Spring Short Subject Special - Peter and the Magic Egg & The Berenstain Bears Play Ball

Let's celebrate Easter and the start of baseball season with these two lesser-known specials from 1983. While there have been holiday programming made for Easter just as long as there have been for Christmas, most of them tend to get the short end of the stick compared to their cold-weather counterparts. Are these springtime shorts deserving of a place at your Easter weekend celebration, or should they be left off the team? Let's begin with a story told by an egg (Ray Bolger) and find out...

Peter and the Magic Egg

Murikami-Wolf-Swenson, 1983

Voices of Ray Bolger, Al Eisemann, Joan Gerber, and Robert Ridgely 

Directed by Fred Wolf

Music by Howard Kaylan and Mark Volan; Lyrics by Romeo Muller

The Story: Mother Nature (Gerber) gives the Dopplers, poor Pennsylvania Dutch farmers, a child they name Peter Paas (Eisemann). Peter grows far faster than ordinary children, and within a year, he's able to work on the farm. He arranges a contract with the Easter Bunny to provide eggs with the help of the farm animals he's taught to dress and speak like humans.

The farm is owned by Tobias Tinwhiskers (Ridgley), a wealthy farmer who is so obsessed with his machines, he had himself made over as one. He's furious when Peter brings him the money for the mortgage from that contract and challenges him to a ploughing contest. Turns out he's rigged it so Peter falls in a well. Peter's found in a deep sleep that leaves his parents and animal friends in a deep depression. Mother Nature gives the animals an egg that will supposedly awaken Peter, but Tinwhiskers isn't about to let them hatch it!

The Animation: This is the same sketchy style as their previous Thanksgiving In the Land of Oz special, with slightly brighter colors as per the Easter theme. The animals look cute enough and closely resemble the characters on the Paas boxes until recently, and they move pretty well. 

The Song and Dance: For something intended as a half-hour commercial for Paas Egg Dye, this is actually pretty interesting. It has the feel of a folk tale, with its quaint Pennsylvania Dutch setting and man vs. machine theme. The animals are fairly funny, especially when they're called on to hatch that egg, and Tobias Tinwhiskers is a nasty and even scary-looking villain. 

Favorite Number: The special opens and closes with narrator Uncle Amos Egg (Bolger) claiming the story is "A Wonderment." Peter and the animals sings "An Animal Can Be Folks" twice, first when he gives the animals their trademark clothes, then during the show they hold to raise money for the farm. He also sings to implore "Mother Nature" to give him answers. The animals all wonder what "Our Egg" will be like when it hatches. 

What I Don't Like: Peter himself is a bit of a nonentity. Other than his sudden growth spurt, there isn't much to him, and he's missing for most of the special's second half. Honestly, they build up the egg and what's in it so much, when it does hatch, it's a bit of an anti-climax. I see the point they were making, but it doesn't make it less weird.

The Big Finale: Charming spring-time fairy tale is worth checking out if you're looking for something different to watch while dying eggs or waiting for the Easter egg hunt with the kids.

Home Media: Currently out of print on DVD, both solo and packaged with Thanksgiving In the Land of Oz. Your best bet might be checking YouTube. 

DVD

DVD - Peter and the Magic Egg/Dorothy In the Land of Oz

YouTube

The Berenstain Bears Play Ball

NBC, 1983

Voices of Ron McLarty, Pat Lysinger, Knowl Johnson, and Gabriela Glatzer

Directed by Al Kouzel

Music by Elliot Lawrence; Lyrics by Stan Berenstain

The Story: Papa Bear (McLarty) is thrilled when he sees Brother Bear (Johnson) randomly hit a rock with a stick. He thinks he has a future big league star on his hands. He pushes Brother into the Bear Country Little League team, ignoring Sister (Glatzer), who is genuinely talented. It's Brother and his friends who finally show him the error of his ways when he follows them through the bog and is reminded that baseball is only a game, after all. It's not until he's coaching the team that he needs a second base-bear and finally starts seeing his daughter and her abilities in a new light.

The Animation: Once again, it's nothing flashy, but it gets the job done. It does look like the books of the time, which is likely all this special needs. It looks especially good during Brother's game with his buddies in the bog and Sister's "I Want It All" number.

