Daddy Long Legs (1955)

20th Century Fox, 1955

Starring Fred Astaire, Leslie Caron, Fred Clark, and Thelma Ritter

Directed by Jean Negulesco

Music and Lyrics by Johnny Mercer

This week, we jump ahead to the 1950's for one of my favorite underrated musicals. Leslie Caron was one of the most popular stars of the decade, in and out of musicals. She started the decade in the Oscar-winning An American In Paris with Gene Kelly, and while Lili wasn't a huge hit, her personal notices were glowing. Astaire personally asked her to star alongside him in this updated musical version of the 1912 novel of the same name. We've already seen it done once at this blog, as the adorable Shirley Temple vehicle Curly Top in 1935. How different is this version from that previous one? Let's begin at the home of millionaire Jervis Pendleton III (Astaire) as we see people touring his home and find out...

The Story: Jervis is on assignment in France when he stops at an orphanage to use their telephone. While there, he sees 18-year-old Julie Andre (Caron) working with the younger children and is enchanted with her vivacity, her creativity, and her intelligence. Over the protests of his fussy aide Griggs (Clark), he arranges for her to attend college in the United States with his niece Linda (Terry Moore). To avoid a scandal, he says he'll keep a hands-off approach, and she can write to him about her progress once a month. 

Jervis doesn't even look at Julie's letters at first, until his secretary Alice Pritchard (Thelma Ritter) brings them to his attention. Julie calls him her benefactor "Daddy Long Legs," after the long shadow the orphans saw when he was first in France, but she's getting tired of never hearing from him. He finally connects with her at a school dance while visiting Linda with her mother Gertrude (Kathryn Giveny) and falls for her, taking her out on the town and sending the boy who is interested in her to work in Bolivia. Griggs points out their rather large age difference, which makes Jarvis flee for several long business trips. Julie, however, is almost finished with college. She thinks she still hasn't met her "Daddy Long Legs" and wonders if he or Jervis really love her. It's Alice who finally convinces the men that age matters less than love, companionship, and compatibility. 

The Song and Dance: For all the trouble they had making this - Fred Astaire's wife died right before filming began and they almost replaced him, the studio originally wanted Mitzi Gaynor for Julie - it actually came out quite well. Astaire and Caron work better than you might think. Like Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face two years later, Caron's warm, airy persona helps to transcend their age differences. The Technicolor glows here, especially in Caron's two witty dream ballets and the gorgeous 50's gowns, tutus, and suits for Astaire and Clark. Mercer's songs are lovely too. "Something's Gotta Give" was nominated for an Oscar and has since become a jazz standard.

The Numbers: We open with Jervis showing off his drumming skills to an annoyed Griggs in the instrumental drum-and-dance routine "History of the Beat." Julie teaches the orphans that "C-A-T Spells Cat" as Jervis watches them in delight at the orphanage. She wanders around the outdoor classroom in shock and delight as an offscreen chorus sings about her "Daddy Long Legs" after she's told she'll be going to college in the US. "Welcome Egghead" the other college girls tease when Julie arrives. "Julie's Dream Ballet" is the first of two instrumental ballets. Julie imagines what her "Daddy Long Legs" looks like. Jervis dances as a Texas millionaire doing a square dance, a sensual playboy after all the ladies, or Julie's guardian angel. 

"The Sluefoot" is the big chorus number at the dance, with Ray Anthony and His Orchestra and the Pied Pipers. Jervis and Julie turn the intimate dance into a delightful moment. Jervis brings her to New York, where he sings "Something's Gotta Give" at the penthouse he sets her up in, and they dance together. This is followed by the instrumental "Dancing Through Life" ballet as the two kick up their heels in all of the fashionable Manhattan clubs. Julie's dream of meeting her benefactor becomes a "Nightmare Ballet" as she dreams of dancing for Jervis in a Paris ballet, encountering him in a smoky cafe in Hong Kong, and chasing him through carnival in Rio. The movie ends with the brief "Dream" as Julie finally realizes who her benefactor is. 

Trivia: This would be the only movie Caron or Astaire made for 20th Century Fox.

If Astaire looks a little red-eyed and upset at a few junctures...well, see the death of his beloved wife mentioned above. They pushed back filming to give him more room to process his grief.

This is the third version of Daddy Long Legs 20th Century Fox made, and the fourth time the 1912 children's novel made it to the big screen. In addition to Curly Top, Mary Pickford did a silent version in 1919, while Janet Gaynor would appear in a non-musical sound remake in 1931. It would become a London stage musical, Love From Judy, in 1952. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, while the age difference doesn't bother me, some people may find 50-something Astaire dancing with 20-something Caron (and kissing her in the end, a rarity for Astaire's films) to be a tad creepy. Second, this movie, for all the lovely art direction and costumes, didn't really need the lavish Cinemascope. It's really an intimate four-person story at its core. We have the one chorus number in "Sluefoot." Most of the songs are duets, solos, or ballets. Clark and Ritter are the only ones besides Astaire and Caron who even remotely register. We barely see Caron's roommates, which is a shame because they're pretty funny when we do meet them, and Kelly Brown as Jimmy McBride barely registers as window dressing.

The Big Finale: The age difference aside, this is a must-see if you're a fan of Astaire, Caron, or the big lavish ballet-filled musicals of the 1950's. 

Home Media: The DVD and Blu-Ray are hard-to-find and often pricey at this writing. Your best bet would be streaming. 

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Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime

Cult Flops - The Vagabond King (1956)

Paramount, 1956

Starring Oreste Kirkop, Kathryn Grayson, Rita Moreno, and Walter Hampden

Directed by Michael Curtiz

Music by Rudolf Friml; Lyrics by Brian Hooker and Johnny Burke

Operetta made a comeback in the early 1950's when several classic operettas of the 1910's and 20's were recreated on TV and on record. Paramount saw the success of The Student Prince at MGM and "spectaculars" like The Chocolate Soldier on television and went looking for their own version of Mario Lanza. They thought they found him in Maltese opera tenor Oreste Kirkop, who, despite his limited knowledge of English, was handsome, manly, and possessed a marvelous singing voice. They picked up Kathryn Grayson from MGM and gave dancer Rita Moreno one of her first major roles, but then let it sit on the shelf for over a year before it was released to an indifferent public. Did this deserve that fate, or should this rousing color retelling of Francois Villon's story deserve another chance to rule? Let's begin with the scheming Duke of Burgundy (Tom Duggan) and his men just outside of Paris and find out...

The Story: Francois Villon (Kirkop) and his fellow vagabonds are arrested by Louis the XI (Hampden) and his men when they visit the tavern he frequents disguised as peasants. Louis anoints him the new provost marshal after his actual marshal Thibault (Leslie Nielson) is revealed to be a spy to Burgundy. He's hoping to enlist him and his fellow peasants, poets, and drinks in battling the Duke and his army. Earlier in the day, Francois had encountered the beautiful Princess Katherine (Grayson) at a church and had fallen hopelessly in love with her, despite already having a girlfriend in the tavern wench Hugette (Moreno). It's the ladies who are willing to lay down the line - and in Hugette's case, her own life - to make sure Louis stays on the throne and Francois stays off the hangman's noose.

The Song and Dance: The ladies are the stand-outs here amid the brilliantly colored pageantry of 15th-century France. Grayson is equally spunky and sweet, especially later-on, when she begins to fall for Villon. Moreno brings enough fire and passion to Hugette to power the entire City of Lights, and is certainly more realistic as a tavern wench than cutesy Lillian Roth was. The production benefits from the improved Technicolor, with lavish medieval costumes and fanciful headgear for both genders that would make the rainbow pale. We even get a medieval ballet near the end with a literal warring heaven and hell that gives us a good idea of court amusements among the rich in the fifteenth century. And at least if they had to have additional numbers, Friml actually got to write the music this time. 

The Numbers: Our first number is "Bon Jour," which introduces us to Francois and his men as they travel back to Paris, waving to the peasants they see along the way. Hugette joins the vagabonds for the swirling chorus number "Viva La You" at the tavern. Katherine performs "Some Day" in the courtyard as she dreams of the man she saw at the church. Francois, Hugette, and the Vagabonds make "Comparisons" between the wealthy and the poor and Burgundy and Louis just before Francois is arrested. "Hugette Waltz" takes us to the dungeons as Hugette laments the loss of her beloved rogue. 

"Only a Rose" is performed in the courtyard, with Francois telling Katherine how much he's fallen for her. "Watch Out for the Devil" is the big ballet depicting the fight between heaven and hell - or Louis and Burgundy in this case - performed by Katherine and Francois. We end with "Song of the Vagabonds" for Francois and the chorus as they rout the Duke of Burgundy and his men and a reprise of "Only a Rose" as Francois and Katherine drive off into the countryside.

Trivia: Final movie for Katherine Grayson and only movie for Oreste Kirkop. Kirkop didn't speak English at the time. His speaking voice was dubbed by Elliot Reid.

Rita Moreno's singing voice was dubbed by Eve Boswell. 

That's Vincent Price doing the narration in the opening sequence.

What I Don't Like: The men are the problem here. While Hampden isn't bad as opportunistic Louis, Jack Lord and Leslie Nielson are simply too modern to be believable as scheming medieval spies. Kirkop is a wonderfully lusty singer, but lacks the presence of either Dennis King or Mario Lanza (who had been considered for the role early-on). He has no chemistry with Grayson or Moreno and frankly belongs back in an opera house in Malta, not film. Not to mention, the dubbing on his voice is terrible, with Reid sounding nothing like his singing voice. The sets look spectacular but are obviously fake and give the film the feeling of an overripe stage play, and Friml and Burke's added songs are pleasant but unremarkable compared to the soaring "Some Day" and "Only a Rose" or the devastating "Hugette's Waltz." 

