Disney, 1992
Starring Michael Caine; Voices of Brian Henson, Dave Golez, and Frank Oz
Directed by Brian Henson
Music and Lyrics by Paul Williams
This was the first Muppet film made after the death of Jim Henson in 1989; Richard Hunt, the long-time voice of Scooter and Janice, had also passed away in the interim. No one was sure whether to go forward with it. It was only did mildly well during December 1992 (competitors that holiday season included Home Alone 2 and Aladdin), but has since become popular with families and fans of both the Muppets and A Christmas Carol. Let's once again head to Victorian London, this time populated by more than a few unusual creatures, to see how well this version holds up now...
The Story: Once again, we have Ebeneezer Scrooge (Caine) throwing around evictions like they're water on Christmas Eve. His staff includes several rats and Bob Cratchit (Kermit the Frog), who can't talk Scrooge into more coal, but do manage to get him to give them Christmas off. A blue furry Charles Dickens (Gonzo) and his rat buddy Rizzo follow Scrooge as he returns home, where he first encounters his former partners Jacob and Robert Marley (Statler and Waldorf). They're laden with chains and cash boxes from their years of greed, and tell him that three ghosts will haunt him that night to help him avoid their fate. Dickens and his rodent friend follow Scrooge through his sad past and a happier present...but even they won't venture into a spooky Christmas Yet to Come. Scrooge finally realizes just how important friendship and family is, whether your friends are human or felt.
The Song and Dance: Michael Caine makes a fine Scrooge here. He works well with the Muppets, never looking down on them or seeing them as anything less than real. Gonzo and Rizzo are hilarious as the story's narrators and have most of the movie's best lines. The running gag with Rizzo and food is cute, especially in the beginning, when he and Gonzo have to jump a fence, and then he goes back for his jelly beans. Piggy makes a perfect Mrs. Cratchit, too. Her piglets Belinda and Bettina are just too adorable - like mother, like daughters!
I've always loved the mix of CGI and practical effects in this one. The Ghost of Christmas Past still looks incredible. In fact, I think it's one of, if not my favorite version of the first ghost. In the book, Dickens describes the Ghost of Christmas Past as a changing, flowing, timeless being of light, and that certainly describes the ethereal creature they came up with. Even today, it's still quite impressive. The Marley Brothers are the appropriate mix of goofy and menacing, as are the spiders who stand in as the scavengers in the Future segment. The London sets and Muppets on the streets are appropriately grungy and dirty for the time period, and the costumes, on felt and humans alike, are spot-on as well.
Favorite Number: Kermit's best moment is the sweet "One More Sleep 'Til Christmas," first as he and the rats close the counting house, then as he heads home. He, Robin, and the Cratchit family also get to sing the lovely "Bless Us All." The Ghost of Christmas Present leads my favorite song from this film, the boisterous "It Feels Like Christmas," as he leads Scrooge through a London that's alive with good will and some fun dancing.
What I Don't Like: I own the DVD release with the extended fullscreen version, and that's the one that was released on video as well. I have no idea why the bosses at Disney cut the solo ballad for Scrooge's fiancee "When Love Is Gone." They claimed it was too slow for kids, but it didn't bother me in 1992, and it doesn't now. If anything, it gives more meat to a scene that seems too rushed without it, not to mention the song is heard again in the finale.
In fact, I kind of wish they'd done more with the past sequence. Both Scrooge's back story as a neglected child and his relationship with Belle are given short shrift, probably because they couldn't find room for Muppets in them.
The Big Finale: Even in it's cut general release version, this is still a charming musical Christmas Carol that the whole family can enjoy. If you have young kids who aren't up to darker retellings of this story or are a big Muppet fan, this is one of the better Muppet movies and is highly recommended.
Home Media: As one of the most popular Muppet movies and a holiday favorite of many, this is easily found in most formats, both disc and streaming.
DVD
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime
Reviews of musical films, from 1930s black and white to widescreen 21st century extravaganzas.
Saturday, December 15, 2018
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Musicals on TV - Babes In Toyland (1986)
Orion Television/NBC, 1986
Starring Drew Barrymore, Keanu Reeves, Jill Schoelen, and Richard Mulligan
Directed by Clive Donner
Music and Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse
And now, we go back a bit to give you NBC's big holiday offering for 1986. It made decent enough ratings then, but wasn't well-received, despite getting a theatrical release in Europe. Is this worth the sled trip to Toyland? Let's head to a snowy Cincinatti, Ohio to find out...
The Story: Lisa Piper (Barrymore) is an 11-year-old girl living in Cincinatti with her older sister Mary (Schoelen), her younger brother, and her harried single mother (Eileen Brennan). Lisa is used to being her mother's helper, which makes her feel quite adult. She takes it on herself to warn Mary and her guy friends Jack (Reeves) and George (Googy Gress) about a snowstorm on Christmas Eve, dashing to the toy store where they work. The store's sleazy owner Barney (Mulligan) wishes she'd go away, but she does manage to help her sister and the guys evacuate the building. They're on their way home in the thick of the blizzard when Lisa slides out on the new sled Mary gave her and hits a tree.
She awakens in Toyland, a magical world where teddy bears are cops and everyone rides around in cute, colorful little cars like something out of an amusement park. What she finds isn't as amusing. The evil Barnaby (Mulligan) is about to wed pretty young Mary Quite Contrary (Schoelen), who is trying to save her family from being evicted. Mary really loves Jack Be Nimble (Reeves). Lisa immediately stops the wedding, earning Barnaby's ire and that of Mary's dithery mother Mrs. Hubbard (Brennan).
Barnaby first accuses Jack of stealing cookies from his cookie factory and has him arrested. Lisa and Georgie Porgie (Gress) break Jack out, but Barnaby has another plot. He wants a Jar of Evil that the kindly Toymaker (Pat Moriata) has been collecting. He thinks that jar will give him enough power to take over Toyland and eliminate toys from the world! Lisa and her friends do their best to stop him...but in the end, it's up to Lisa to remember that one of the greatest weapons we can have is the ability to see the world through the eyes of a child.
The Song and Dance: There's some really cute ideas here. I love details like Barnaby's vulture-things with an eye that helps him keep track of his enemies and Mrs. Hubbard carrying around a list to remember every single thing she says or does. Lisa's attempts to play matchmaker to the two mid-way through are pretty funny, as is how they manage to break Jack out of jail. Barrymore does fairly well as the child who refuses to believe that she's still young; Mulligan's having a fine time chewing the scenery to atoms, both as the scuzzball toy store owner and the old-fashioned silent movie-style villain.
Favorite Number: The children's chorus song "May We Wish You the Happiest Christmas," performed as Lisa is making her way to the toy store in the opening, is reworked later in Toyland as a wedding song for Barnaby and Mary with almost the exact same lyrics. Not only is that a nice touch, but it perfectly emphasizes the Wizard of Oz-like feel the story is going for. Mulligan can't sing, but he throws himself into his big number "A World Without Toys" anyway.
Trivia: The version of this that I own (and that was released on video in 1991) is the shortened European theatrical version. The original TV broadcast included longer versions of some scenes and more numbers, including a duet for Mary and Jack when the latter is in jail.
What I Don't Like: Mulligan and Brennan are the only ones who seem to have any real grasp of the material. Keanu Reeves in particular does not belong here, and Schoelen is only slightly better. They both work better in the opening sequence at the toy store than in Toyland and have no chemistry whatsoever. Other than the joke with the "Happiest Christmas/Wedding" song, most of the music is bland and very far from Bricusse's best work. The only person in the cast who can actually sing - Brennan - doesn't. The dialogue is corny and forced, and the bored readings of many lines doesn't help.