The Song and Dance: This may be the most stripped-down of the five Berenstain Bears specials, and the only one to not revolve around a holiday. It's just the family here. In fact, it's mostly Papa and the cubs. Brother's bog buddies from Easter Surprise are seen, but have no lines. Papa does have some hilarious moments early on, when he sees Brother hit that rock and thinks he has a star on his hands, and mid-way through when he attempts to teach Brother a game he's well aware of how to play.

Favorite Number: We open and close with a chorus number describing why baseball is so popular with many people, "Baseball Is the National Pastime." "You're Safe, You're Out" is what Papa tries to teach Brother. Sister picks it up more readily than her older sibling. She admits that she wants a career and a family, teddy bears and baseball. "I Want It All," says Sister. Brother and his friends sing about how they don't care that their infield is a bumpy bog or their MVP is a many-limbed tree, they say "Come to Our Pick-Up Baseball Game" anyway. 

What I Don't Like: The side story with Sister not being able to play because of her gender hasn't dated well at all nowadays. Even Mama eventually calls Papa on it. It makes Papa look less well-meaning and even more like a jerk than his pressuring Brother does. 

The Big Finale: The last of the five Berenstain Bears specials isn't my favorite, but it's still worth seeing once if you have any Berenstain Bears fans or very young Little Leaguers or Little League hopefuls around. 

Home Media: Once again, the DVD is currently out of print, but it can be found on YouTube.

DVD - The Berenstain Bears: Springtime Surprises

YouTube

Joyful Noise

Warner Bros, 2012

Starring Queen Latifa, Dolly Pardon, Keke Palmer, and Jeremy Jordan

Directed by Todd Graff

Music and Lyrics by various

The Singing Nun is hardly the only woman who found fame performing for the church. Our next movie gives us two ladies who turn a church choir competition into their own search for glory. For many smaller communities or depressed areas of larger cities, choirs like the ones depicted here and in the Sister Act films represent one of the residents' few links to self-expression and uplift in the midst of decay. How does one small Georgia town find uplift in its choir, even as the town falters in the economic downturn of the time? Let's begin with the choir from a church in Pacashau, Georgia, as they perform in the regional finals of the Joyful Noise choir contest, and find out...

The Story: When the long-time choir director Bernard Sparrow (Kris Kristofferson) dies, his widow G.G (Pardon) figures she'll step into his shoes. Instead, the church's pastor (Courtney B. Vance) hands the reigns to singer Vi Rose Hill (Queen Latifa), who insists on continuing to use traditional songs and arrangements. G.G thinks her grandson Randy's (Jordan) arrangement of modern pop songs could be far more interesting. Randy also falls for Vi's rebellious teen daughter Olivia (Palmer), and teaches piano to her son Walter (Dexter Darden), whose Asperger's Syndrome keeps him from making friends.

Not only do Vi and G.G remain antagonistic over Randy's interest in Olivia and the use of non-religious music in a choir program, but the choir itself may lose funding. The church doesn't see the point of sending them to competitions when they always lose at the finals and refuses to allow using pop songs. G.G thinks they have a chance, if she can convince Vi that updating the songs is a good idea, and the traditional way of doing things isn't the only way. Olivia just wishes her mother would understand how she feels about Randy, but Vi never got over her father Marcus (Jesse L. Martin) joining the Army after he lost his job and walking out. 

The Song and Dance: And it's really all about the song and dance here. The overly melodramatic story is augmented by some fabulous choir performances. Palmer, Pardon, and Queen Latifa all raise the roof with their uplifting pop and gospel numbers. The ladies pretty much dominate everything, whether Vi is trying to explain to Olivia why she's worried about her, or G.G's remembering the good times with Bernard. We also get some decent location shooting in and around rural Georgia that adds a lot more authenticity than the dull casting. 

Favorite Number: We open with the choir in the regional finals, performing one of Pardon's own songs, "Not Enough." Bernard's directing them here, but even G.G can see he's not doing well. Our first number after his death is a sensational group version of the Michael Jackson hit "Man In the Mirror," with Olivia taking the solo. She and Randy do "Maybe I'm Amazed" to prove pop can work in a gospel setting. 