The Big Finale: Mainly worth checking out for operetta fans like me or fans of Grayson, Moreno, or the huge colorful musicals of the 50's and 60's. 

Home Media: At press time, this rarity can only be found on YouTube. 

YouTube

Cult Flops - The Goldywn Follies

Samuel Goldwyn/United Artists, 1938

Starring Adolph Menjou, Andrea Leeds, Vora Zorina, and Kenny Baker

Directed by George Marshall and H.C Potter

Music by Vernon Duke and George Gershwin; Lyrics by Ira Gershwin

Despite the initial success of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 and the decent showing of Paramount On Parade, revues fell out of favor rather quickly in Hollywood. It seemed people did want some semblance of a plot along with their songs and sketches. Even when musicals came back into style with the phenomenal popularity of 42nd Street, revues were not, conspicuously, part of the line-up. Most of the studios tried to revive them, but they tended to turn into something else, as with the decidedly peculiar Hollywood Party. Samuel Goldwyn's musicals had always been known more for their largess than their stories. With Eddie Cantor having left by 1938, Goldwyn opted to throw his focus into this million-dollar semi-revue that showcases some of the top acts of the day. How well do those acts work in this story of a producer who hires a young woman to give his films "the common touch?" Let's start in a small town, where producer Oliver Merlin (Menjou) is about to film a scene with his top actress Olga Samara (Zorina) and find out...

The Story: Sensible small-town girl Hazel Dawes (Leeds) tells Martin point-blank while watching the shoot that she thinks the whole romance is a lot of hooey. Samara doesn't look or act like a normal person in love. Merlin is so enchanted by her honest opinion, he hires her to be "Miss Humanity" and evaluate his films from the point of view of the ordinary, everyday theater-goer. He wants to keep Hazel free of Hollywood affectations, but she falls for sweet singing soda jerk Danny Beecher (Baker). Danny's such a wonderful singer that she gets him a job on the radio, which leads him to a Hollywood contract. Now Hazel is torn between her feelings for Danny and her "common" opinions. Not to mention, Martin has fallen for her, too, and there's a whole bevy of crazy comedians, nutty animal trainers, and wacky ventriloquist acts who are dying to get into Martin's newest show.

The Song and Dance: And with a story that fluffy, song and dance is pretty much the only thing of interest here. As goofy as the story is, some of the numbers are genuinely good. Ira Gershwin turned out a wonderful score, with his brother George and with Vernon Duke after George died. Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy get a few good wisecracks as the ventriloquist act that manages to charm the passionate Olga, while Broadway comedian Bobby Clark also has his moments as Martin's randy assistant. The color is exquisite on the copy I watched, almost candy-like in its softer pastel charms. Menjou is the stand-out along with the music as the producer who is so delighted with his new "common" lady and how she's helped his pictures, he can't see she's falling for someone else.

The Numbers: The two big chorus routines are ballets for Zorina and the American Ballet of the Metropolitan Opera. The "Romeo and Juliet Ballet" turns the famous Shakespearean tragedy into the tale of a war between popular tap dancers and jazz performers and ballet dancers and violinists in Paris. It ends up with a happy ending when Hazel complains that it's too dark and not much fun. "The Water Nymph Ballet," with has Zorina as a supernatural creature in love with a human, is better-received by Hazel. The Ritz Brothers play Russian dancers in "The Volga Boatmen" to impress Zorina. They make use of their animal act to bring in dozens of cats for "Here Pussy Pussy." Their "Serenade to a Fish" turns them into Romans, then mermen. 

Baker gets to introduce the film's three hit songs. He sings "Love Walked In" at the soda shop, and later on the radio. He also gets the standard "Our Love Is Here to Stay" and "Spring Again" in the finale at Hollywood. Scottish comedienne Ella Logan introduces "I Was Doing Alright." Poor Michael Day (Phil Baker), whose parts are perpetually cut or changed, finally gets his chance to play the accordion with "I Love to Rhyme." Opera star Helen Jepson sings numbers from "La Traviata" with baritone Charles Kulllmann and "La Serenada." 

Trivia: George Gershwin's last film project. He died during production. 

What I Don't Like: Despite having an actual story and some terrific Gershwin and Gershwin-Duke songs, this is even more of a mish-mash than the early talkie revues. Zorina is a block of ice with a strange accent, Baker and Leeds are bland as the "common people," and the comedians all seem to have walked in from other, better films entirely. The two ballet sequences are lovely, but seem out of place among the less lavish numbers. It's all just throne together with more budget than sense, despite its emphasis on finding humanity and making movies more "real." That simple story is also drawn out way beyond too long, and the ending drags like crazy. Some of the later numbers could have been trimmed with no one the wiser.

The Big Finale: In the end, this is probably of interest only to fans of ballet, the Gershwins, or the comedians in question. 

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

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Amazon Prime

Musicals On TV - The Desert Song (1955)

NBC, 1955

Starring Nelson Eddy, Gale Sherwood, Otto Kruger, and John Conte

Directed by Max Liebman

Music by Sigmund Romberg; Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach

This was the other big operetta that debuted on NBC in 1955. In fact, it might be an even more likely prospect for an adaptation than The Chocolate Soldier. It was a bit newer, having originally debuted in 1926. It had already turned up three times on film, most recently in 1953 with Gordon MacRae as the heroic Red Shadow. Baritone Nelson Eddy was no stranger to the role, having sung it on records for years. How well does he do with the story of the French general's son who masquerades as the leader of the Riffs in North Africa in 1925? Let's begin with the Riffs and their masked leader The Red Shadow (Eddy) getting ready to fight against the French Legionnaires and find out...

The Story: The Red Shadow does indeed lead a double life. By night, he leads the Riffs on a rebellion against French rule. During the day, he's Pierre Birabeau, the son of General Birabeau (Kruger), who is the leader of the French garrison. Pierre passes himself off as a weakling to deflect suspicion, which becomes more of a problem with the arrival of spirited Margot Bonavalet (Sherwood). Her fiancee is the valiant Captain Paul Fontaine (Conte), a stoic fighter who is everything gentle Pierre isn't. 

Pierre falls hard for Margot, but she's looking for excitement, not someone who seems more like a good friend than a lover. He kidnaps her when he's the Red Shadow and takes her to the fortress of his friend Ali Ben Ali (Salvatore Baccaloni), the head of the Riff tribes. Margot does fall in love with him here, even as she wonders who he really is. When jealous dancing girl Azuri (Violet Essen) gives away his location, the general captures the Riffs and insists on a duel. The Red Shadow, however, can't fight his own father. Margot is horrified when the Riffs turn him out to the desert with a broken sword in shame...but then Pierre turns up back in Morocco with that same sword, and she realizes who she truly loves.

The Song and Dance: The supporting cast and interesting story are what shine here. Baccaloni is a jovial desert chieftain, Kruger a father alternately concerned about his weakling son and the rebellion, and tenor Earl Williams is lovely as the Red Shadow's second-in-command. This also probably comes the closest of any screen Desert Song to the actual show. It still drops all of the comic characters and their numbers, including Pierre's goofy friend Benjy, but it otherwise feels a lot more like what people saw on the stage in 1926 than the 1953 or 1943 versions do.

The Song and Dance: The movie opens with "Ho! Bold Men of Morocco" and "The Riff Song" as the Red Shadow and his men discuss their recent battles. After a short Arabian dance, we get the local women in the outpost wondering "Why Did We Marry Soldiers?" in a lively chorus number. The ladies join their men for the "French Military Marching Song." "O Pretty Maid of France" is Paul's introduction of Margot. Margot admits to Pierre that she longs for the heady thrill of "Romance." Hassi's more interested in the desert life that's "Soft as a Pigeon Lights Upon the Sand." We see what Azuri does for a living with her short solo dance number. Pierre tries to woo Margot, but she finds his idea of courtly love too slow. "Then You Will Know" I love you, Pierre tries to explain.

The Red Shadow appears at the outpost to sing the title song with Margot before we see Bambi Lynn and Rod Alexander more-or-less reprise what they were doing with "The Desert Song Ballet." Dancers in Spanish costumes represent the Spanish side of Africa with "My Little Castagnette." Ali Ben Ali insists that the Red Shadow "Let Love Go." Hassi talks about how "One Flower Grows In Your Garden," but Pierre and Ali care more that they're "One Alone." Margot admits her growing feelings about the Red Shadow in "The Sabre Song." The Red Shadow sings his "Farewell" in a reprise of "One Alone" after he refuses to fight his father. We get a brief reprise of "French Military Marching Song" when the soldiers return to the outpost, then more of Azuri's dance, ending with reprises of the title song and "One Alone."

Trivia: This, The Chocolate Soldier, and Satin and Spurs were part of the series Max Liebman Presents, which broadcast a series of lavish (for TV in the 50's) musicals on Saturdays from 1954 to 1956. 

A young Neil Simon was among those brought in to modernize and streamline the dialogue. 

The Desert Song originally opened on Broadway in 1926, where it was a major hit, one of the biggest hit operettas of the 20's. A short-lived revival in the 70's moved the setting to the 30's, for some reason. It hasn't been seen on Broadway since then, but remains popular with opera and light opera companies. 