The production looks incredibly cheap. The amusement park cars are more silly than whimsical, and the full-body costumes for the animal characters and toy soldiers were probably pulled off the rack from the nearest party store. The villainous characters are a little better. The designs of the trollogs (Barnaby's vulture-like minions), the trolls, and his mooks Mack and Zack are actually pretty scary. I just wish you could actually see them. Barnaby is supposed to live in a dark bowling ball in an evil forest, but the lighting is so dim, you can't really tell what's going on in those scenes.
The Big Finale: This is kind of a guilty pleasure of mine, and has been since it ran occasionally on the 25 Days of Christmas marathon on Fox Family Channel (now Freeform) in the early 2000's. I can't in all good faith recommend it to those who haven't built up an immunity to cheese or didn't grow up watching those Fox Family broadcasts. Unless you're a really huge fan of the cast or love campy or so-bad-they're (slightly) good movies, you'll want to give this one a pass.
Home Media: That 1991 video was sold at McDonald's as part of a big holiday VHS promotion in 1992. It's out of print, but still fairly easy to find. (I dubbed my copy off one of them.) To my knowledge, this has never been released on DVD or Blu-Ray in the US. It is free for downloading on Amazon Prime, and the original full TV version can be found on YouTube.
VHS
Amazon Prime
Babes In Toyland - The Director's Cut (YouTube)
Starring Drew Barrymore, Keanu Reeves, Jill Schoelen, and Richard Mulligan
Directed by Clive Donner
Music and Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse
And now, we go back a bit to give you NBC's big holiday offering for 1986. It made decent enough ratings then, but wasn't well-received, despite getting a theatrical release in Europe. Is this worth the sled trip to Toyland? Let's head to a snowy Cincinatti, Ohio to find out...
The Story: Lisa Piper (Barrymore) is an 11-year-old girl living in Cincinatti with her older sister Mary (Schoelen), her younger brother, and her harried single mother (Eileen Brennan). Lisa is used to being her mother's helper, which makes her feel quite adult. She takes it on herself to warn Mary and her guy friends Jack (Reeves) and George (Googy Gress) about a snowstorm on Christmas Eve, dashing to the toy store where they work. The store's sleazy owner Barney (Mulligan) wishes she'd go away, but she does manage to help her sister and the guys evacuate the building. They're on their way home in the thick of the blizzard when Lisa slides out on the new sled Mary gave her and hits a tree.
She awakens in Toyland, a magical world where teddy bears are cops and everyone rides around in cute, colorful little cars like something out of an amusement park. What she finds isn't as amusing. The evil Barnaby (Mulligan) is about to wed pretty young Mary Quite Contrary (Schoelen), who is trying to save her family from being evicted. Mary really loves Jack Be Nimble (Reeves). Lisa immediately stops the wedding, earning Barnaby's ire and that of Mary's dithery mother Mrs. Hubbard (Brennan).
Barnaby first accuses Jack of stealing cookies from his cookie factory and has him arrested. Lisa and Georgie Porgie (Gress) break Jack out, but Barnaby has another plot. He wants a Jar of Evil that the kindly Toymaker (Pat Moriata) has been collecting. He thinks that jar will give him enough power to take over Toyland and eliminate toys from the world! Lisa and her friends do their best to stop him...but in the end, it's up to Lisa to remember that one of the greatest weapons we can have is the ability to see the world through the eyes of a child.
The Song and Dance: There's some really cute ideas here. I love details like Barnaby's vulture-things with an eye that helps him keep track of his enemies and Mrs. Hubbard carrying around a list to remember every single thing she says or does. Lisa's attempts to play matchmaker to the two mid-way through are pretty funny, as is how they manage to break Jack out of jail. Barrymore does fairly well as the child who refuses to believe that she's still young; Mulligan's having a fine time chewing the scenery to atoms, both as the scuzzball toy store owner and the old-fashioned silent movie-style villain.
Favorite Number: The children's chorus song "May We Wish You the Happiest Christmas," performed as Lisa is making her way to the toy store in the opening, is reworked later in Toyland as a wedding song for Barnaby and Mary with almost the exact same lyrics. Not only is that a nice touch, but it perfectly emphasizes the Wizard of Oz-like feel the story is going for. Mulligan can't sing, but he throws himself into his big number "A World Without Toys" anyway.
Trivia: The version of this that I own (and that was released on video in 1991) is the shortened European theatrical version. The original TV broadcast included longer versions of some scenes and more numbers, including a duet for Mary and Jack when the latter is in jail.
What I Don't Like: Mulligan and Brennan are the only ones who seem to have any real grasp of the material. Keanu Reeves in particular does not belong here, and Schoelen is only slightly better. They both work better in the opening sequence at the toy store than in Toyland and have no chemistry whatsoever. Other than the joke with the "Happiest Christmas/Wedding" song, most of the music is bland and very far from Bricusse's best work. The only person in the cast who can actually sing - Brennan - doesn't. The dialogue is corny and forced, and the bored readings of many lines doesn't help.
The production looks incredibly cheap. The amusement park cars are more silly than whimsical, and the full-body costumes for the animal characters and toy soldiers were probably pulled off the rack from the nearest party store. The villainous characters are a little better. The designs of the trollogs (Barnaby's vulture-like minions), the trolls, and his mooks Mack and Zack are actually pretty scary. I just wish you could actually see them. Barnaby is supposed to live in a dark bowling ball in an evil forest, but the lighting is so dim, you can't really tell what's going on in those scenes.
The Big Finale: This is kind of a guilty pleasure of mine, and has been since it ran occasionally on the 25 Days of Christmas marathon on Fox Family Channel (now Freeform) in the early 2000's. I can't in all good faith recommend it to those who haven't built up an immunity to cheese or didn't grow up watching those Fox Family broadcasts. Unless you're a really huge fan of the cast or love campy or so-bad-they're (slightly) good movies, you'll want to give this one a pass.
Home Media: That 1991 video was sold at McDonald's as part of a big holiday VHS promotion in 1992. It's out of print, but still fairly easy to find. (I dubbed my copy off one of them.) To my knowledge, this has never been released on DVD or Blu-Ray in the US. It is free for downloading on Amazon Prime, and the original full TV version can be found on YouTube.
VHS
Amazon Prime
Babes In Toyland - The Director's Cut (YouTube)
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
Musicals on TV - A Christmas Carol: The Musical
Hallmark Entertainment/NBC, 2004
Starring Kelsey Grammer, Jane Krakowski, Edward Gower, and Jesse L. Martin
Directed by Arthur Allen Sederman
Music by Alan Menken; Lyrics by Lynn Aherns
The early years of television coincided with the Golden Age of Stage Musicals in the 1950's and 60's. Barely a year went by between roughly 1950 and 1969 without at least one new musical appearing on TV, either a live adaptation of a Broadway show, or more rarely, an original work. While this died down by the early 70's, musicals began to turn up more frequently again about a decade ago. This one was adapted from a long-running mid-90's hit that ran at the theater at Madison Square Garden in midtown New York and made into NBC's big holiday event for 2004. Let's head to the London Exchange to see how Scrooge is getting on...and how different this retelling is from other versions of this story...
The Story: Ebeneezer Scrooge (Grammer) is the most miserly man in London. He refuses to help a poor family, only grudgingly gives his clerk Bob Cratchit (Gower) Christmas Day off, and tells his nephew Fred (Julian Ovenden) that he will not dine with him on Christmas. He doesn't want anything to do with the holiday, charity, or people. A female lamplighter, a barker for a pantomime, and a beggar woman all warn Scrooge that he needs to change his ways. He doesn't consider it...until the ghost of his late partner Jacob Marley (Jason Alexander) turns up with a group of ghouls who insist that Scrooge will become one of them if he doesn't change soon.
The Ghost of Christmas Past (Krakowski) arrives first, showing Scrooge his troubled days as a poor youth whose father was arrested for his debts. He insists that his son make a fortune and hang onto it. Scrooge finally makes his way to old Fezziwig's (Brian Bedford) bank, where he falls in love with the beautiful Emily (Jennifer Love Hewitt). After the death of his mother, and then his sister, he throws himself into his lending business...at the expense of his relationships. He buys Fezziwig out and loses Emily, and then Marley when he dies at the office.