Real-life gospel performer Kirk Franklin sings his "In Love" with a dynamic Detroit choir. Too dynamic, as Vi and the others realize they'd have to practice night and day seven days a week to be that good. Vi sings "Fix Me, Jesus" alone in the church, then imagines the choir singing along with her. Pardon's second new number is "From Here to the Moon and Back," which she performs in a sweet waltz with Kristofferson as G.G reminisces about her late husband.

"Mighty High" takes us into the actual finals in Los Angeles. "That's the Way God Planned It" is a lively routine performed by young Ivan Kelley Jr. and a group of pre-teen boys. Vi and G.G counter with a medley of rock and pop songs that brings everyone onstage, including "I Want to Take You Higher," "Yeah!," "Forever," and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered." "He's Everything" is another Pardon song, as one of the choir members happily marries a man she met at the competition. 

What I Don't Like: While not nearly as sweet as The Singing Nun, it has a major tone problem. It can't decide if it wants to be a musical Steel Magnolias or a less-goofy Sister Act 2. I actually found Walter and Randy's discussion of the challenges many people with mental health issues continue to face more interesting than the cliched relationship between Randy and Olivia. Conflict in this film is solved too easily, from how G.G is able to get sponsorship to Vi's sudden about-face on the matter of the music they use in the finale. There's also it being way too long. The heavy melodrama really drags down the middle of the film in particular and could have been trimmed with no one the wiser.

The Big Finale: Recommended mainly for the great music if you're a fan of gospel or either leading lady.

Home Media: Easily found on all formats.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime

The Singing Nun

MGM, 1966

Starring Debbie Reynolds, Ricardo Montalban, Greer Garson, and Agnes Moorehead

Directed by Henry Koster

Music by Jeanne Deckers (Sister Sourie) and Noel Regney; Lyrics by Jeanne Deckers and Randy Sparks

This year's religious musicals for Holy Week focus on performers from the church, competitive choirs or nuns who sang for their orders. Belgian nun Soeur Sourire, or The Singing Nun as she was known in the US, captured the heart of millions when she sang her hit "Dominique" on The Ed Sullivan Show. It shot to #1 on the US Pop Charts, making "Sister Smile" an instant sensation. She was so well-known, MGM almost immediately bought the rights to her life. How well does this movie capture her story and her charming music? Let's begin in Belgium, as Dominican nun Sister Ann (Reynolds) leaves a small order outside Antwerp on her scooter, and find out...

The Story: Sister Ann was sent to a larger convent in a depressed part of Brussels to prepare for travel to Africa to work among the natives, but her real love is singing and playing guitar. Father Clementi (Montalban) is so impressed with her music, he persuades record executive Robert Gerade (Chad Everett) to make an album of her songs. Among those songs are "Dominique," a number Sister Ann wrote about a little boy (Ricky Cordell) whom her order takes care of. His father (Michael Pate) is a drunk, and the only other person who watches over the child is his tough teen sister Nicole (Katherine Ross). 

"Dominique" is a surprise smash after Sister Ann performs it for The Ed Sullivan Show, on the direct request of an impressed Sullivan (himself). Sister Ann and the convent are overwhelmed with offers and fan mail. Robert, who had dated Sister Ann when they both attended the Paris Conservatory of Music five years before, wants to renew old acquaintances as well. She's confused and frustrated, until tragedy makes her realize what she really wants to do with her life.

The Song and Dance: Some decent performances and the lovely music are the only things that make this even tolerable nowadays. Reynolds is a charming and peppery Singing Nun, especially when she's telling off a local girl (Colette Jackson) who doesn't intend to keep her child. Garson and Juanita Moore also do well as the understanding Mother Superior and the kindly African nun who becomes Sister Ann's best friend and greatest supporter. Montalban doesn't do too badly as the genial head of the order, and Ross manages to add a little spice in her few dramatic scenes.

Favorite Number: "Brother John," the sing-along number Sister Ann performs with the nuns after her arrival, was actually written by Sparks and based after one of her songs, as was the sweet "Lovely." He also translated "Sister Adele" and "Beyond the Stars." Most of the songs are performed as medleys when Sister Ann is recording or playing for the citizens of Brussels. We get a medley of "Brother John," "It's a Miracle," "Raindrops," "I'd Like to Be," and "A Pied Piper" there. Other songs heard include "Avec Toi (With You I Shall Walk)" and "Put On Your Pretty Skirt." 

