Rex Ingram
Directed by Vincent Minnelli
Music by Vernon Duke and Harold Arlen; Lyrics by E.Y Harburg and others

MGM transferred this hit 1940 Broadway musical to the big screen as the first major directorial assignment for Vincent Minnelli and a showcase for many black performers of the time. It also wound up being Lena Horne's only leading role at MGM; Waters and Ingram reprise their roles from the stage version. Does this tale of heaven and hell warring for the soul of a shifty gambler and his kindly wife deserve the pearly gates today, or should it thrown into that whirlwind at the end? Let's head to a small all-African American town in the south to find out...

The Story: Little Joe Jackson (Anderson) is a gambler and a con-man who truly loves his faithful and very religious wife Petunia (Waters). He's shot dead by fellow gambler Domino Johnson (John W. "Bubbles" Sublett) when he's unable to pay his debts. Petunia's fervent prayers are heard by the angel "The General" (Kenneth Spencer) and Lucifer's son Junior (Ingram). The General will restore Joe to his wife, but only if he becomes a good, hardworking husband for six months. He and Lucifer will act as his consciences and guide his actions, but he has to decide how to act on it.

Little Joe does behave for a while, including remembering his wife's birthday. Not one to take losing sitting down, Lucifer brings the gold-digger Georgia Brown (Horne) around to meet him and lets him win the lottery. Petunia hears Joe talking to Georgia about the money and comes to the wrong conclusion. They run off and start a fancy nightclub that attracts some of the biggest names in jazz, including Duke Ellington and His Orchestra (themselves). Petunia's not done with her husband, though...and neither is Domino. It'll take divine intervention to finally show Joe which woman he truly loves.

The Song and Dance: There's some fine performances here you're just not going to see anywhere else. Waters really owns the two major hits from this score, "Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe" (which was written for the movie), and my personal favorite, "Taking a Chance On Love." Horne's sexy Georgia Brown makes you realize how badly MGM wasted her talents elsewhere, and Ingram and Spencer were hilarious as the deities warring over Joe's soul.

Minnelli does well with his first assignment at MGM, especially with the Wizard of Oz-like tornado in the finale. He builds the suspense quite well, with Horne running out into the wind screaming and the men's fight continuing even as the tornado tears their world to ribbons.

Favorite Number: "Chance" is probably the best-known standard from this show, and it gets a pretty good number, too. It kind of comes out of the blue, but is made up for with some incredible tap dancing by Bill Bailey and Waters' vocal dexterity. Horne scores with her version of the silky "Honey In the Honeycomb" and the winking "Ain't It the Truth." Some of the jitterbugging in the Joe Henry's Paradise nightclub is downright incredible. (Really wish they'd kept Horne's reprise of "Ain't It the Truth" in the bubble bath - it's really fun. Apparently, censors at the time had a fit over a black woman being seen in a bubble bath.)

What I Don't Like: Anderson may have been a popular comedian at the time in The Jack Benny Radio Show, but he's out of place here among the dignified Ingram and Spencer and dynamic Horne and Waters. He gets a nifty dance routine in "Taking a Chance," but he can't sing worth a darn. He's so goofy and shiftless, you wonder what either woman sees in him.

Though Minnelli and producer Arthur Freed took pains to talk to black groups and make this as respectful of African-Americans as possible at the time, some aspects of this movie still come off as a little dated nowadays. Joe and some of his buddies can seem like lazy stereotypes to many audiences, and the religious aspect is a bit awkward.

Wish they'd done more with Louis Armstrong (the Trumpeter) and Ellington. Armstrong's only solo was cut, and Ellington has one number at the nightclub and is barely seen. I also kind of wish they'd ended with Petunia and Joe going to the pearly gates; darker, yes, but more in line with the rest of the story. The happy ending seems like a bit of a cop-out.

The Big Finale: This isn't the easiest movie to discuss nowadays, but it is a powerful and relatively positive portrait of African-Americans during World War II. If you love the cast or the music or Minnelli and can handle the stereotypes, this is a really interesting movie that's definitely worth a look.

Home Media: Not the easiest movie to find; the DVD is currently available through the Warner Archives, and it's on several streaming platforms.

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