This is the only surviving footage of Eddy appearing in a live television musical. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, the constant ballets and dance numbers only fit in slightly better here than they do in Chocolate Solider. No matter how passionately they dance, Lynn and Alexander's big ballet numbers simply weren't necessary and really slow the pacing. Eddy is way too old to be playing the Red Shadow or Pierre and only comes off as slightly less stiff than in his movies with Jeanette MacDonald, and Sherwood's not a whole lot more animated as Margot. Essen's not a believable dancing girl, either. In fact, it's pretty obvious the Arabians are all opera singers in bad makeup, even in the poor black and white copies currently available.

The Big Finale: While far from bad, this is really only for fans of Eddy or 50's musicals. There's better versions of The Desert Song out there.  

Home Media: Same deal as The Chocolate Soldier. The VAI disc is expensive, but it can currently be found on YouTube.

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YouTube

Musicals On TV - The Chocolate Soldier (1955)

NBC, 1955

Starring Rise Stevens, Eddie Albert, Akim Tarmiroff, and Earl Wrightson

Directed by Max Liebman

Music by Oscar Strauss; Lyrics by Stansilaus Stange and Carolyn Leigh

We're going to stay in the 50's this week, but move into a completely different medium and genre. Operetta, the most fanciful and rarefied of musical genres, made a comeback in the 50's, both on the big and small screens. Musicals were getting grander, wider, louder, and suddenly, operettas, with their lavish stories and huge voices singing of passionate romance, didn't look quite as out of place. Several operas and operettas were adapted for television in the 50's as the new medium sought classier material that would elevate the masses. The Chocolate Solder had originally been a big MGM musical with Stevens in 1941, but that version wasn't able to use the original plot. How does this operetta look when it comes closer to the original source material, George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man? Let's begin in "the public square, in any middle-sized country, in the middle of Europe" and find out...

The Story: Nadina (Stevens), the daughter of Mayor Ludvick (Tamrioff), is engaged to Alexis (Wrightson), a handsome soldier in the army. She dreams of his return, but gets quite a shock when a man claiming to be an enemy soldier (Albert) climbs in her window. He's really Bumeril, a Swiss mercenary who would rather be eating chocolate than fighting. She has to hide him from Alexis and her father when they come upstairs, then leads him into the wine cellar. He does manage to evade the drunk soldiers who come looking for him and escape. 

Shortly after, Mayor Ludvick holds a ball to announce Nadina and Alexis' wedding. Nadina is dismayed to discover Alexis is boastful and obnoxious, hardly the valiant solider she imagined. Meanwhile, Bumeril has returned in a more lavish uniform, impersonating a general whom Ludvick is trying to impress. After he's caught and accused of spying, Nadina comes to his defense at a trial. It looks like all may be lost, until the country really goes to war, and Bumeril's blundering inadvertently turns him into the hero of Nadina's dreams. 

The Song and Dance: This ended up being really adorable, especially for an operetta. Albert in particular is having a blast as the mercenary who'd rather make cocoa, not war. His strutting around during the ball with that enormous plumed helmet is hilarious. Tamirkoff has almost as much fun playing Nadina's blustering father, and Stevens is a funny and knowing Nadina. We have a relatively lavish production for TV too, with gorgeous bustled gowns and pretty European peasant dresses for the ladies and uniforms dripping with braid and brass for the men.

The Numbers: We open with the soldiers' arrival and the peasants in the square announcing "Here We Come." The soldiers give us our first of two large-scale chorus numbers as they show off their abilities for the ladies. Nadina sings of "Our Happy Wedding Day" and "My Hero" as she imagines her marriage to Alexis. Bumeril laments that Nadina refuses to give him any "Sympathy" after he turns up in her room. Alexis and the soldiers "Seek the Spy," but end up getting drunk while looking for him. 

The second half opens with the dancers in the ballroom, waltzing to a glittering instrumental number. Nadina sings "Melodrama" as she admits she's not quite so fond of Alexis as she had been. Wrightson, Tamirkoff, and the chorus boast about "Alexis the Hero" back at the ball. Bumeril sings about "A Quiet Voice" as he waltzes with Nadina, even as she tries to get him to leave. Her response is to remind him that he's little more than a coward and not her fiancee in the title song. This is directly followed by a ballet with Bambi Lynn as Nadina and Rod Alexander as Bumeril, replaying the first act as they dance Bumreril's escape from the soldiers. 

Alexis sings his own praises, to Nadina's amusement, as he claims "Never Was There Such a Lover." She performs "The Letter Song" as she composes a letter to Bumeril, turning him away. It and "My Hero" are heard again in the court room, when Nadina finally confesses her feelings about her not-so-valiant "Chocolate Soldier." Most of the country just declares "Thank the Lord the War Is Over." It ends with everyone reprising "My Hero" after Bumeril's blundering is revealed to have won the war.

What I Don't Like: This is very much TV in 1955. First of all, the original musical has been considerably simplified. There was a originally a subplot involving Bumeril taking the Mayor's coat filled with pictures from all the ladies of the town, including Nadina's, that isn't included here. Second, although the dancing is lovely, the waltz at the ball and the Lynn/Alexander ballet sequence are completely extraneous. Neither really move the plot along and are more there to show off the dancing and costumes and Lynn and Alexander than the story. There's also the dark, grainy copy on the VAI DVD, but as with other TV musicals of this vintage, we're lucky to have this at all. Most of these musical specials were filmed live, and many remain lost.

The Big Finale: This is a charming, frothy chocolate treat if you're a fan of Albert, Stevens, or vintage operetta and can get past the limitations of early television.

Home Media: It's on DVD, but like all of the VAI titles, it can be expensive. You're better off looking for this one used or on YouTube.

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YouTube

Million Dollar Mermaid

MGM, 1952

Starring Esther Williams, Victor Mature, Walter Pidgeon, and Jesse White

Directed by Richard Thorpe and Busby Berkeley

Music and Lyrics by various

Williams had wanted to play Australian swimmer Annette Kellerman for years. Kellerman was more-or-less the blueprint for Williams' later success, a champion amateur swimmer of the early 20th century who later became a star on Broadway and in the movies. Williams brought Kellerman herself in to convince MGM that it would be perfect for her next extravaganza. They went all out with this one, bringing in Victor Mature from Fox as her leading man and letting Busby Berkeley go wild with water pageantry. How well does a beloved swimming star of one era represent another? Let's begin at the Kellerman Conservatory in a suburb of Sydney, Australia as little Annette (Donna Corocan), who was stricken with polio and walks in braces, watches girls her own age dancing and find out...

The Story: Annette's musician father Frederick (Pidgeon) finds her swimming in a near-by bay. He's against it at first, until she insists it's made her legs stronger. Indeed, Annette (Williams) swims so often, she's eventually able to walk normally and join the ballet class. By her teens, she's winning amateur swimming championships. 

After a downturn in the Australian economy causes Fredrick to lose most of his students, he sells the conservatory and takes a job in London. When the job falls through, Annette tells promoter Jimmy Sullivan (Mature), whom she met on the boat going there, that she'll swim to Greenwich as an ad for his boxing kangaroo. Annette's feat is a far bigger success than any kangaroo, prompting Sullivan to take her and her father to New York to star in the enormous Hippodrome theater. Manager Alfred Harper (David Brian) tells her she needs to be better-known in New York before they'll take her on.

Annette attempts another long swim in Boston, but gets in hot water with the local authorities for wearing a then-daring one-piece bathing suit. She gains so much notoriety from the indecency trial, Jimmy showcases her in carnival diving shows. He's more threatened when a lecturer wants to do something classier and finally walks out on Annette. She doesn't have long to be upset. The Hippodrome finally calls, asking her to be a specialty number. She and her lavish shows are huge successes, enough for Hollywood to call. Tragedy strikes as she's making one of her movies, finally bringing Jimmy back to her side and making Alfred realize who she really loves.

The Song and Dance: This is more like it. For once, Williams' big numbers aren't shoehorned into a barely-there plot, but are the reason the plot exists. Despite a lot of the story being fabricated, it's still five times more interesting than something like Thrill of a Romance. No wonder Williams so badly wanted to play Kellerman. She's equally good showing off those one-piece bathing suits in Berkeley's aquatic fantasias and putting Jimmy in his place. Mature never did fit well in musicals, but he's not bad as the slightly smarmy promoter who falls for this Broadway mermaid. Pidgeon and White do equally well as Annette's doting father and the poor assistant promoter who keeps getting stuck with the worst parts of Jimmy's schemes. The costumes are gorgeous and for once, mostly historically accurate, including the infamous one-piece bathing suit that caused such a scandal, and the Technicolor is some of the best from any MGM movies of the 50's. 

The Numbers: The film starts with the students at Kellerman's music school playing various classical pieces, including the miniature ballerinas Annette so envies. She does so well with swimming, she's eventually able to join them. Ballet makes a brief return later in the film at the Hippodrome. Annette admires ballerina Anna Pavlova (danced by another famous ballet diva, Maria Tallchief), who swirls to a stunning version of her famous The Dying Swan in a massive white tutu. 

Of course, the real reason this movie exists is for those three famous Berkeley extravaganzas. The first one has Williams, clad from the crown on her head to her glittering toes in gold sequins, doing huge dives among spurting fountains. Annette begins the second to The Nutcracker gliding around poles in a flowing tutu. She ends up swimming into an enormous clam. The third brings in the chorus and tons of red and yellow smoke as girls in yellow swimsuits and boys in red briefs do Berkeley formations around Williams in a glistening ruby bathing suit. This one ends with a lot of scarily high dives off swings and the chorus surrounding Williams on an enormous sparkling platform.