Trivia: Sadly, Sister Sourire was never able to recapture the success of "Dominique." She clashed with the Catholic Church over her stance on birth control and her fame and left the order around the same time the film came out. The money she made from "Dominique" went to her producer, the record company, or the church. Her attempts to rekindle her music career were met with resounding failure, and hit with more than $60,000 in back taxes, she and her partner ultimately took their lives in Belgium in 1985. 

The movie had an even more troubled production. Producer John Beck and Debbie Reynolds clashed so loudly and often over the script and the direction it was going, a shaken Henry Koster retired. 

This was Oscar-nominated for Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaption or Treatment. 

What I Don't Like: This is the overly sweet pile of treacle everyone assumes The Sound of Music is. The Catholic Church didn't want anything even remotely critical getting out, which is why it pretty much has nothing to do with Deckers' tragic life. No wonder Reynolds was frustrated with the script. Bland Everett has little to do and even less chemistry with Reynolds. You can certainly understand why Sister Ann would choose work in Africa over this dull guy. Even the excellent performances can't keep it from collapsing into a pile of cliched melodrama in the second half. The songs aren't even presented accurately. "Dominique" was about St. Dominique, the founder of the Dominican Order, not a child.

The Big Finale: If you're a fan of Reynolds or religious films and can handle the sugar level, this is worth seeing for the songs alone.

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

DVD

Amazon Prime

Family Fun Saturday - Matilda the Musical

Netflix/Sony-Tristar, 2022

Starring Alisha Weir, Emma Thompson, Lashana Lynch, and Stephen Graham

Directed by Matthew Warchus

Music and Lyrics by Tim Minchin

Roald Dahl's Matilda debuted in 1988 as one of his last books released during his lifetime. The tale of an abused girl who finds the way to get back at her neglectful parents and bullying head schoolmistress became one of the most successful children's books of the late 80's and is still regarded as one of the greatest of all time. The first stage musical version of Matilda debuted outside of London in 1990. It toured England, but wasn't well-received and never made the West End. 

An unrelated adaptation was such a huge hit in London, it's still running there at press time; a Broadway company proved almost as popular in 2015. Development for the movie began in 2013, but it didn't make it out until 2022. It was a hit in England and went over well on Netflix elsewhere, but how well does it do with its precocious "revolting children?" Let's begin in a hospital, where parents are eagerly awaiting the birth of their bundles of joy...all except one couple, the Wormwoods, who would rather have anything else...

The Story: Despite her parents' negligence, Matilda (Weir) grows up into a sweet and highly intelligent girl. She loves nothing more than to read books for hours and hours in her tiny attic room. Her favorite place is the mobile library, where she tells the librarian Mrs. Phelps (Sindu Vee) stories she's created. 

Local teacher Miss Honey (Lynch) and a local inspector insists Matilda attend school. She ends up attending Crutchem Hall, where Miss Honey works. Unfortunately, it's run by Miss Agatha Trunchbull (Thompson), a hulking brute of a woman who lords over the school with an iron fist. Matilda isn't going to be cowed by the likes of her, no matter what. Trunchbull can abuse every other child in the school and push Miss Honey out of her true inheritance, but Matilda has power of her own. She's show her parents and this petty tyrant that being "revolting children" doesn't mean you don't have lives and feelings of your own.

The Song and Dance: Of the adults, Thompson is far and away the most interesting. Her Trumbull is a barking tyrant, madly whirling around any charge who might step even the slightest bit out of line and relishing her over-the-top villainy. Weir more than matches her as the title character, who is only "naughty" to get back at her parents for treating her badly. Graham and Andrea Risenborough also rise to the occasion as the self-centered and obnoxious Wormwoods, who care only for themselves and what they can get. They're backed by a delightfully colorful production with location shooting at and around a real English manor to pass for Crutchem Hall.