The boisterous Ghost of Christmas Present (Martin) has a happier vision for Scrooge. He takes him to see his nephew Fred's party and the Cratchit family's tender and happy meal. Scrooge is especially taken by their small cripped son Tim (Jacob Collier). He's shocked when the ethereal Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (Geraldine Chaplin) shows him a future that's less than pleasant - if he doesn't reform, he'll die, unmourned and unloved. But perhaps there's hope for Scrooge after all..
The Song and Dance: I really like some of the ideas on display here. The Wizard of Oz-like use of the lamplighter, barker, and beggar to double as the ghosts and reveal Scrooge's feelings of guilt actually works pretty well with the story. Jesse L. Martin has a blast as the Ghost of Christmas Present, and Gower and Linzi Hateley are lovely as the Cratchit parents. I also like that they work in some details that other family-oriented adaptations leave out, like the ragged Want and Ignorance children under the Ghost of Christmas Present's cloak, the ghouls appearing with Marley, and the emphasis on Scrooge's sister.
Favorite Number: The Cratchit family gets two good ones. Tim and Bob sing the charming "You Mean More to Me" as they shop for Christmas dinner, and the family sings "Christmas Together" when they're having their much-anticipated meal. The best of the chorus numbers is the well-choreographed "Mr. Fezziwig's Annual Christmas Ball," with it's leaping dancers and whirling couples.
What I Didn't Like: First of all, other than the songs I just mentioned, the score just isn't that memorable. The opening chorus number "Jolly Good Time" is especially bland. "Abundance and Charity," with Martin and the Rockettes, is basically there to give the dancers something to do. Marley's "Link By Link" is actually pretty good...until we get to the dancing ghouls, with rattling chains and rolling heads. They look like six dancing Beetlejuices. What was wrong with the book version, with Scrooge staring out the window and seeing wandering ghosts?
For that matter, what was wrong with the book version of Scrooge's past? Scrooge being a child neglected by his father because his mother died giving birth to him suits the story far better. It feels like they gave Scrooge Charles Dickens' real-life back story instead, and it's just too much. And I know Jane Krakowski is quite attractive, but did her number really need to involve pole dancing around Scrooge's bed, and what was with the skimpy costume? She didn't look like a Ghost. She looked like she got lost on the way to Las Vegas.
The Future segment is even more off. It feels rushed, like they just wanted to get the whole thing out of the way in three numbers or less. Geraldine Chapman looks more like the book Ghost of Christmas Past than Future. (Admittedly, Grammer, who pretty much sleepwalks through this movie, does seem to wake up for this segment; his performance of "Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Today" is truly impassioned and is by far his best moment.)
The Big Finale: Might make nice background music while working on your Christmas cookies if it's on TV or online, and it's not bad for fans of Grammer or the songwriters. Otherwise, it's nothing you need to go out of your way to see.
Home Media: It's currently out-of-print on disc; your best bet is likely digging it up on cable or on streaming services like Amazon Prime (where it's free with the service).
DVD
Amazon Prime
Starring Kelsey Grammer, Jane Krakowski, Edward Gower, and Jesse L. Martin
Directed by Arthur Allen Sederman
Music by Alan Menken; Lyrics by Lynn Aherns
The early years of television coincided with the Golden Age of Stage Musicals in the 1950's and 60's. Barely a year went by between roughly 1950 and 1969 without at least one new musical appearing on TV, either a live adaptation of a Broadway show, or more rarely, an original work. While this died down by the early 70's, musicals began to turn up more frequently again about a decade ago. This one was adapted from a long-running mid-90's hit that ran at the theater at Madison Square Garden in midtown New York and made into NBC's big holiday event for 2004. Let's head to the London Exchange to see how Scrooge is getting on...and how different this retelling is from other versions of this story...
The Story: Ebeneezer Scrooge (Grammer) is the most miserly man in London. He refuses to help a poor family, only grudgingly gives his clerk Bob Cratchit (Gower) Christmas Day off, and tells his nephew Fred (Julian Ovenden) that he will not dine with him on Christmas. He doesn't want anything to do with the holiday, charity, or people. A female lamplighter, a barker for a pantomime, and a beggar woman all warn Scrooge that he needs to change his ways. He doesn't consider it...until the ghost of his late partner Jacob Marley (Jason Alexander) turns up with a group of ghouls who insist that Scrooge will become one of them if he doesn't change soon.
The Ghost of Christmas Past (Krakowski) arrives first, showing Scrooge his troubled days as a poor youth whose father was arrested for his debts. He insists that his son make a fortune and hang onto it. Scrooge finally makes his way to old Fezziwig's (Brian Bedford) bank, where he falls in love with the beautiful Emily (Jennifer Love Hewitt). After the death of his mother, and then his sister, he throws himself into his lending business...at the expense of his relationships. He buys Fezziwig out and loses Emily, and then Marley when he dies at the office.
The boisterous Ghost of Christmas Present (Martin) has a happier vision for Scrooge. He takes him to see his nephew Fred's party and the Cratchit family's tender and happy meal. Scrooge is especially taken by their small cripped son Tim (Jacob Collier). He's shocked when the ethereal Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (Geraldine Chaplin) shows him a future that's less than pleasant - if he doesn't reform, he'll die, unmourned and unloved. But perhaps there's hope for Scrooge after all..
The Song and Dance: I really like some of the ideas on display here. The Wizard of Oz-like use of the lamplighter, barker, and beggar to double as the ghosts and reveal Scrooge's feelings of guilt actually works pretty well with the story. Jesse L. Martin has a blast as the Ghost of Christmas Present, and Gower and Linzi Hateley are lovely as the Cratchit parents. I also like that they work in some details that other family-oriented adaptations leave out, like the ragged Want and Ignorance children under the Ghost of Christmas Present's cloak, the ghouls appearing with Marley, and the emphasis on Scrooge's sister.
Favorite Number: The Cratchit family gets two good ones. Tim and Bob sing the charming "You Mean More to Me" as they shop for Christmas dinner, and the family sings "Christmas Together" when they're having their much-anticipated meal. The best of the chorus numbers is the well-choreographed "Mr. Fezziwig's Annual Christmas Ball," with it's leaping dancers and whirling couples.
What I Didn't Like: First of all, other than the songs I just mentioned, the score just isn't that memorable. The opening chorus number "Jolly Good Time" is especially bland. "Abundance and Charity," with Martin and the Rockettes, is basically there to give the dancers something to do. Marley's "Link By Link" is actually pretty good...until we get to the dancing ghouls, with rattling chains and rolling heads. They look like six dancing Beetlejuices. What was wrong with the book version, with Scrooge staring out the window and seeing wandering ghosts?
For that matter, what was wrong with the book version of Scrooge's past? Scrooge being a child neglected by his father because his mother died giving birth to him suits the story far better. It feels like they gave Scrooge Charles Dickens' real-life back story instead, and it's just too much. And I know Jane Krakowski is quite attractive, but did her number really need to involve pole dancing around Scrooge's bed, and what was with the skimpy costume? She didn't look like a Ghost. She looked like she got lost on the way to Las Vegas.
The Future segment is even more off. It feels rushed, like they just wanted to get the whole thing out of the way in three numbers or less. Geraldine Chapman looks more like the book Ghost of Christmas Past than Future. (Admittedly, Grammer, who pretty much sleepwalks through this movie, does seem to wake up for this segment; his performance of "Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Today" is truly impassioned and is by far his best moment.)
The Big Finale: Might make nice background music while working on your Christmas cookies if it's on TV or online, and it's not bad for fans of Grammer or the songwriters. Otherwise, it's nothing you need to go out of your way to see.