Trivia: In real life, Kellerman's parents encouraged her swimming to help with her weak legs and were the ones who enrolled her in classes. She had already been involved with show business long before she met Jimmy Sullivan, having done mermaid shows and diving exhibitions as a teenager in Melbourne. She did attempt to swim the English Channel several times, but never made it across. The truth of her Boston publicity stunt seems to be in doubt as well. Kellerman also protested that Jimmy Sullivan was a quiet, unassuming man and not a loud-mouthed huckster. She did get hurt when a tank cracked and broke during the filming of A Daughter of the Gods, but only had cuts and bruises, not a damaging spine injury. (And Sullivan was never in charge of Rin Tin Tin!)

Kellerman's not the only one who got injured during the filming of one of her movies. Williams wound up in a body cast after one of the high dives during the first number with the fountains, thanks to that huge crown being too heavy for the stunt. 

Of Kellerman's movies, only Venus of the South Seas and part of Neptune's Daughter exist today. 

What I Don't Like: Though the story is more interesting than most of Williams' films, it's still a mess of biographical cliches. Those three numbers are so incredible, I wish they could have gotten another one in there somewhere, maybe in the beginning in Australia or in the end before the tank cracked. Then again, this is already pretty long for a biography, especially in the second half when the water ballets end and the romance picks up. Also, there's the simple fact that Kellerman isn't even all that well-remembered in her native Australia anymore, let alone in the US. 

The Big Finale: Who am I to argue with a Million Dollar Mermaid? Williams thought this was her best film, and I have to agree with her. Highly recommended for her fans, ballet lovers, or fans of the big musicals of the 1950's and 60's. 

Home Media: Warners seems to agree with Williams as well. This may be her easiest movie to find, on streaming and on disc via the Warner Archives. 

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Blu-Ray

DVD - TCM Greatest Classic Films - Esther Williams Vol. 2

Amazon Prime

Animation Celebration Saturday - Leap! (Ballerina)

Entertainment One/Gaumont/The Weinstein Company, 2016

Voices of Elle Fanning, Nat Wolfe, Carly Rae Jepson, and Kate McKinnon

Directed by Eric Sumner and Eric Warin

Music and Lyrics by various

We head up north to Canada and back to Europe for our next review. This charming tale of a young girl who dreams of being a ballerina in 1880's Paris was a surprise hit when it came out, despite its low-budget origins. How worthy is this of that around-the-world release? Let's begin at an orphanage in the French countryside of the 1880's and find out...

The Story: Felicie (Fanning) dreams of being a ballerina more than anything. Her mother had been a dancer, and there's a ballerina in the music box she left her. She escapes the orphanage with her best friend Victor (Wolfe), who wants to be an inventor. They end  up in Paris, where he becomes the apprentice of Gustav Effel, the creator of the Effel Tower and the Statue of Liberty. She's taken in by Odette (Jepson), a cleaner for the Paris Opera Ballet, who stops the school's janior 

The building is owned by Regine Le Haut (McKinnon), a wealthy and ambitious woman who also runs a popular local restaurant. Her daughter Camille (Maddie Zigler) is as obnoxious and spoiled as her mother. She taunts Felicie and breaks her treasured music box. In retaliation, Felicie intercepts her invitation to the Paris Opera Ballet and joins the school. Her lack of training shows, and the dance master Merante (Terrance Scammel) disapproves of her clumsiness. 

Merante is auditioning girls for Clara in The Nutcracker and will eliminate a girl a day until he finds her. Odette, herself a former dancer, trains Odette until she can pass muster in Merante's class. Victor and Merante are impressed...until first Camille and Regine figure out what Felicite did, and then Felicite goes out on a date with handsome Rudi (Tamir Kapelian) and neglects her training for a major audition. Regine sends her back to the orphanage. Felicite, however, still loves to dance. With the help of Monsieur Lueteau (Mel Brooks), the head of the orphanage, Victor, and Camille, she returns to Paris to prove that being a dancer means more than knowing the steps. It means being passionate for your work, and loving what you do.

The Animation: The character designs sometimes look a little awkward or scary, but the backgrounds are lush and detailed. This won an Annie Award for production design, and it richly deserved it. Paris is a world of light and shadow, from the baroque details of the Paris Opera House to the shabby, crumbling, ivy-covered orphanage. The dance steps are rendered quite well, too, especially that big dance-off between Felicite and Camille near the end.

The Song and Dance: Charming follow-your-dreams tale is anchored by Fanning as the adorably feisty Felcite and Jepson as the tragic Odette, who teaches Felicite how to truly reach for her goal. Wolfe has his funny moments in the American dubbing I saw as Felicite's cute best friend who is enamored of her and the wings he's built. As mentioned, the production design is well-done, with its gorgeous Paris and country orphanage, and the dance is beautifully rendered. 

The Numbers: We open over the credits with a glimpse of the orphanage, set to "You Know It's About You" as Felicite prepares to escape and encourages Victor to join her. She watches a prima ballerina dance to "Swan Lake" on the stage of the Paris Opera House and is entranced by her grace. It also plays when she's watching Camille rehearse. Felicite is looking for her "Rainbow" when she bluffs her way into the school and tries to avoid showing how inexperienced she is. "Be Somebody" is her first class. She doesn't do great, but there's a girl who does worse and is eliminated. Rudi shows off his own skill when he does a quick series of pirouettes to "The Russian Dance" from The Nutcracker. 

Felicite becomes "Unstoppable" as Odette helps her practice and she becomes better and better. It takes "Blood, Sweat, and Tears" to do well in Merante's class and with Odette's teaching. She dances the "Shannon Reel" at the bar, swinging with such wild abandon that even Merante approves, but her attempt at the "Waltz of the Flowers" after a night out with Rudi doesn't go so well. "Suitcase" shows her training on her own at the orphanage as she regains her spirit, and Lueteau realizes how passionate she is about dancing. Camille and Felicite have a dance-off to show who is more "Confident"...and proves who has the real love for dance to the whole school. The movie ends with Jepson's "Cut to the Feeling" as Felicite finally gets the chance to dance with the ballerina she idolized in the beginning.

What I Don't Like: First of all, when was this set again? It's totally historically inaccurate for the 1880's. The Statue of Liberty wouldn't have been greenish at that point. She was still a coppery brown. Of the costumes, only some of the men's suits and Regine's green gown look anywhere near accurate for the time. Felicite's vest and shorts are more 2010 than 1880. The Nutcracker wasn't written until 1892, and it didn't become popular until the 1940's - and it doesn't include a scene where Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy dance in the snow. Even Lueteau's motorcycle wouldn't exist until 1885. 

Second, the story is a mountain of cliches that start slow and end ridiculously. Some of the big set pieces, like Lueteau chasing Victor and Felicte in the opening and the finale with Regine on the Statue of Liberty are more annoying and out-of-place than exciting. We don't find out what happened to Regine after she gets stuck in the statue's scaffolding, either, or to Camille. Regine going crazy like that makes no sense and likely only happened to give the movie a big action scene. Felicite herself is no prize, either. She's darn lucky she wasn't expelled for her attempt at identity fraud, and dream or no dream, she can be downright obnoxious at times. 

The Big Finale: For all the wonky history and general weirdness, this is still worth checking out if you or your daughter are ballet fans or are looking for an action musical for 8 to 12 year old girls. 

Home Media: Easily found on every format. The Canadian version usually turns up on disc, while the re-edited Weinstein version is free on Tubi.

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Musicals on TV - Satins and Spurs

NBC, 1954

Starring Betty Hutton, Kevin McCarthy, Guy Raymond, and Gus Chandler

Directed by Max Liebman and Charles O'Curran

Music by Jay Livingston; Lyrics by Ray Evans

Westerns and musicals ruled the airwaves during television's first flush of popularity in the 50's and 60's. Prime-time was saturated with every variation on the oater you could imagine, from kids' shows to hard-hitting dramatic westerns to satires of them. Musicals too were at their zenith in the mid-50's. Most of the television industry still centered around New York then, making it easy to bring in stage stars and film scenes from the latest Broadway smash. Westerns and musicals came together for the first 90 minute color "spectacular," featuring movie comedienne Betty Hutton as a cowgirl who falls for a photographer. How does this look today? Let's begin on a very stage-bound Broadway and find out...

The Story: Rodeo rider Cindy Smathers (Hutton) and her cowhands Tex (Raymond) and Dick (Josh Wheeler) have come to New York to play a big rodeo at Madison Square Garden. Cindy's manager Ollie (Edwin Phillips) insists on her doing a big publicity stunt for her show. Life Magazine sends photographer Tony Barton (McCarthy) and his assistant Ursula (Mary Ellen Kay) to do an extensive photo shoot on a cowgirl loose in the big city. Loud, brash Cindy isn't like the haughty models Tony is used to dealing with, and Cindy's tired of Tony complaining about her not being a lady. Love - and Life Magazine - win out when Cindy sees her picture in the papers and realizes that maybe New York and Tony aren't so bad after all.

The Song and Dance: Hutton tries her hardest with the fluffy story in this live show. She's obviously having a ball, whether she's singing about her grandfather's exploits in the Wild West or trying to learn how to talk "fancy" from a record. Some of the mid-50's costumes are gorgeous, too, especially those evening gowns and ballet dresses at the fashion house, not to mention Hutton's spangled cowgirl costumes and her heavily beaded poncho that she calls a dressing gown. Her idea of being "slinky" is hilarious, too. 