Favorite Number: We open at a candy-colored hospital as doctors declare the newborn children to be a "Miracle." Every couple coos over their new child...every couple but the Wormwoods, who weren't prepared and don't want their miracle. Matilda says she's only "Naughty" so she can re-write her story and take back some of the power her parents insist on having over her. Oldest student Hortensia (Meesha Garbitt) sings the "School Song" to tell her how life at Crutchem Hall works. Miss Trunchbull claims she is "The Hammer" when she throws a child by the pigtails out the window, and she will not be disobeyed. The brief "Chokey Chant" by the children explains about the Iron Maiden-like device where Trunchbull locks children who misbehave.

"Bruce" is the boy who is forced to eat an entire cake after he steals a slice from Miss Trunchbull. To her annoyance, everyone in the school, including Miss Honey, cheer him on. The children imagine what they'll be "When I Grow Up" when they go home from school, while Miss Honey remembers what she wanted to be as a child. As Matilda tells the story of the Escapologist and his wife, they both declare that "I'm Here," and they have feelings and a life, too. Miss Trunchbull forces the children to run in the rain to take "The Smell of Rebellion" out of them. All Matilda wants is "Quiet" as she imagines herself to be living on a hot air balloon somewhere high above Crutchem Hall.

Miss Honey recalls "My House" as she reveals just where the story of the Escapologist and his lost wife Matilda's told throughout the film came from. The kids finally get their rebellion after Matilda scares off Trumbull and they revel in being "Revolting Children," dancing around the school and pulling down her statue. It ends with Miss Honey and Matilda happily "Still Holding My Hand" as they turn the school into a happy place where children and adults can learn and grow together.

Trivia: Matilda: The Musical debuted on the West End stages in 2011. It was an instant sensation and continues to run there at press time. The Broadway show debuted in 2013 and would run until 2017. A film version directed by Danny DiVito wasn't a huge hit in 1996, but is now generally well-regarded as a family favorite from that era. 

What I Don't Like: There's been a few changes from the book and earlier adaptations. The end of the book and the show were originally a little darker. The Russian mob actually caught up with the Wormwoods, though they were ultimately impressed enough with Matilda's intelligence to let her go and encourage her staying with Miss Honey. Several characters from the book and previous versions were dropped, including Matilda's older brother Michael and the male deputy headmaster. 

Apparently, Matilda's story about the Escapologist and his wife was mostly sung in the stage show; here, it's mostly spoken except for "I'm Here." Other dropped numbers include two solos for Mr. Wormwood, "Telly" and "I'm So Clever," a number for Mrs. Wormwood, "Loud," and Miss Honey judging her life as "Pathetic." 

The Big Finale: An absolute delight, especially if you have little girls in your house who have read the book or are voracious readers themselves. Highly recommended.

Home Media: This is currently a Netflix exclusive in the US. 

Netflix

Cult Flops - The Color Purple (2023)

Warner Bros, 2023

Starring Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, and Colman Domingo

Directed by Blitz Bazawule

Music and Lyrics by various

Few female characters on stage or in literature go through a more traumatic transformation than the three women in our next review. Alice Walker's decades-spanning epic about an abused black woman who eventually takes control of her life won the Pulitzer Prize in 1983. Steven Spielberg directed the Oscar-winning non-musical film version in 1985, with Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey in star-making roles as Ceile and Sofia. The Broadway musical debuted in 2005; it and a 2015 revival did so well, it began talk of returning the story to film. How well does the musical retelling of Miss Celie and her heartbreaking life come off? Let's begin with the young Celie (Phylicia Pearl Mpasi) and her sister Nettie (Halle Berry) singing a hand-clapping game in a tree and find out...

The Story: By the time she's playing with Nettie in the tree, Celie has already had one child by her brutal father Alfonso Harris (Deon Cole) and is pregnant with another. Alfonso gives both children away, then forces her to wed local farmer Albert "Mister" Johnson (Domingo). Nettie tries to follow after her father attacks her too, but Mister drives her off. The two sisters swear they'll write as often as they can.

In 1917, Alfonso's grown son Harpo (Corey Hawkins) marries no-nonsense Sofia (Brooks). He builds them a house in the swamp, but ends up turning it into a juke joint. Everyone is excited when singer Shug Avery (Henson) returns to town. She thrills Celie (Barrino), who falls hard for her. Sofia's not as happy with Harpo having taken a mistress, diminutive Mary "Squeak" Agnes (H.E.R), and ends up starting a fight with her on the night of Shrug's debut. Shug finds a letter from Nettie, who now lives with a missionary in Africa and is taking care of Celie's children. They find others Mister hid in the house.