Home Media: It's currently out-of-print on disc; your best bet is likely digging it up on cable or on streaming services like Amazon Prime (where it's free with the service).
DVD
Amazon Prime
Saturday, December 8, 2018
Animation Celebration Double Feature: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer & Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town
We're going to kick off the Christmas season with a look at two of the most beloved holiday specials ever made made. Starting out as Videocraft in the 1960's, Rankin-Bass eventually churned out 18 Christmas specials between 1964 and 2001 (as well as three Easter specials, a Thanksgiving special, a New Year's special, and one that was centered more around winter in general). Rudolph was their first holiday stop-motion show in 1964, and one of the earliest frequently-repeated animated Christmas specials. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town came out in 1970, just as the Rankin-Bass studio was really starting to pick up in popularity. Let's head to the North Pole to learn about the stories of these two favorite gift-givers and see if these specials really do "go down in history"...
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Rankin-Bass (Videocraft), 1964
Voices of Billie Mae Richards, Burl Ives, Paul Soles, and Larry D. Mann
Directed by Larry Roemer and Kigo Nagashima
Music and Lyrics by Johnny Marks
The Story: Sam the Snowman (Ives) narrates this holiday tale. Rudolph (Richards) is the son of one of Santa's (Stan Francis) reindeer, Donner (Paul Kligman), and his mate (Peg Dixon). He's adorable and smart, but right from the start, he has one big problem - his nose glows bright red. Embarrassed, his father first hopes he grows out of it, then covers it. That doesn't stop all of the other reindeer at the North Pole from making fun of him when it's found out. The only reindeer who doesn't is a kindly doe named Clarice (Janis Orenstein). She thinks he's cute, but her father doesn't want her hanging around with him. Understandably upset, Rudolph runs away.
He's not the only one having problems with the rampant conformity at the Pole. Hermie (Soles) is an elf who would rather be a dentist, but apparently career changes are frowned on for elves. He encounters Rudolph after taking off as well, and they decide to travel together. They're eventually joined by boisterous prospector Yukon Cornelius (Mann) After dodging the Bumble Snow Monster, they find themselves on the Island of Misfit Toys, where toys with defects or who are unwanted by children are sent. The head of the island, King Moonracer (Francis), asks for them to encourage Santa to take their toys on the sleigh. Rudolph is more worried about his nose giving them away and takes off. Everyone else goes after him, including the Bumble Monster. They do manage to rescue him and his parents...right before a major storm hits...
The Animation: This was revolutionary for 1964, and still looks pretty good, even for today. The pastel colors and adorable designs give it the look of a frosty fairy tale, or a mid-20th-century Christmas card...and makes Rudy's red nose stand out even more. Rudolph and Clarice are so huggable, you wonder how anyone could possibly not want play reindeer games with them, red nose or not. Love the more menacing or majestic designs like the Bumble and King Moonracer, too.
The Song and Dance: For the most part, this one remains charming and really cute. What I like about this one are the unique characters. There's no one like Yukon Cornelius anywhere else in animation, or Hermie, for that matter. King Moonracer, for all his limited screen time, is just plain cool. Rudolph is a darling, and god bless Clarice for loving him for what he is! The Bumble somehow manages to be menacing and oddly funny at the same time, with his wide ice-blue mouth and furry yeti-like body. And just you don't often see an elf who wants to be a dentist.
Favorite Number: As someone who has felt out-of-place her entire life, "We're a Couple of Misfits" hits closer to home for me than it probably should. Clarice's "There's Always Tomorrow" is a really sweet ballad, and gets a nice number too, with the animals in the forest all trying to help cheer Rudy up after the incident at the reindeer games. The standards here, along with the title song, are Sam's "Silver and Gold" as he describes why those colors are so important to Christmas (and Cornelius), the misfit toys' "The Most Wonderful Day of the Year," and the big number for Ives and the chorus in the finale, "Holly Jolly Christmas."
Trivia: There's almost been more replacements, changes, and additions to Rudolph than to the Star Wars Original Trilogy. The "Misfits" duet was replaced from the mid-70's to the late-90's by a similar song called "Fame and Fortune." There was also a scene with Yukon Cornelius finding a peppermint mine in the finale. "Misfits" was restored to the special in 1993; "Fame and Fortune" is now it's own number. (The peppermint mine sequence remains missing on most edits.)
What I Don't Like: Some of the attitudes here, especially towards women and people with disabilities, can seem more than a little harsh to modern ears in the first half. Donner in particular comes off as nasty to his own young son, and even Santa has his jerk-ish moments. "Silver and Gold" is a lovely song, but it really has nothing to do with the story and seems to be there as filler and to give Ives a slower number.
The Big Finale: While some aspects of the story haven't dated well, for the most part, this remains quite charming, with memorable characters and colorful animation.
Home Media: Though CBS continues to run Rudolph annually, they cut out parts of the numbers to fit in commercials. You're probably better off picking it up on discs or online. It can also be found as part of a collection with 6 other Rankin-Bass specials owned by Dreamworks/Universal, including Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (see below).
DVD
Blu-Ray
DVD - The Original Christmas Classics set
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town
Rankin-Bass, 1970
Voices of Mickey Rooney, Paul Frees, Fred Astaire, and Keenan Wynn
Directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass
Music by Maury Laws; Lyrics by Jules Bass
The Story: A group of elves lead by Tante Kringle (Joan Gardner) who live just beyond the Mountains of the Whispering Winds adopt an orphan they name Kris Kringle. When Kris (Rooney) grows to adulthood, he insists on taking the toys they create into Sombertown, over the mountains. There's two problems with that. First of all, the mountain is guarded by the cranky ice sorcerer the Winter Warlock (Wynn), who doesn't like people invading his turf. Second, the even crankier Burgomeister Meister Burger (Frees) has just outlawed toys in Sombertown. With the help of the kids in the town, a wayward penguin named Topper (Frees), and the lovely schoolteacher Jessica (Robie Lester), Kris manages to create a legend that will outlive the Burgomeister's strict laws and reform the Winter Warlock.
The Animation: A bit more colorful, as appropriate for a story about Santa Claus. The pastels have been replaced by bright reds and cool whites for the Mountains of the Whispering Woods and the gray dimness of Sombertown. I loved the sequence towards the end with Winter casting his magic over the Christmas trees - the backgrounds here are especially lovely.
The Song and Dance: Rooney's good humor and a defrosting Wynn liven up this unusual story. Once again, I give them credit for trying something different. I never would have thought of the origins of Santa Claus done as a Robin Hood-style folk tale, with Kris defying the Burgomeister's increasingly harsh rules to make children happy. I also like Lester as Jessica, who scolds Kris for giving out toys at first, before becoming the first person he defrosts with a toy.
Favorite Number: My favorite song from this one is Kris and the Winter Warlock's cheerful "Put One Foot In Front of the Other," as Kris encourages Winter to change his grumpy outlook on life. The elves explain why they make toys and what they'd once been in "The First Toymakers to the King." Astaire, as post officer narrator S.D Kluger, gets to sing the lovely "What Better Way to Tell You."
What I Don't Like: While ending with the Burgomeisters falling out of power is a fairly realistic touch, it also feels a bit dull and anti-climatic. I would have like to have seen more done with Jessica rescuing the others. In fact, we never do see how she actually gets them out of the dungeon! Yes, the reindeer can fly, but as Winter points out, they can't dissolve prison walls.
There's some really dark moments for this one, including sequences of the Burgomeister actually burning the kids' toys and Kris and the elves finding their destroyed home in the mountains. Jessica's big solo ballad "My World Is Beginning Today" is quite good, but it's accompanied by a rather odd series of psychedelic images that smack more of 1970 than vaguely late 1800's.
The Big Finale: Though not quite as beloved as Rudolph, it has enough of it's own charms to make it equally worth a look during the holidays.
Home Media: Same deal, only this one can currently be found on Amazon Prime along with on disc and streaming.