Favorite Number: We open with a jazzy ballet depicting everyday New Yorkers in Times Square, including three gamblers and their ladies. This leads straight into Cindy's entrance with her boys, "We're a Different Kind." They stick out like a sore thumb in their glittery western outfits, brandishing their pistols as a brass band joins in at Madison Square Garden. Cindy jumps up and down on the bed in her hotel room as she tells Tony and Ursula about her grandfather "Wildcat Smathers," to their general shock and annoyance.

Cindy arrives at the big fashion house in time for a showing of evening gowns that turns into an elegant ballet, with three young women introducing gowns called "Ballerina." Cindy and her boys are more interested in tell them how she may be a cowgirl but "A Girl Is Still a Girl." Genevieve, a real-life French chanteuse, appropriately sings a French number at the night club, "Donne-Moi." The high-class night club crowd is less impressed with Cindy's brayed "Little Rock Rhythm and Roll." Her flop there leads Cindy and Tony into the combative "I've Had Enough of You." 

Upset after Tony tries to turn her into a lady, Cindy wanders into a rainstorm, watching happy couples and sadly lamenting "Nobody Cares." Tex reprises "Little Rock Rhythm," first with a country group, then as a jazzier instrumental number for a group of far hipper dancers at a local restaurant. Tex takes over again,  his eccentric dance bringing it back to country. Dick puts out a far gentler desire to be "Back Home" for the group. Tony finally convinces Cindy that "You're So Right for Me"in a charming duet. It ends with the now-Broadway star Cindy performing the big finale "Hey Boys" with a group of tap-dancing sailors. Hutton concludes everything by stepping out of character to reprise "You're So Right for Me" in front of the camera.

Trivia:  The show concludes with Steve Allen taking the audience around the then-new NBC color studios in Brooklyn. NBC would continue to film programming at those studios until 2014. The buildings are now a children's home and family services and a self-storage facility. 

Yes, this was originally broadcast in color for those very few who had it in 1954. 

What I Don't Like: This looks less like a TV spectacular and more like something a couple of producers threw together to fill air time between bigger shows. Some of the songs are charming and the costumes - what little can be seen of them in the degrading kinetoscope copy at YouTube - are lovely, but the sets are obviously fake with absolutely no real New York flavor. Most of the numbers go on for too long, and the big dance pieces and that random ballet at the fashion show feel tacked on and have nothing to do with anything.

McCarthy has all the charm of a dead fish, acts about as well as one, and has no chemistry with Hutton. He would work out far better back in Hollywood two years later as the scientist who discovers the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Hutton, for her part, is trying too hard. Her brash personality is way too big for the small screen. The big screen could barely contain it in the 40's. Much like her character here, she was just too noisy and rowdy for the genteel TV audiences of the 1950's. 

The Big Finale: TV history aside, unless you're a really huge fan of Hutton or the big, brash comic musicals of the 50's and 60's, I'd pass on this one. 

Home Media: Only available in a degrading and washed-out copy on YouTube at the moment.

YouTube

Musicals On TV - Bloomer Girl

NBC, 1956

Starring Barbara Cook, Keith Andes, Carmen Matthews, and Paul Ford

Directed by Alex Segal

Music by Harold Arlen; Lyrics by E.Y Harburg

Operetta was not normally Harburg and Arlen's turf, but Harburg in particular was a passionate liberal who supported his many causes in his music. Cook was the next big thing on Broadway when this show debuted, having just come off the short-lived but well-remembered Candide and a year before her breakthrough in The Music Man. How well does she do in this recording of the 1944 Broadway hit about the fictional niece of real-life feminist and early black rights supporter Amelia "Dolly" Bloomer (Matthews)? Let's begin with the five older Applegate sisters and their mother Serena (Nydia Westman) and maid Daisy (Patricia Hammerlee) as they wait for their hoopskirt salesmen husbands to come home to Cicero Falls, New York in 1861 and find out...

The Story: Those five older Applegate sisters may be content to marry salesmen and sit around in hoopskirts, but that's not enough for youngest sister Evelina (Cook). She thoroughly believes in her Aunt Dolly Bloomer's (Matthews) views on women's and black rights, including the right to more comfortable clothing. Her frustrated father (Ford), the owner of a hoopskirt factory, encourages southern gentleman Jeff Calhoun (Andes) to court her. Evelina will have nothing to do with him until he frees his slave Pompey (Rawn Spearman). 

Jeff's more than happy to do so at first, until his brother Hamilton (Frank Overton), who thoroughly believes in the right to own slaves, protests. Evelina's father is even more upset when his daughter turns up in bloomers on a Sunday and insists on her aunt's right to perform Uncle Tom's Cabin with her girls. The women end up in jail, until Governor Newton (Paul McGrath) admits he supports their cause and lets the show go on. The show - and Evelina and Jeff's relationship - is disrupted by the Civil War. The war, however, brings many positive changes, including making Jeff see the light about the importance of freedom for all.

The Song and Dance: By far the best things about this are the period-perfect costumes and the rare chance to see Cook in her prime and Agnes deMille's original choreography, including the dramatic and much-lauded "Civil War Ballet." Cook is an adorable whirlwind, coquettish with Jeff, then easily standing up to her father and the sheriff in defence of her aunt and the causes she supports. Matthews is just as strong-willed as her aunt, and Ford is a blustery delight as her conservative father. Considering how wonderful the dancing is here, I really wish more of it had been retained. Love the costumes, too. We have full-on, period-accurate hoopskirts and bloomers for the ladies, tight suits and Civil War uniforms for the men, and tattered clothing for the slaves and black men who sing "I Got a Song."

Favorite Number: We open with "When the Boys Come Home" as the Applegate sisters and mother await the arrival of their salesmen husbands. Jeff sings about his "Evelina," but Evelina isn't impressed. Dolly, Daisy, and the Bloomer girls who work at Dolly's newspaper claim "It Was Good Enough for Grandma," but they want a lot more than sitting at home in a lively, adorable dance. Pompey declares "The Eagle and Me" equally deserve freedom. For Jeff and Evelina, everything is "Right as the Rain." 

"Sunday In Cicero Falls" starts off quietly for the chorus, until Dolly and her girls come high-stepping along with an encore of "Good Enough for Grandma" to advertise Uncle Tom's Cabin. "I Got a Song," says Pompey and two of his friends as they explain that they can't laugh, but they can sing. Dolly and Evelina sing a "Lullaby" to the ladies while in prison. Daisy prances to the upbeat "I Never Was Born" while dressed as Topsy for the Cabin production, blackface and all. The brief "Man for Sale," with an auctioneer (David Aiken) "selling" off a black man during the show. It's interrupted by the announcement of the Civil War, which leads into the stirring "Civil War Ballet." James Marshall leads the dance corps, many from the 1944 show, as they depict the men going to war, and what happens when they come home.

Trivia: Bloomer Girl ran a year and a half on Broadway in its original production, respectable for the time. Celeste Holm played Evelina; Dooley Wilson was Pompey. Its only New York stagings since then were a brief City Center revival in 1947, an off-Broadway revival in 2000, and an Encores! concert in 2001.

Brock Peters has a small role as Pompey's friend Alexander; he can be heard in "I Got a Song" and "Man for Sale." He would go on to star as Crown in the 1959 Porgy and Bess, the wrongfully accused Tom Robinson in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, and as Joseph Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. 

Amelia "Dolly" Bloomer was a real-life feminist and abolitionist who lived in small-town upstate New York and advocated freer, looser clothing for women and did run a newspaper advocating her causes in the 1850's. By 1859, she'd actually moved to Iowa and had resumed wearing longer skirts, since hoopskirts and heavy petticoats were being replaced by that point by crinolines. 

What I Don't Like: There's a few reasons this is rarely seen nowadays, despite the wonderful music and dance and still-relevant subject matter. Some of the dialogue, especially concerning African-American rights, comes off as condescending or overly stiff today. There's also the second half hinging around a performance of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Though it's downplayed from the original show, where it was a major set piece that included an expanded "Man for Sale" and a sequence derived from Eliza crossing the ice, we still get Hammerlee's too-goofy blackface "I Never Was Born" number. 

The Uncle Tom's Cabin sequence wasn't the only one to be cut down for television. Most of the other dance routines were dropped as well, along with numbers for Evelina's brothers-in-law and the men in Cicero Falls ("The Farmer's Whiskers," "Pretty as a Picture"), a solo for Daisy ("T'Morra, T'Morra"), and a third duet for Evelina and Jeff ("Rakish Young Man With the Whiskers"). Also, basic warning that this is a fuzzy black-and-white recording of a show originally broadcast live and in color. Considering how many such shows have been lost to time, we're lucky to have this at all.

The Big Finale: The terrific music and ballets and the fact that this doesn't turn up often onstage nowadays makes this rare program worth checking out for fans of Cook, Harburg and Arlen, or the folksy Americana shows of the 40's and 50's. 

Home Media: It's in print, but like all VAI International DVD releases, is expensive online. You're better off checking eBay or other used venues for this.