Sofia runs into trouble during the start of the Great Depression when she gets into a fight over not wanting to work for the Mayor's wife (Elizabeth Marvel). She ends up in jail and is forced to work for her anyway. Meanwhile, Ceile has had enough of Mister abusing her and cheating on her. She finally calls him on it during Easter 1943 and leaves him with Shug and her husband Grady (Jon Batiste) to Memphis. After she inherits her late father's shop, she turns it into a store for women's pants and hires Sofia, Shug, and Mary Agnes to work there. Mister,  now a worthless drunk with a failing farm, finally decides it's time to make amends with his wife by bringing her and her long-lost sister and children back together.

The Song and Dance: Henson, Barrino, and Harris dance off with the film as the central trio who fight, feud, take abuse, and ultimately triumph. Harris got an Oscar nomination as the spitfire who loses her vivacity after ending up in jail, but finds her spirit again when Celie stands up to Mister. Berry's nearly as good in the early goings as the stronger sister who doesn't put up with the abuse Celie does. Pitch-perfect period costumes and gorgeous cinematography with some great touches that aptly show how the ladies and their lives change with the times. I also love how well they manage to make the two different musical approaches - the characters singing in normal time and in their heads - work together. Fatima Robinson's choreography brings life to a vibrant all-black community in the many ensembles. 

Favorite Number: We open with the girls' hand-clapping routine in the tree, "Huckleberry Pie." Everyone in town talks about the lord's "Mysterious Ways" as Celie looks forward to the birth of her second child. Celie dances with women doing wash in her mind as she admits that "She Be Mine," and her sister is all she has. Nettie and Celie admit that they have to "Keep It Movin'." Harpo's proud to be "Workin'" on his new home, even if his father just thinks it's noise. 

Sofia says "Hell No!" when Harpo tries abusing her...and says it again when the Mayor's wife wants her to be a maid. The entire town is excited about the arrival of singer "Shug Avery," especially Mister. Celie isn't as thrilled about her being in her home at first. She explains her feelings on religion in "Dear God - Shug." Shug's big number at the juke joint is "Push De Button." Celie imagines them singing "What About Love?" in an art deco fantasy on top of Shug's gramophone, complete with dance and kiss. 

"Miss Celie's Blues (Sister)" was written for the 1985 film; here, it's Shug's number for Celie on her birthday in Memphis. "Miss Celie's Pants" has all the ladies' feet tapping as they make the title garments and happily run their shop together. "I'm Here" says Celie triumphantly after she's able to turn down Mister when he tries to get back in her life. Shug finally returns to her father Reverend Avery (David Alan Grier) as they admit "Maybe God Is Tryin' To Tell You Something." We end with the title song as Celie is reunited with her entire family at a picnic and everyone rejoices that they're all together and happy at last.

Trivia: The Broadway show wasn't popular with critics in 2005, who found it lumbering and watered-down. It managed to be a huge hit anyway, running for over three years. A well-received off-West End limited run in 2013 led to it returning to Broadway in 2015. The revival was almost as big of a hit, this time with audiences and critics. It ran for two years and picked up a Best Revival Tony and Tonys for its Celie, Cynthia Erivo.

Danielle Brooks also played Sofia in the revival and was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. She got a Best Supporting Oscar nomination as well, the only Oscar nod the film received. Fantasia Barrio played Celie in the original 2005 production, having taken over from original Celie LaChanze. 

Feature film debut of H.E.R. 

What I Don't Like: All of the joyful, upbeat chorus numbers can't mask that this is one of the darkest recent musicals. Once again, if you're looking for something fluffy and light, this is not going to be your show. Like the book and original film, it's also very women-oriented. Men generally do not come off well here. Most of them are jerks, abusive, violent, ignorant, or some combination of the above. I have the feeling from some of the reviews online that a lot of people, particularly those who aren't fans of musicals to begin with, found those light jazz numbers to be out of place with the extremely downbeat drama. 

The Big Finale: First of all, I'm going to admit this is my first encounter with this material. I have neither seen the 1985 movie, nor read the book. That said, I did enjoy it. The up-and-down tone is overcome by a terrific production and fabulous performances. See this on its own terms for the ladies and the great numbers.