DVD
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Rankin-Bass (Videocraft), 1964
Voices of Billie Mae Richards, Burl Ives, Paul Soles, and Larry D. Mann
Directed by Larry Roemer and Kigo Nagashima
Music and Lyrics by Johnny Marks
The Story: Sam the Snowman (Ives) narrates this holiday tale. Rudolph (Richards) is the son of one of Santa's (Stan Francis) reindeer, Donner (Paul Kligman), and his mate (Peg Dixon). He's adorable and smart, but right from the start, he has one big problem - his nose glows bright red. Embarrassed, his father first hopes he grows out of it, then covers it. That doesn't stop all of the other reindeer at the North Pole from making fun of him when it's found out. The only reindeer who doesn't is a kindly doe named Clarice (Janis Orenstein). She thinks he's cute, but her father doesn't want her hanging around with him. Understandably upset, Rudolph runs away.
He's not the only one having problems with the rampant conformity at the Pole. Hermie (Soles) is an elf who would rather be a dentist, but apparently career changes are frowned on for elves. He encounters Rudolph after taking off as well, and they decide to travel together. They're eventually joined by boisterous prospector Yukon Cornelius (Mann) After dodging the Bumble Snow Monster, they find themselves on the Island of Misfit Toys, where toys with defects or who are unwanted by children are sent. The head of the island, King Moonracer (Francis), asks for them to encourage Santa to take their toys on the sleigh. Rudolph is more worried about his nose giving them away and takes off. Everyone else goes after him, including the Bumble Monster. They do manage to rescue him and his parents...right before a major storm hits...
The Animation: This was revolutionary for 1964, and still looks pretty good, even for today. The pastel colors and adorable designs give it the look of a frosty fairy tale, or a mid-20th-century Christmas card...and makes Rudy's red nose stand out even more. Rudolph and Clarice are so huggable, you wonder how anyone could possibly not want play reindeer games with them, red nose or not. Love the more menacing or majestic designs like the Bumble and King Moonracer, too.
The Song and Dance: For the most part, this one remains charming and really cute. What I like about this one are the unique characters. There's no one like Yukon Cornelius anywhere else in animation, or Hermie, for that matter. King Moonracer, for all his limited screen time, is just plain cool. Rudolph is a darling, and god bless Clarice for loving him for what he is! The Bumble somehow manages to be menacing and oddly funny at the same time, with his wide ice-blue mouth and furry yeti-like body. And just you don't often see an elf who wants to be a dentist.
Favorite Number: As someone who has felt out-of-place her entire life, "We're a Couple of Misfits" hits closer to home for me than it probably should. Clarice's "There's Always Tomorrow" is a really sweet ballad, and gets a nice number too, with the animals in the forest all trying to help cheer Rudy up after the incident at the reindeer games. The standards here, along with the title song, are Sam's "Silver and Gold" as he describes why those colors are so important to Christmas (and Cornelius), the misfit toys' "The Most Wonderful Day of the Year," and the big number for Ives and the chorus in the finale, "Holly Jolly Christmas."
Trivia: There's almost been more replacements, changes, and additions to Rudolph than to the Star Wars Original Trilogy. The "Misfits" duet was replaced from the mid-70's to the late-90's by a similar song called "Fame and Fortune." There was also a scene with Yukon Cornelius finding a peppermint mine in the finale. "Misfits" was restored to the special in 1993; "Fame and Fortune" is now it's own number. (The peppermint mine sequence remains missing on most edits.)
What I Don't Like: Some of the attitudes here, especially towards women and people with disabilities, can seem more than a little harsh to modern ears in the first half. Donner in particular comes off as nasty to his own young son, and even Santa has his jerk-ish moments. "Silver and Gold" is a lovely song, but it really has nothing to do with the story and seems to be there as filler and to give Ives a slower number.
The Big Finale: While some aspects of the story haven't dated well, for the most part, this remains quite charming, with memorable characters and colorful animation.
Home Media: Though CBS continues to run Rudolph annually, they cut out parts of the numbers to fit in commercials. You're probably better off picking it up on discs or online. It can also be found as part of a collection with 6 other Rankin-Bass specials owned by Dreamworks/Universal, including Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (see below).
DVD
Blu-Ray
DVD - The Original Christmas Classics set
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town
Rankin-Bass, 1970
Voices of Mickey Rooney, Paul Frees, Fred Astaire, and Keenan Wynn
Directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass
Music by Maury Laws; Lyrics by Jules Bass
The Story: A group of elves lead by Tante Kringle (Joan Gardner) who live just beyond the Mountains of the Whispering Winds adopt an orphan they name Kris Kringle. When Kris (Rooney) grows to adulthood, he insists on taking the toys they create into Sombertown, over the mountains. There's two problems with that. First of all, the mountain is guarded by the cranky ice sorcerer the Winter Warlock (Wynn), who doesn't like people invading his turf. Second, the even crankier Burgomeister Meister Burger (Frees) has just outlawed toys in Sombertown. With the help of the kids in the town, a wayward penguin named Topper (Frees), and the lovely schoolteacher Jessica (Robie Lester), Kris manages to create a legend that will outlive the Burgomeister's strict laws and reform the Winter Warlock.
The Animation: A bit more colorful, as appropriate for a story about Santa Claus. The pastels have been replaced by bright reds and cool whites for the Mountains of the Whispering Woods and the gray dimness of Sombertown. I loved the sequence towards the end with Winter casting his magic over the Christmas trees - the backgrounds here are especially lovely.
The Song and Dance: Rooney's good humor and a defrosting Wynn liven up this unusual story. Once again, I give them credit for trying something different. I never would have thought of the origins of Santa Claus done as a Robin Hood-style folk tale, with Kris defying the Burgomeister's increasingly harsh rules to make children happy. I also like Lester as Jessica, who scolds Kris for giving out toys at first, before becoming the first person he defrosts with a toy.
Favorite Number: My favorite song from this one is Kris and the Winter Warlock's cheerful "Put One Foot In Front of the Other," as Kris encourages Winter to change his grumpy outlook on life. The elves explain why they make toys and what they'd once been in "The First Toymakers to the King." Astaire, as post officer narrator S.D Kluger, gets to sing the lovely "What Better Way to Tell You."
What I Don't Like: While ending with the Burgomeisters falling out of power is a fairly realistic touch, it also feels a bit dull and anti-climatic. I would have like to have seen more done with Jessica rescuing the others. In fact, we never do see how she actually gets them out of the dungeon! Yes, the reindeer can fly, but as Winter points out, they can't dissolve prison walls.
There's some really dark moments for this one, including sequences of the Burgomeister actually burning the kids' toys and Kris and the elves finding their destroyed home in the mountains. Jessica's big solo ballad "My World Is Beginning Today" is quite good, but it's accompanied by a rather odd series of psychedelic images that smack more of 1970 than vaguely late 1800's.
The Big Finale: Though not quite as beloved as Rudolph, it has enough of it's own charms to make it equally worth a look during the holidays.
Home Media: Same deal, only this one can currently be found on Amazon Prime along with on disc and streaming.
DVD
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime
Thursday, December 6, 2018
I'll See You In My Dreams
Warner Bros, 1951
Starring Doris Day, Danny Thomas, Frank Lovejoy, and James Gleason
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Music by Walter Donaldson and others; Lyrics by Gus Kahn
If you've never heard of Gus Kahn, you're in good company. His name may not be as recognizable today as that of Jerome Kern, but you've probably at least hummed one of his songs once in your life. "It Had to Be You," "Carolina In the Morning," "Makin' Whoopie," and "Ain't We Got Fun" are among the famous songs he wrote the lyrics for. Let's see if this biography soars like so many of his most popular lyrics...