DVD

Tales of Hoffman (1951)

British Lion Films, 1951

Starring Robert Rousenville, Moira Shearer, Robert Helpmann, and Pamela Brown

Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

Music by Jaques Offenbach; English translation by Dennis Arundell, from the original libretto by Jules Barbier

For years, Powell had wanted to combine moving images and operatic music. The Red Shoes and its ballet sequence was one step to that goal. This is the culmination, a movie set to almost the entire soundtrack of the original opera. This is unique movie in many respects. It's a true opera film. Everything is danced and sung; there's no dialogue. We also have dubbed dancers or singers who can act, with a deliberately unreal stage set and stylized acting. Does Powell's gamble work, or should it be abandoned? Let's begin backstage, where ballerina Stella (Shearer) is being courted by student E.A Hoffman (Rousenville), and find out...

The Story: This is an opera anthology, so there's actually four stories: 

The first begins with Stella onstage, dancing in "The Ballet of the Enchanted Dragonfly." Wealthy Councillor Lindorf (Helpmann) intercepts Stella's message for Hoffman. He goes downstairs to a tavern with his friends, including boyish Nicklas (Brown), and proceeds to get drunk while telling stories of his past romances...

In the second story, we learn how Hoffman fell for Olympia (Shearer), a lifelike mechanical doll created by scientist Spalanzani (Leonide Massine) and inventor Coppelius (Helpmann). Thanks to a pair of magic spectacles that Coppelius puts on him, he truly believes she's real...until the two men tear her apart in a dispute, and he realizes what he's really in love with. 

The third story has Hoffman in love with the courtesan Giulietta (Ludmilla Tcherina), but her only interest in him is to steal his reflection for the evil magician Dapertutto (Helpmann).

The final story veers into tragedy as Hoffman travels to Greece, where he visits his beloved Antonia (Ann Ayers). Antonia has a fatal disease that doesn't allow her to sing. She's tormented by Dr. Miracle (Helpmann), who encourages her to perform the aria that could kill her...

The Song and Dance: And it's all about the song and dance here. As mentioned, this is a full-blown opera, without a bit of dialogue. And it's just gorgeous, as much as the previous Red Shoes. The Technicolor is absolutely radiant, cool and clear. The art direction is sumptuous, the costumes lavish and historically accurate to the 1820's. Helpmann and Rousenville dance off with the movie as they smarmy count who portrays the many variations on evil and the writer who can never seem to keep his lovers around for long. Shearer's even lovelier as the fickle dancer and the darling doll who is so real, she has a living man helplessly in love with her, and Ayers is in ravishing voice as the doomed Antonia.

Oh, and I appreciate that Powell had each person who dubbed a dancer appear alongside them in the end credits. That was an honest and classy touch. 

Favorite Number: Shearer dances "Ballet of the Enchanted Butterfly" with Edmund Audran. Their costumes are realistic, but rather grotesque, making them look almost skeletal as they flit around. She also has some enchanting dances as Olympia, both solo, and with a chorus in hoop skirts, painted white and red "masques," and suits with enormous ruffled shirts. Helpmann does his best work here, too, paired with effeminate Massine. Helpmann is also effective playing off slinky Tcherina. Ayers gets one of the best arias in the film towards the end of the Antonia sequence when she performs a trio with herself, her deceased mother (Joan Alexander), and Miracle.  

Trivia: This also got Oscar nominations for the color art direction and costumes; lost both to An American In Paris. 

What I Don't Like: Unlike the passionate Red Shoes, the opera sort of puts this one at a remove. It comes off as a bit colder compared to the warm and vital Shoes. Also, as mentioned, this is a through-sung opera. This isn't a typical girls-and-gags musical with spoken sequences between the dance routines. It's not even a rock opera. It's as typical of a grand opera as you're going to get on the big screen. If you're not an opera fan or aren't interested in opera, you probably won't be into this.

The Big Finale: This and The Red Shoes are required viewing for fans of opera and ballet, or even those who just want to see what can be done with Technicolor in imaginative hands. 

Home Media: This is also a part of the  Criterion Collection on DVD and Blu-Ray. It can currently be found streaming for free on Flex.

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The Red Shoes

Rank Film Distributors, 1948

Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

Starring Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring, and Robert Helpmann

Music by various

Our reviews this week return us to the world of grand opera and ballet for two of the most beautiful films ever made in England. We start off with the rarefied world of ballet. This was originally conceived by Powell and producer Alexander Korda in the 30's as a vehicle for Korda's future wife Merle Oberon. 

Powell bought the rights from Korda and reactivated the project after the success of his drama Black Narcissus. They hired dancers who had acting ability, preferring that to actors who could dance. They even created their own ballet company for the 15-minute dance sequence mid-way through the film. Shearer hadn't originally wanted to do the movie, but she was finally convinced to do it. Was she right to blow this off, or does this ballerina deserve a chance to dance? Let's start at Covent Garden Opera House during a performance of Heart of Fire by the Ballet Lermontov and find out...

The Story: Victoria Page wants nothing more than to be a great ballerina. She's invited to a rehearsal by Boris Lermontov (Walbrook), the company's owner and manager. Another newcomer at the rehearsal is Julian Craster (Goring), who had confronted Lermontov over his former music teacher stealing Hearts of Fire. He ends up being hired as the company's conductor and composer. He and Vicky hit it off right away, even as Lermontov sees her potential. After lending her to the Ballet Rambert for Swan Lake, he invites her to join his ballet in Paris and Monte Carlo.

He's so taken by Vicky, he has a ballet created for her, The Ballet of the Red Shoes. Despite being put together in only three weeks, it's an instant success. Vicky is now the top ballerina in the company, and Lermonov wants more scores from Julian. Vicky and Julian fall in love, but try to keep their relationship a secret from Lermontov. He fires Julian when he finds out about it. Vicky goes with him. She and Julian marry...but she can't stay away from dancing for long, and soon the lure of the Red Shoes, and her greatest role, proves too much for her to bear...

The Song and Dance: Probably one of the most gorgeous movies ever made in England. English Technicolor tended to have a somewhat softer look than the process used in the US, more like pastel frosting than a jewel-toned candy box. This makes those temptingly scarlet slippers stand out all the more. Shearer is utterly exquisite as the young woman caught between the man she loves and her need to dance and show her talent to the world. Some of the dancing is wonderful, too, especially from Robert Helpmann as the ballet's choreographer who takes the role of the grotesque little man who sells the girl the shoes in the ballet. 

The stunning art direction, with its chalky white masks and heavily lashed eyes against the soft Technicolor pastel glow, is more than fully deserving of its Oscar win. It's use of German expressionism gives this the look of a horror films at time, especially in the second half and during the ballet when grotesque creatures grab at the girl in her brilliant footwear. 

Favorite Number: This could almost be considered a crash course in famous ballets. We open with Hearts On Fire, which was written directly for the film. Shearer is the mechanical girl to Helpmann's confused inventor in a sequence from Coppelia. She's the dying peasant girl Giselle in a scene from the ballet from that title, the dancing doll in love in La Boutique Fantasque, and Princess Odile during her success in Swan Lake. 

Of course, by far the most famous number is the Ballet of the Red Shoes. This 17 minute dance sequence takes up a good chunk of the movie, and is the best thing about it. The dancing is first rate, the costumes are gorgeous, and even the cinematography is exquisite. Where most movies about ballet would have a stationary camera filming the dancers, this one makes use of editing and techniques not available on the stage to show the dancing in a way that reveals what's going on in Shearer's head and how confused she is over the tug between her heart and her art.

Trivia: Also won for Best Score in 1948. 

A Broadway musical version with songs by Jules Styne debuted in 1993. Alas, it was very poorly received and closed after only five performances. 

What I Don't Like: Perhaps a bit long, and more than a little dark. Not for those hoping for a happy ending in their romances. It's pretty easy to guess that Vicky is doomed from the start. In fact, the finale is a tad too melodramatic for what comes before it.

The Big Finale: One of the most gorgeous movies ever made. If you have even a passing interest in ballet or have wanted to check out one of the Powell/Pressburger films, or just want to see a really good color movie, this is one of the best ever made and couldn't be recommended more. 

Home Media: The Criterion Collection put out UCLA's amazing restoration on disc in 2021. It's also free with ads on many streaming sites, including YouTube.

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Election Day Special - Louisiana Purchase

Paramount, 1941

Starring Bob Hope, Vera Zorina, Victor Moore, and Irene Bordoni

Directed by Irving Cummings

Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin

While you wait for the election results to come in, here's a hilarious political satire to check out. Louisiana Purchase started life as a Broadway show the year before. This spoof of political corruption in general and the state of Louisiana dropping Huey Long's Share the Wealth program and supporting the Franklin Roosevelt and his New Deal was a huge hit in New York, but does it still earn the vote with viewers today? Let's begin with Paramount's lawyer (Emory Parnell) as he and his secretary (Iris Meredith) and the chorus explain in song that this is a spoof and none of this really happened...maybe...and find out...

The Story: Three Louisiana House of Representative members have been using the federal funds for the Louisiana Purchase Company to furnish their lavish lifestyles. They're horrified when they learn that Senator Oliver P. Loganberry (Moore) is coming to conduct hearings into their corrupt activities. They force the fourth member, Jim Taylor (Hope), to lure Loganberry into a trap that'll let them blackmail him into dropping the matter. 

Taylor's friend Madame Bordelaise (Bordoni) suggests European beauty Marina Von Minden (Zorina), who is trying to earn enough money to bring her mother to the US, to be used as bait. She seduces him and gets him drunk, but then has second thoughts and claims she's his fiancee. Now Jim is really in the senatorial dog house...until he can filibuster for three days and keep Loganberry from making those changes to the legaslature!