Home Media: As a brand-new title, this is easily found in all formats.

DVD

Blu-Ray

4K

Amazon Prime

I'll Cry Tomorrow

MGM, 1955

Starring Susan Hayward, Jo Ann Fleet, Richard Conte, and Eddie Albert

Directed by David Mann

Music and Lyrics by various

This week, we're going to celebrate Women's History Month with dramas and biographies about women who went through hell and lived to tell the tale. Lillian Roth was a major vaudeville headliner when she appeared in early talkies like The Love Parade and one of Paramount's more popular stars of the era. By the time this movie came out, it had all vanished in a haze of alcohol, bad marriages, and worse financial choices. Her autobiography on how she overcame her problems with alcohol and abusive relationships, I'll Cry Tomorrow, was an international best-seller. 

Hayward started out as an typical cute ingenue in the late 30's. By 1955, she'd found her niche in harrowing portrayals of troubled women who overcame trauma to live successful lives. We've already seen one biography she starred in, With a Song In My Heart. How does she do with Lillian Roth's equally harrowing life? Let's begin with 8-year-old Lillian (Carole  Ann Campbell) and her mother Katie (Fleet) as she tries to push her daughter into an audition for a hit Broadway show and find out...

The Story: Katie is determined that Lillian should have the chances she gave up to have a family. She does manage to get Lillian into a Broadway hit at age 6. Lillian (Hayward) keeps rising to the top, first as a vaudeville headliner, then in films at Paramount. Her mother's less happy when she becomes engaged to her childhood friend David Tredman (Ray Danton), claiming she's willing to give up her career for him. 

She's devastated when he dies on the night of her show opening. Her inability to deal with the loss starts her drinking to forget the pain. One night, she gets so drunk, she marries Wallie (Don Taylor), a pilot, without thinking. The marriage is loveless when they realize all they have in common is drinking and ends in divorce. Likewise, her second marriage to alcoholic Tony Barderman (Conte) begins well, but degenerates into him beating her when neither of them will give up drinking. Returning home to her mother ends with them fighting over her choices and Katie projecting her desires onto her daughter. 

After Lillian nearly jumps out her apartment window, she finally decides it's time to get real help and checks into Alcoholics Anonymous. She falls in love with her sponsor Burt McGuire (Albert), but he has his own issues with his polio. It takes her first group meeting and admitting all her struggles on the TV show This Is Your Life to make her see how addiction has impacted her life and taken her away from her first real, true love - performing.

The Song and Dance: No doubt about it. This is rough stuff, especially for 1955. Hayward earned a deserved Oscar nomination as the singer whose reliance on liquor to mask her inner demons came at a devastating cost. She's especially effective in the second half, when liquor and Lillian's bad relationships start to take a toll on her. Fleet nearly matches her as the domineering stage mother who shoves her daughter into the career she wanted. The harrowing script pulls no punches and can be hard to watch at times, especially if you've known anyone who has been addicted to alcohol. 

Hayward claimed she wasn't a singer, but she does her own singing as Roth. Not only does she sound like Roth, but she has a fine, throaty voice. Makes me regret them using Jane Frohman's actual voice in With a Song In My Heart. 

Favorite Number: Our first song is the sole large-scale production number. Roth really did sing "Sing You Sinners" in the 1930 Paramount musical Honey. Hayward throws herself into the big dance routine around a sketchy, stylized set with abandon. Our first nightclub routine gives us the song that would be Roth's signature throughout her career, "When the Red Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along." We also get a darker number later when she's drunk onstage, "Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe." Albert and Hayward perform all three in a medley near the end at Alcoholics Anonymous, along with another song from a 1930 movie that featured Roth, "The Vagabond King Waltz." 

Trivia: Sandy Ellis was originally to dub Hayward, until MGM heard her sing and were impressed. Roth was initially upset when MGM opted to let Hayward do her own singing. Hayward went to Vegas to study Roth's style, and the two ended up being good friends. 

Lillian Roth's life was even more difficult than what was depicted here. She actually went through six husbands, including McClure - they divorced in 1963. She did start on Broadway and in vaudeville as a child star, sometimes with her sister. Her mother did indeed manage her career and lived off her earnings, though Roth later claimed she wasn't as pushy as seen here. 