The Story: In the early 1910's, warehouse worker Gus Kahn (Thomas) brings his pile of songs and patriotic musicals to a song company to have considered for publication. He shoves them into the arms of one Grace LeBoy (Day), who promptly tells him to write less patriotism and more romance. He's angry at the criticism at first, but then goes over to her house in a tie and tells her and her parents that he's reconsidered. They create a partnership for a few years, but their publisher (Gleason) tells them that Grace isn't a good enough songwriter. He joins with composer Egbert Van Alstyne, writing the hits "Pretty Baby" and "Memories."
Grace keeps pushing the reluctant Gus into bigger and better things, even after they finally get married in 1916. She's plugging his latest hit when she's pregnant with their first child, a son. By the time she's having their second child, a daughter, she's pushed him into a big Ziegfeld show in New York and a partnership with perpetually drunk bachelor Walter Donaldson (Lovejoy). Grace is worried that he may be making a play for the show's star Gloria Knight (Patrice Wymore), but to Gloria's annoyance, he's only interested in his family.
The Depression wipes out the Kahn's savings and the style of upbeat tunes that Gus specialized in. Grace eventually convinces him to go to Hollywood, but while he does write music there, he's too temperamental to stick with one studio for very long. It takes a heart attack and the revival of film musicals in 1933 for Kahn to finally settle down and appreciate his wife and just how much his music has touched others.
The Song and Dance: Kahn died of a final heart attack in 1941, but Grace and his children were still alive, and their input makes this biography more honest than most. This is refreshingly domestic and small-scale compared to most musical film biographies, with it's emphasis on Grace and Gus' relationship and their home life with their children and their maid Anna (Mary Wickes). Anna's long and contemptuous relationship with Gus is the film's funniest running gag. Even the Chicago setting and the simple black and white cinematography marks this as something a little different.
Favorite Number: Day and Thomas are at their most charming in their duet of "Makin' Whoopee." Grace and Gus perform it on a train going back to Chicago. No backstage fuss, no melodrama, just two wonderful performers having fun together. Wymore gets the film's sole production number, "Love Me or Leave Me." Day also does a really touching version of the title song towards the end of the movie, when Grace is starting to worry about Gus and his health.
Trivia: Kahn's son Donald grew up to become a songwriter and musician in his own right. His most famous composition was the pop hit "A Beautiful Friendship."
What I Don't Like: This is absolutely not for people who like their musicals big, colorful, and bold. It's a small-scale story with songs mostly performed by the two leads and one major chorus number. The story itself is fairly cliche, hitting all the usual beats of a musician's rise and fall; while the family angle is an interesting twist, the plot itself is nothing you really haven't seen before, particularly in the angst-ridden second half.
Like most musical biographies of this time, once we get out of the early part of the 20th century, the costumes and sets stop reflecting the actual setting and start looking too modern. No one looks like they're dressed for the 20's and 30's during the segments set during those time periods. Once Gus' songs get popular, it looks like 1951 for the rest of the movie.
The Big Finale: If you're a fan of Day or Thomas or like your musicals on the smaller side, this charming tale of one of the most beloved lyracists of the early 20th century and his strong-willed wife is definitely worth a watch.
Home Media: This was one of Day's biggest hits (and was Warners' second-biggest hit of 1951) and can easily be found for streaming and on DVD via the Warner Archives.
DVD
Amazon Prime
Starring Doris Day, Danny Thomas, Frank Lovejoy, and James Gleason
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Music by Walter Donaldson and others; Lyrics by Gus Kahn
If you've never heard of Gus Kahn, you're in good company. His name may not be as recognizable today as that of Jerome Kern, but you've probably at least hummed one of his songs once in your life. "It Had to Be You," "Carolina In the Morning," "Makin' Whoopie," and "Ain't We Got Fun" are among the famous songs he wrote the lyrics for. Let's see if this biography soars like so many of his most popular lyrics...
The Story: In the early 1910's, warehouse worker Gus Kahn (Thomas) brings his pile of songs and patriotic musicals to a song company to have considered for publication. He shoves them into the arms of one Grace LeBoy (Day), who promptly tells him to write less patriotism and more romance. He's angry at the criticism at first, but then goes over to her house in a tie and tells her and her parents that he's reconsidered. They create a partnership for a few years, but their publisher (Gleason) tells them that Grace isn't a good enough songwriter. He joins with composer Egbert Van Alstyne, writing the hits "Pretty Baby" and "Memories."
Grace keeps pushing the reluctant Gus into bigger and better things, even after they finally get married in 1916. She's plugging his latest hit when she's pregnant with their first child, a son. By the time she's having their second child, a daughter, she's pushed him into a big Ziegfeld show in New York and a partnership with perpetually drunk bachelor Walter Donaldson (Lovejoy). Grace is worried that he may be making a play for the show's star Gloria Knight (Patrice Wymore), but to Gloria's annoyance, he's only interested in his family.
The Depression wipes out the Kahn's savings and the style of upbeat tunes that Gus specialized in. Grace eventually convinces him to go to Hollywood, but while he does write music there, he's too temperamental to stick with one studio for very long. It takes a heart attack and the revival of film musicals in 1933 for Kahn to finally settle down and appreciate his wife and just how much his music has touched others.
The Song and Dance: Kahn died of a final heart attack in 1941, but Grace and his children were still alive, and their input makes this biography more honest than most. This is refreshingly domestic and small-scale compared to most musical film biographies, with it's emphasis on Grace and Gus' relationship and their home life with their children and their maid Anna (Mary Wickes). Anna's long and contemptuous relationship with Gus is the film's funniest running gag. Even the Chicago setting and the simple black and white cinematography marks this as something a little different.
Favorite Number: Day and Thomas are at their most charming in their duet of "Makin' Whoopee." Grace and Gus perform it on a train going back to Chicago. No backstage fuss, no melodrama, just two wonderful performers having fun together. Wymore gets the film's sole production number, "Love Me or Leave Me." Day also does a really touching version of the title song towards the end of the movie, when Grace is starting to worry about Gus and his health.
Trivia: Kahn's son Donald grew up to become a songwriter and musician in his own right. His most famous composition was the pop hit "A Beautiful Friendship."
What I Don't Like: This is absolutely not for people who like their musicals big, colorful, and bold. It's a small-scale story with songs mostly performed by the two leads and one major chorus number. The story itself is fairly cliche, hitting all the usual beats of a musician's rise and fall; while the family angle is an interesting twist, the plot itself is nothing you really haven't seen before, particularly in the angst-ridden second half.
Like most musical biographies of this time, once we get out of the early part of the 20th century, the costumes and sets stop reflecting the actual setting and start looking too modern. No one looks like they're dressed for the 20's and 30's during the segments set during those time periods. Once Gus' songs get popular, it looks like 1951 for the rest of the movie.
The Big Finale: If you're a fan of Day or Thomas or like your musicals on the smaller side, this charming tale of one of the most beloved lyracists of the early 20th century and his strong-willed wife is definitely worth a watch.
Home Media: This was one of Day's biggest hits (and was Warners' second-biggest hit of 1951) and can easily be found for streaming and on DVD via the Warner Archives.
DVD
Amazon Prime
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Cult Flops - Mame
Warner Bros, 1974
Starring Lucille Ball, Robert Preston, Beatrice Arthur, and Jane Connell
Directed by Gene Saks
Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman
Auntie Mame - a fictional biography of a madcap society woman and her loving if bewildered nephew and staff - was a smash hit book by Patrick Dennis in 1955. It later became an equally popular play, and then a blockbuster movie with Rosalind Russell in 1958. The stage musical debuted in 1966, and with Angela Landsbury as Mame, was an even bigger hit. Mame's charmed life seemed to end there. Landsbury was passed over for the film version in favor of Lucille Ball, who was then at the tail end of her her celebrity as the biggest comedienne on television. When it finally debuted around Easter 1974, reviews were scathing and the film was a major flop. It didn't help that the brassy musical comedies that were big in the 60's had gone out of style by the mid-70's. What happened here? Let's head down to Beekman Place in New York City, where the party is just getting started, and find out...