The Song and Dance: Hope is backed by a great supporting cast in one of the rare Broadway adaptations of the 40's to be a fairly accurate adaptation of the original. It's so accurate, Bordoni, Zorina, and Moore repeat their original roles. Gorgeous production, too. It was his first color film, and Paramount really threw everything they had into it. We even get a fashion show mid-way through when Jim insists on showing off the latest fashions to impoverished Marina. Moore takes top honors as the rigid politician who is so into his job, he barely knows anything but what goes on at Capitol Hill. 

Probably the most famous moment from this today is Hope's filibuster in the end. It's hilarious, with him reading everything from Gone With the Wind to Goldilocks and the Three Bears to keep everyone from leaving. Hope has a great time with it, especially towards the end as it's becoming obvious Jim is burning out. 

Favorite Number: We open with the "Lawyer's Letter" and "It's New to Us," possibly the first and only time in film history that a musical began with a chorus routine that says "this is fiction, don't sue us." We don't get another number until nearly half-way in, but it's the sweet "You're Lonely and I'm Lonely" as Zorina begins to realize that Loganberry isn't really a bad guy. Beatrice (Dona Drake), one of Madame's girls, joins the chorus for the title song at the Mardi Gras parade. "Dance With Me Tonight at the Mardi Gras" says Zorina in a lavish ballet as she and dancer Charles Laskey pirouette around the ballroom. 

The film's best number was also its only hit on Broadway. "It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow" begins with black waiters cleaning up in the kitchen, singing about their hopes for a new day. Jim, stripped of his king's costume after Marina turns on him, sings along, but his heart isn't really in it. It's a simple but effective moment in an otherwise overstuffed movie.

Trivia: Gaxton, Moore's usual stage partner, played Hope's role on Broadway.

The Broadway show ran almost two years, not bad for the early 40's. It largely vanished until a concert version with the complete score played Carnegie Hall in 1996.

What I Don't Like: There's a reason this disappeared for fifty years. The political satire was amusing then, but largely hasn't dated well. I wish it was even more of a musical. There were more songs on Broadway that are only used as underscoring in the film. They could have gone a long way towards fleshing out other characters, like the corrupt senators and Beatrice. Zorina had at least one more ballet that gave her more opportunity to show off her real talents, too. She never was much of an actress. Berlin's songs are far from  his best, with only "Lovely Day Tomorrow" coming anywhere near his more famous work. 

The Big Finale: Mainly for major fans of Hope, Berlin, or big Technicolor 40's and 50's musicals. 

Home Media: DVD only as part of the Universal Vault Series.

DVD

Lady, Let's Dance!

Monogram Pictures, 1944

Starring Belita, James Ellison, Walter Catlett, and Lucien Littlefield

Directed by Frank Woodruff

Music and Lyrics by various

Lower-budget studios seemed to have more luck finding their own European ice queens. Monogram started out as three B-studios in the late 20's and early 30's, Sono Art-World Wide, Allied, and Rayart. These merged in 1933 to form one of the busiest "minor" studios in Hollywood. They became part of Republic for a while in 1935, but broke off again in 1937. By 1944, they were one of the top "B" studios in Hollywood, mostly specializing in action and comedy series and moody but inexpensive film noir. Belita was a British figure skater who came over to appear in their 1941 Ice Capades musical. By 1944, they were ready to build her up as a major musical star and their answer to Henie. How well does her multi-faceted showcase come off today? Let's begin at a hot springs resort in California and find out...

The Story: Jerry Gibson (Ellison) needs a new dancer for the resort's theater after one of them left to get married. Stuffy manager Mr. Snodgrass (Littlefield) and the resort's robust cowboy-loving owner Timber Applegate (Catlett) find her in Belita (Belita), a refugee waitress who literally stumbles into their office. After learning she was once a champion skater and dancer in Holland, they sign her up as the new partner for dancer Manuelo (Maurice St. Clair). 

She goes over so well there, two producers of an ice show in Chicago spot her and want her to appear in their show. She's not willing to go at first, as she's fallen for Jerry, but he pushes her into going. Her skating routines are such a hit, she's even able to bring over the two chefs from the resort kitchen to fill in as a comic ice skating pair. Snodgrass is angry at Jerry for letting her go and fires him. He looks for work at other resorts, but ends up getting drafted. Belita just wants him back...but it takes intervention from Timber to bring the two together again.

The Song and Dance: This is surprisingly good for a B-level ice skating musical. Belita does have charm, and even pulls off the dramatic moments later in the film well enough. She's also a wonderful skater - check out her big Liberty number in the end, with its impressive jumps and spins. She's so good, it's the one time a figure skating film ended on a solo perfomer, no chorus routines or pageantry, and it really works. European comic ice skating duo Frick and Frack have some decent moments in their numbers towards the end. Catlett and Littlefield also come off fairly well as the western-loving resort owner and snobbish hotel manager. The music's also pretty decent for a B film. "Silver Shadows and Golden Dreams" got nominated for an Oscar.

Favorite Number: Oddly, the movie doesn't open with Belita at all, but a series of bathing beauties doing a Busby Berkeley-esque water ballet in the hotel swimming pool. They're actually not bad, a foreshadowing of what Berkeley and others would do with Esther Williams' swimming vehicles starting later in 1944. 

Our first instrumental dance number comes via Henry Busse and His Orchestra. Belita and Manuelo perform a lively rhumba in their street clothes. It goes over so well, it gets her the job. That leads to "Salamente una Vez," the ballroom routine where Belita makes her debut. She and Manuelo do even better here, especially with her swirling floral skirts and his death defying lifts and swinging her around in the end. Once she makes it into the big show, her first number is "The Snow Queen Ballet." She and the dancers perform their leaps and pirouettes in brief ruffly costumes that admittedly say "snow" less than "off-rack at a strip joint costume closet." 

The skating routines are surprisingly lavish for a Poverty Row film. The lovely "Silver Shadows and Golden Dreams" is a pair routine for her and a male skater. It's elegant and flowing as the song itself. "Days of the Beau Brummel" is the Currier and Ives 1890's skating routine, with everyone in period dress and Frick and Frack wowing the crowds as an elderly man and a skating instructor. The duo return for an instrumental Swiss-themed number with the chorus, this time playing drunks. The title song is the men-in-tuxes chorus routine, with Belita not only skating with them, but tap-dancing on ice skates, too. As mentioned, the film ends with her genuinely stirring "Victory" solo routine in front of a massive cardboard Statue of Liberty.

What I Don't Like: First of all, Ellison may be handsome, but he lacks Belvita's charm and can often come off as a jerk rather than a well-meaning promoter. The two have absolutely no chemistry, making her search for him feel more like an afterthought. Yeah, the melodramatic plot isn't always the best, either. They're not helped by dialogue that's stiffer than the ice Belita skates on. There's also times when this being a Poverty Row quickie comes to the fore, like that finale with the cardboard Lady Liberty and just Belita skating. Her skating is great, but the set's slightly chintzy. 

The Big Finale: This wound up being a major surprise. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did! Highly recommended for figure skating fans, fans of Belita or Catlett, or those looking for a somewhat lower-key skating fest.

Home Media: DVD only via the Warner Archives.

DVD

The King and I (1956)

20th Century Fox, 1956

Starring Yul Brunner, Deborah Kerr, Rita Moreno, and Terry Saunders

Directed by Walter Lang

Music by Richard Rodgers; Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

Anna Leonowens was, in fact, a real person who was indeed the governess for the King of Siam in the 1860's. Though the truth of her encounters with the King of Siam are called into question today, they did inspire a semi-fictional novel in 1944, Anna and King of Siam. The book had already been made into a black-and-white drama in 1946, with Rex Harrison as the King and Irene Dunne as Anna, when Gertrude Lawrence's agent thought she would be perfect as a musical Anna. 

Lawrence did ultimately go over well in the part, but she passed away before the end of the show's run. Yul Brunner was even more of a sensation as the King and was called on to repeat his Tony-winning role. Joining him was Jerome Robbins recreating his award-winning choreography. How does this story look nowadays? Let's begin as Anna (Kerr) and her son Louis (Rex Thompson) as they arrive in Siam and find out...

The Story: Anna immediately clashes with King Mongkut (Brunner) over his not building her a promised house. He convinces her to remain once she meets his many charming children, who she's to teach. She's also to teach his wives English and becomes friends with his head wife Lady Thiang (Saunders). Romantic Anna encourages his newest slave Tup Tim (Moreno) to meet her lover Lun Tha (Carlos Rivas), who brought her to Siam, in secret. 

Mongkut is more interested in proving to the rest of the world that Siam is a modern, scientific country. He and Anna set up a banquet and ballet for the visiting English consulate to prove that Siam isn't the barbaric country many in the West see it as. Things go swimmingly, until Tup Tim runs away. The King wants to punish her...but to do so would truly make him a barbarian in the eyes of the only person in Siam who ever dared challenge him. 

The Song and Dance: Kerr and Brunner put in some of their best performances as the strong-willed teacher and ruler whose constant battle for control eventually mellows into something like respect...and maybe more. Brunner won an Oscar to go with his Tony, making him the first person to win a Tony and Oscar for the same role. The stunning and elaborate period-accurate costumes and sets also won Oscars. Those heavy hoop skirts Kerr wears were so period-accurate, in fact, she lost twelve pounds by the end of filming. 