The Story: For Mame Dennis (Ball), every day is an adventure. It's the Roaring 20's, and she's determined to roar right along with it, especially after she adopts her late brother's son Patrick (Kirby Furlong). She wants to show her "little love" and everyone around her, including Patrick's shy nanny Agnes (Connell), how to live life to the fullest. Trips to speakeasies and fire houses and schools where children run around naked may amuse Patrick, but it doesn't delight his conservative trustee, Mr. Babcock (John McGiver). Babcock has him taken away, just as the Depression hits.
Mame first gets a job in a "terribly modern operetta" starring her friend Vera Charles (Arthur), but she forgets her one line. She goes through a series of jobs, until she meets the handsome and charming southerner Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside (Preston) while working as a saleswoman in a department store. They end up getting married after she charms his family during a wild fox hunt. Beau dies in a skiing accident, leaving Mame back in the black but alone. She and Vera decide that Agnes is their next project, but she gets a little too into the "life is a banquet" thing and comes home pregnant. She's even less happy when a now-grown Patrick (Bruce Davidson) announces that he's going to marry a snotty college girl from Connecticut (Doria Cook-Nelson). Mame has to find someone more appropriate for Patrick while helping Agnes with her delicate condition, too.
The Song and Dance: Most of the complaints centered on Lucille Ball's performance, claiming she was miscast. I thought she was just fine, especially during comic set pieces like the roller skating sequence after she meets Beauregard and the wacky fox hunt. Arthur and Connell are even better repeating their Broadway roles, and Preston makes for an especially charming southern gentleman. The costumes are a lot of fun, from Mame's 20's lounging outfits to that stunning red gown with the massive fan trim she wears to her party for the Upsons in the late 1940's.
Favorite Number: "We Need a Little Christmas" is probably the best-known song from the show, and the number based after it is too adorable. Mame comes home from her sales clerk job and decides to cheer everyone up by celebrating early. (I love Agnes doubling as a tree covered in tinsel garlands.) Robert Preston gets a touching ballad Jerry Herman wrote expressively for the film, "Loving You," performed during the montage of Mame and Beau's decade-long honeymoon. Ball is hysterical flubbing her line in "The Man in the Moon."
Honestly, the movie is worth seeing just for Beatrice Arthur and Lucille Ball going at each other in the classic friends song "Bosom Buddies." They're just too funny in that number; their expressions at each bit of sarcasm is perfect.
What I Don't Like: Ball's singing voice was never terribly good, and while that works for chorus songs or in the comic "Bosom Buddies," her croaking does the dramatic ballad "If He Walked Into My Life" no favors. The soft-focus filters used to make Ball look younger just makes the film look out of focus at some points.
The Big Finale: I think the critics have been way too rough on this one for years, especially those who saw Landsbury in the stage show. If you love Lucy, the original book or movie, or big, bold musical comedy, you'll want to give Mame another chance at life, too.
Home Media: Ball's ongoing status as a major icon of comedy is probably the reason this one can be found on most formats; it was just released to Blu-Ray by the Warner Archives last week.
DVD
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime
Starring Lucille Ball, Robert Preston, Beatrice Arthur, and Jane Connell
Directed by Gene Saks
Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman
Auntie Mame - a fictional biography of a madcap society woman and her loving if bewildered nephew and staff - was a smash hit book by Patrick Dennis in 1955. It later became an equally popular play, and then a blockbuster movie with Rosalind Russell in 1958. The stage musical debuted in 1966, and with Angela Landsbury as Mame, was an even bigger hit. Mame's charmed life seemed to end there. Landsbury was passed over for the film version in favor of Lucille Ball, who was then at the tail end of her her celebrity as the biggest comedienne on television. When it finally debuted around Easter 1974, reviews were scathing and the film was a major flop. It didn't help that the brassy musical comedies that were big in the 60's had gone out of style by the mid-70's. What happened here? Let's head down to Beekman Place in New York City, where the party is just getting started, and find out...
The Story: For Mame Dennis (Ball), every day is an adventure. It's the Roaring 20's, and she's determined to roar right along with it, especially after she adopts her late brother's son Patrick (Kirby Furlong). She wants to show her "little love" and everyone around her, including Patrick's shy nanny Agnes (Connell), how to live life to the fullest. Trips to speakeasies and fire houses and schools where children run around naked may amuse Patrick, but it doesn't delight his conservative trustee, Mr. Babcock (John McGiver). Babcock has him taken away, just as the Depression hits.
Mame first gets a job in a "terribly modern operetta" starring her friend Vera Charles (Arthur), but she forgets her one line. She goes through a series of jobs, until she meets the handsome and charming southerner Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside (Preston) while working as a saleswoman in a department store. They end up getting married after she charms his family during a wild fox hunt. Beau dies in a skiing accident, leaving Mame back in the black but alone. She and Vera decide that Agnes is their next project, but she gets a little too into the "life is a banquet" thing and comes home pregnant. She's even less happy when a now-grown Patrick (Bruce Davidson) announces that he's going to marry a snotty college girl from Connecticut (Doria Cook-Nelson). Mame has to find someone more appropriate for Patrick while helping Agnes with her delicate condition, too.
The Song and Dance: Most of the complaints centered on Lucille Ball's performance, claiming she was miscast. I thought she was just fine, especially during comic set pieces like the roller skating sequence after she meets Beauregard and the wacky fox hunt. Arthur and Connell are even better repeating their Broadway roles, and Preston makes for an especially charming southern gentleman. The costumes are a lot of fun, from Mame's 20's lounging outfits to that stunning red gown with the massive fan trim she wears to her party for the Upsons in the late 1940's.
Favorite Number: "We Need a Little Christmas" is probably the best-known song from the show, and the number based after it is too adorable. Mame comes home from her sales clerk job and decides to cheer everyone up by celebrating early. (I love Agnes doubling as a tree covered in tinsel garlands.) Robert Preston gets a touching ballad Jerry Herman wrote expressively for the film, "Loving You," performed during the montage of Mame and Beau's decade-long honeymoon. Ball is hysterical flubbing her line in "The Man in the Moon."
Honestly, the movie is worth seeing just for Beatrice Arthur and Lucille Ball going at each other in the classic friends song "Bosom Buddies." They're just too funny in that number; their expressions at each bit of sarcasm is perfect.
What I Don't Like: Ball's singing voice was never terribly good, and while that works for chorus songs or in the comic "Bosom Buddies," her croaking does the dramatic ballad "If He Walked Into My Life" no favors. The soft-focus filters used to make Ball look younger just makes the film look out of focus at some points.
The Big Finale: I think the critics have been way too rough on this one for years, especially those who saw Landsbury in the stage show. If you love Lucy, the original book or movie, or big, bold musical comedy, you'll want to give Mame another chance at life, too.
Home Media: Ball's ongoing status as a major icon of comedy is probably the reason this one can be found on most formats; it was just released to Blu-Ray by the Warner Archives last week.
DVD
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime
Saturday, December 1, 2018
Animation Celebration Saturday - Beauty and the Beast
Disney, 1991
Voices of Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Angela Landsbury, and Jerry Orbach
Directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise
Music by Alan Menken; Lyrics by Howard Ashman
If The Little Mermaid kicked off the Disney Renaissance of the 90's, the tremendous success of this movie codified it. This was one of the biggest hits of 1991, the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, and one of the most talked-about films of the early 90's. Is it worthy of that legacy, or should it be run out of the castle? Let's head to a small town in France and find out...
The Story: Belle (O'Hara) may live up to her name, but she's still an outcast in her town, due to her love of books and sharp mind. Most of the residents don't know what to make of her. Handsome but obnoxious hunter Gaston (Richard White) wants to marry her, not because he's especially interested in her, but because she's the prettiest girl and he's the best-looking guy. She wants to expand her horizons, and she gets her chance when her inventor father (Rex Everheart) is held prisoner by a fearsome beast (Benson). She offers herself in exchange. She's upset and lonely at first, until she meets the moving objects who acts at as the Beast's servants, including Lumiere the candelabra (Orbach), Mrs. Potts the teapot (Landsbury), and Cogsworth the clock (David Ogden Stiers). The entire castle is under a spell, and all the objects are desperately hoping that Belle is the one who will break it and get through to the Beast. Gaston, however, has his own plans for Belle and her father...
The Song and Dance: I've loved this movie since my family went to see it on it's release in November 1991. Belle is still one of Disney's best princesses. She's not only smart and beautiful, but is sensible enough to figure (most) of what's going on with the castle and the enchantment well before the end of the film.
It also has one of the best male villains of any Disney movie. I used to dismiss Gaston as a vainglorious idiot when I was younger, but after having seen the live-action version, I've come to realize that he's one of the most frightening antagonists in the Disney canon. He's scary because not only because people like him exist, but because they're considered normal, where good people like Belle and the Beast who don't look or act as society dictates are not. The entire town follows him without question after one glimpse at the mirror, just because he says the Beast is bad, and they encourage his pursuit of Belle despite her obvious disinterest.
The Animation: Bold and colorful, the fabulous work on this movie was a big part of the reason for that Oscar nomination. From the sweeping shots of the Beast's gloomy Gothic castle to the bustle of the town, every detail is as perfect as one could wish. The animation on the human characters is even better. I've always loved Belle's facial expressions; she's still one of the most expressive female Disney characters. She says more with raise of an eyebrow than most animated characters say with tons of dialogue.
Favorite Number: The music codified the Broadway style of Disney films for the rest of the decade. As lovely as the Oscar-winning title song is (and the swirling pas de deux performed during it), my favorite song has always been the rollicking Busby Berkley parody "Be Our Guest." I have to hand it to the enchanted objects. For things that have barely been used in 10 years, they sure can put on one heck of a show! I'm also fond of the charming "Something There" for Belle and the Beast, and the opening number that introduces Belle, Gaston, and most of the town.
Trivia: Walt considered Beauty and the Beast for an animated film after the success of Snow White in 1937, but the studio couldn't figure out the story then and shelved it. They tried again briefly in the 1950's, but decided it was too close to Cinderella. It started up again after Who Framed Roger Rabbit was a hit in 1987, but was originally scripted as an action fantasy, not a musical. The music didn't come in until after the success of The Little Mermaid in 1989.
Lyricist Howard Ashman was ill with AIDS during the pre-production of Beauty and the Beast. He died in March 1991 and never got to see the finished film. The movie is dedicated to him, in a moving line at the end of the credits.
Along with the Best Picture nomination, the movie was nominated for Best Sound and won for Best Score and Best Song ("Beauty and the Beast"). "Be Our Guest" and "Belle" were also nominated.
What I Don't Like: The blending of CGI and 2-D animated elements was revolutionary in 1991, but it occasionally looks fake or weird nowadays. I always wondered exactly what Belle does in the town, besides read and help her father. We don't get to know many of the other objects in the castle besides Mrs. Potts, Lumiere, and Cogsworth.
The Big Finale: Not only one of my favorite animated movies, but one of my favorite movies, period. I loved the 2017 live-action version too, but this is the one you really need to see.
Home Media: Probably thanks to the release of the live-action version last year, this one is currently in print and is very easy to find in most formats.
DVD
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime (Buy Only)
There's more Beauty and the Beast to come! Look for the direct-to-home media follow up Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas later this month!
Voices of Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Angela Landsbury, and Jerry Orbach
Directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise
Music by Alan Menken; Lyrics by Howard Ashman
If The Little Mermaid kicked off the Disney Renaissance of the 90's, the tremendous success of this movie codified it. This was one of the biggest hits of 1991, the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, and one of the most talked-about films of the early 90's. Is it worthy of that legacy, or should it be run out of the castle? Let's head to a small town in France and find out...
The Story: Belle (O'Hara) may live up to her name, but she's still an outcast in her town, due to her love of books and sharp mind. Most of the residents don't know what to make of her. Handsome but obnoxious hunter Gaston (Richard White) wants to marry her, not because he's especially interested in her, but because she's the prettiest girl and he's the best-looking guy. She wants to expand her horizons, and she gets her chance when her inventor father (Rex Everheart) is held prisoner by a fearsome beast (Benson). She offers herself in exchange. She's upset and lonely at first, until she meets the moving objects who acts at as the Beast's servants, including Lumiere the candelabra (Orbach), Mrs. Potts the teapot (Landsbury), and Cogsworth the clock (David Ogden Stiers). The entire castle is under a spell, and all the objects are desperately hoping that Belle is the one who will break it and get through to the Beast. Gaston, however, has his own plans for Belle and her father...
The Song and Dance: I've loved this movie since my family went to see it on it's release in November 1991. Belle is still one of Disney's best princesses. She's not only smart and beautiful, but is sensible enough to figure (most) of what's going on with the castle and the enchantment well before the end of the film.
It also has one of the best male villains of any Disney movie. I used to dismiss Gaston as a vainglorious idiot when I was younger, but after having seen the live-action version, I've come to realize that he's one of the most frightening antagonists in the Disney canon. He's scary because not only because people like him exist, but because they're considered normal, where good people like Belle and the Beast who don't look or act as society dictates are not. The entire town follows him without question after one glimpse at the mirror, just because he says the Beast is bad, and they encourage his pursuit of Belle despite her obvious disinterest.
The Animation: Bold and colorful, the fabulous work on this movie was a big part of the reason for that Oscar nomination. From the sweeping shots of the Beast's gloomy Gothic castle to the bustle of the town, every detail is as perfect as one could wish. The animation on the human characters is even better. I've always loved Belle's facial expressions; she's still one of the most expressive female Disney characters. She says more with raise of an eyebrow than most animated characters say with tons of dialogue.
Favorite Number: The music codified the Broadway style of Disney films for the rest of the decade. As lovely as the Oscar-winning title song is (and the swirling pas de deux performed during it), my favorite song has always been the rollicking Busby Berkley parody "Be Our Guest." I have to hand it to the enchanted objects. For things that have barely been used in 10 years, they sure can put on one heck of a show! I'm also fond of the charming "Something There" for Belle and the Beast, and the opening number that introduces Belle, Gaston, and most of the town.
Trivia: Walt considered Beauty and the Beast for an animated film after the success of Snow White in 1937, but the studio couldn't figure out the story then and shelved it. They tried again briefly in the 1950's, but decided it was too close to Cinderella. It started up again after Who Framed Roger Rabbit was a hit in 1987, but was originally scripted as an action fantasy, not a musical. The music didn't come in until after the success of The Little Mermaid in 1989.
Lyricist Howard Ashman was ill with AIDS during the pre-production of Beauty and the Beast. He died in March 1991 and never got to see the finished film. The movie is dedicated to him, in a moving line at the end of the credits.
Along with the Best Picture nomination, the movie was nominated for Best Sound and won for Best Score and Best Song ("Beauty and the Beast"). "Be Our Guest" and "Belle" were also nominated.
What I Don't Like: The blending of CGI and 2-D animated elements was revolutionary in 1991, but it occasionally looks fake or weird nowadays. I always wondered exactly what Belle does in the town, besides read and help her father. We don't get to know many of the other objects in the castle besides Mrs. Potts, Lumiere, and Cogsworth.
The Big Finale: Not only one of my favorite animated movies, but one of my favorite movies, period. I loved the 2017 live-action version too, but this is the one you really need to see.
Home Media: Probably thanks to the release of the live-action version last year, this one is currently in print and is very easy to find in most formats.
DVD
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime (Buy Only)
There's more Beauty and the Beast to come! Look for the direct-to-home media follow up Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas later this month!
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