Favorite Number: We open with Anna teaching a nervous Louis to "Whistle a Happy Tune" as they step off the boat and into a new land...at least until they meet the imposing Kralahome, the King's prime minister. "The March of the Siamese Children" is too adorable as each child impresses Anna in their own way in time to the music. The kids also join Anna as she explains in the school room while she's glad to be "Getting to Know You." 

Lun Tha and Tup Tim meet secretly under the moonlight, admitting that "We Kiss In a Shadow," but love each other no matter what. All of this romance and talk of the Bible and creation is "A Puzzlement" to the amused King. Lady Thiang explains why the King is "Something Wonderful," even if he's also stubborn as a mule. He and Anna do better when he says "Shall We Dance?" and convinces her to teach him a western polka. 

The major set piece is "The Small House of Uncle Thomas Ballet." Actual Asian theatrical tropes are used to bring Tup Tim's version of Uncle Tom's Cabin to delicate life. It seems more Thai than almost anything else in the film, with its brilliant costumes and Asian-tinged re-write of the famously controversial novel. (In fact, to date this is the only theatrical sound version of Cabin, though it has turned up on TV.)

Trivia: Three of the songs cut from the show, Anna's "Shall I Tell You What I Think of You?" Tup Tim's "My Lord and Master," and more of "I Have Dreamed" were recorded; the first two were filmed, but the footage has since been lost. All three are on the soundtrack LP. "Western People Funny," a song for the ladies before the ball, can be heard briefly in underscoring. 

This was a four-year hit on Broadway in 1951 and also did well in London. Revivals in 1977 (with Brunner in his original role), 1985 (once again with Brunner), 1996 (with Donna Murphy and Lee Diamond Phillips) and 2015 (with Kelli O'Hara and Ken Wantanbe) were all fair-sized hits in their own right, with the latter two winning Best Revival Tonys. 

Paramount announced last year that they're currently developing a remake. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, Kerr, Moreno, and Rivas were all dubbed, Kerr infamously by Marni Nixon. Second, every version of Anna and the King is banished in Thailand for a reason. King Mongkut, his court, and their culture aren't always shown in the most flattering light, and can even be see as annoying stereotypes today. Doesn't help that none of the Thai characters are played by Asians (the lovers are actually Latin American). Those massive sets also feel a bit stagey nowadays, making the movie look more like a filmed play. Not to mention, there's all those cut songs that could have fleshed out characters other than Anna, the King, and Lady Thiang.

The Big Finale: Highly recommended for Kerr and Brunner's sparring and the musical numbers alone if you can deal with the dated portrayal of Thai culture.

Home Media: Easily found in all formats.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime

Musical Documentaries - That's Dancing!

MGM, 1985

Hosted by Gene Kelly, Ray Bolger, Liza Minnelli, Sammy Davis Jr, and many others

Directed by Jack Haley Jr.

Music and Lyrics by various

When I was six, this used to appear with some frequency on cable. It gave me my first glimpse of Shirley Temple, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly, and ballet, and I was entranced. It's one of several older films and more recent musicals I saw as a child that helped make me the musical film fan I am today. How does this summation of the history of dance on the big screen look nowadays, with most of these films easily found on home media and no longer limited to cable showings and rare big-screen revivals? Let's start with a man who certainly knows something about dance on-screen, Gene Kelly, as he explains to us about primitive dance around the world, and find out...

The Story: Some of the most popular musical stars and dancers to ever appear on the big screen relate to us the history of dance via segments from movies made by MGM...and for once, other studios as well.

Kelly discusses the origins of filmed dance, dance on the silent screen, and how Busby Berkley's surreal choreography revolutionized chorus numbers on film.

Sammy Davis Jr. talks about solo and couple dance on film, via Fred Astaire, who insisted on the camera remaining on his full figure while he danced and his frequent partner Ginger Rogers. He also goes into Shirley Temple, whose mixed-race tap routines with Bill Robinson broke barriers in the 30's, Robinson's graceful style as a solo act in shorts, and solo stars Eleanor Powell and Ray Bolger and the amazing duo the Nicholas Brothers. 

Russian ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov gives us the history of ballet on film, from Anna Palova on the silent screen to major international ballet greats of the 60's and 70's Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, as well as screen ballerinas Vera Zorina and Moira Shearer. 

Liza Minelli discusses screen adaptations of classic Broadway dance routines, from James Cagney demonstrating what George M Cohan's style looked like in Yankee Doodle Dandy to the explosive "Cool" from the original 1961 West Side Story. 

Ray Bolger gives us the (then) future of dance on the screen, including the "What a Feeling!" finale of Flashdance and Michael Jackson's influential and much-parodied "Beat It" music video. 

The Song and Dance: If That's Dancing does one thing right, it's expanding its net to include a truly wide variety of dance...including acknowledging that dancers came from studios other than MGM. We get the Yankee Doodle Dandy and Busby Berkley footage from Warners, the Shirley Temple/Bill Robinson, Nicholas Brothers, and Rogers and Hammerstein dances from 20th Century Fox, Universal's release of Sweet Charity, Flashdance from Paramount, The Red Shoes from England, and the MTV Michael Jackson footage. We also get our first glimpse of cut songs in an incredible extension of Bolger's "If I Only Had a Brain" solo from The Wizard of Oz. They even wrote two original songs. It's also nice to see sequences from musicals made after the 50's as the hosts point out that dance on the screen continues to evolve. There's also the extremely rare footage of early silent dancers, some of it going far back as 1897. 

Favorite Number: As mentioned, we begin with footage, some of it rare, of primitive dances from around the globe, from African tribal ritual to native dances in Mexico and China. Of the Busby Berkley routines shown here, none continue to amaze more than the Oscar-winning "Lullaby of Broadway" from Gold Diggers of 1935, with its thousands of tap dancers who all manage to move in perfect unison. 

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers have a lot more fun with two of their best routines, the romantic "Night and Day" from The Gay Divorcee and comic "Pick Yourself Up" from Swing Time. A decidedly different duo, Shirley Temple and Bill Robison, show off their "Organ Grinder's Swing" from The Littlest Rebel. Robison goes it alone and shows off his light-as-air footwork in two numbers from the short King for a Day. A very young Sammy Davis Jr. gets in on his own short, Rufus Jones for President, and gives us a delightful and adorable tap routine. Fred goes it solo as well with "I Won't Dance" from Roberta and later, "A Shine On Your Shoes," making brilliant use of an arcade on Broadway in The Band Wagon. Eleanor Powell manages to combine tap and graceful hula and make it work in the peculiar "Hola E Pae" from Honolulu. 

Vera Zorina demonstrates grace of a different sort with Charles Laskey in "La Princesse Zenobia Ballet" from On Your Toes. Delicate Moira Shearer is haunted by her scarlet footwear, which stands out like a beacon in the sherbet tones of The Red Shoes. Ray Bolger does death-defying leaps after crows (with the help of MGM's special effects department) in a delightful extension of his "If I Only Had a Brain" from The Wizard of Oz. 

Astaire this time joins an unusually tough Jane Powell for the colorful tropical chorus routine "I Left My Hat In Hati" from Royal Wedding. Anne Miller joins Bob Fosse, Bobby Van, and the late Tommy Rall for their big tap number "Tom Dick and Harry" from Kiss Me Kate. We get a glimpse at a more spontaneous chorus routine with the teens dancing in the streets and stopping traffic to the tune of the Oscar-winning title song from Fame. The dancers of the original West Side Story show why they're still "Cool" with their stylized, finger-snapping dance moves. "Cool" inspired much of Michael Jackson's "Beat It"; song and video were smash hits in 1983, and we get to see why here, with their equally dramatic moves. We also get Kim Carnes' pop song "Invitation to Dance" over the end credits. 

Trivia: The use of the rare Ray Bolger/Wizard of Oz footage was so well-received, it inspired MGM to dig in its vaults for more deleted numbers to use in That's Entertainment III a decade later. 

Final film appearance of Ray Bolger. 

Bolger and Minnelli's sequences were to have been much longer and feature more numbers from other studios, but many were dropped in the interest of time and expense, as was the sequence with Fred and Ginger. Which brings me to...

What I Don't Like: It's pretty obvious that MGM chopped this up since before release. There's even less rhyme and reason to this than there is to the Kelly and Astaire-hosted That's Entertainment Part 2. Liza Minnelli's segment from Cabaret was dropped, leaving her as the only host without a dance routine in the film and making many audiences wonder what she's doing there. Many of the MGM numbers seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel after three films and makes you really wish the other studios had cooperated more. 

There's problems with the other hosts, too. Their narration is just as stiff as the first That's Entertainment film, and mostly of interest to real dance aficionados. Casual audiences will likely be bored and wish they'd get out of the way and let the footage speak for itself. Baryshnikov in particular lacks the charm and intensity he usually shows when dancing. (And he's not helped by his thick Russian accent.) The five hosts often seem spread too thin as well, with Davis Jr. and Kelly covering more than half the film. 

Let's talk about that final "modern" segment. Breakdancing was a huge fad in 1985, but it's barely remembered today by anyone but fans of 80's dance. I understand they wanted to convey the evolution of dance, from primitive times to modern times, but the emphasis on 80's fads like breakdancing and music videos dates this in a way the That's Entertainment films, with their use of mostly older footage, manages to avoid. 

The Big Finale: Mainly of interest to fans of dance on the screen, dance history, or the That's Entertainment documentary series. 

Home Media: Finally got its first solo release on Warner Archive DVD in October 2020; can be found easily for streaming as well. 

DVD

Amazon Prime