She also readily admitted to being overly reliant on others to handle her decisions, including abusive husbands. Roth never regained the huge stardom she had in the early 30's, but she did become a character actress in nightclubs and stage shows like the Broadway musicals I Can Get It For You Wholesale and 70 Girls 70. 

What I Don't Like: First and foremost, despite winning a Best Costume Oscar, they don't go in for historical accuracy at all. Other than some of the children's clothes in the beginning, it looks like 1955 for the entire movie. The gowns Hayward showcases are lovely, but nothing you can't see in countless other movies of the era. 

Second, as mentioned, this is not sweetness and light. If you're looking for a more typical or happier musical, you're in the wrong place. It does end happily, but getting there is harrowing, especially for recovering alcoholics who may have gone through much of what Lillian does here.

The Big Finale: If you love Hayward or are looking for a dark warts-and-all show business drama, you'll want to check out Roth's journey to recovery, too.

Home Media: Can currently be found on streaming and on DVD, the latter from the Warner Archives.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Happy St. Patrick's Day! - Top 'O the Morning

Paramount, 1949

Starring Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald, Ann Blyth, and Hume Cronyn 

Directed by David Miller

Music and Lyrics by various

Let's celebrate the day of all things Irish with this unique musical mystery. This is the last of three films Fitzgerald and Crosby made together that began with the Oscar-winning Going My Way. All three revolved around Crosby's laid-back lifestyle clashing with Fitzgerald's more traditional one...and what better place for a clash of cultures than in Fitzgerald's native Ireland? Let's begin just outside of Blarney Castle and find out how an insurance investigator who is looking for the stolen Blarney Stone deals with a very traditional policemen and their differing worldviews.

The Story:  Joe Mulqueen (Crosby) arrives at the small town outside of the castle, only to be rejected by the fearful townspeople. The town's police chief Briany McNaughton (Fitzgerald) is especially distrustful of him. He wants to prove he and his deputy Hughie Devine (Cronyn) can solve a local case on their own, without outside interference. 

Joe ends up having more on his mind than finding the Blarney Stone. Briany's daughter Conn (Blyth) has been waiting for the day the man who fits the prophecy told to her by wise woman Biddy O'Devlin (Eileen Crowe). She's thrilled when it turns out Joe is the perfect match, and a fine singer to boot. Joe, however, hasn't told her why he's really in Ireland. Biddy knows, however, and it's her stories of Irish folk lore that eventually leads Joe, Briany, and Inspector Fallon (John McIntire) to the man who not only stole the Blarney Stone, but committed a murder, too.

The Song and Dance: This is probably the closest Crosby would get to appearing in film noir or doing a flat-out thriller. Truth be told, for most of the movie, the real interest is in how Crosby reacts to Irish folk lore and Ireland's colorful citizens. He and Blyth work relatively well together despite the two-decade difference in their ages. In addition to Fitzgerald, I also like Crowe as the enigmatic wise woman who knows far more than she'll ever tell and Cronyn as the deputy whose enthusiasm for the case hides a dark secret. 

Favorite Number:  Joe performs the title song three times, first over the credits, then later with the maid (Mary Field) who is cleaning his room, and near the end with the two McNaughtons. He sings "When Irish Eyes are Smiling" with a nervous little girl when he arrives in Ireland. His performance of "My Beautiful Kitty" on the accordion is sentimental enough for the policemen to let him out of jail, at least the first time.

 "The Donovans" is the big chorus number at Briany's cottage. It somehow manages to expand to three times its size to fit all of the whirling lads and lasses performing a lively group jig. The other new song "You're In Love With Someone" is the big ballad Joe sings to Conn after the party, before she shows Joe her father's doves. They sing the lovely Irish folk song "Oh, 'Tis Sweet To Think" together at the McNaughtons' cottage. "My Lagen Hunt," the haunting ditty sung by the little boy Pearse O'Neill (Jimmy Hunt) is what finally brings the real thief out of hiding.

Trivia: Crosby originally wanted Deanna Durbin to play Conn, but she had gone into retirement and would never make another film.

What I Don't Like: For all the talk of Irish folk lore, legends, and customs, this feels a lot less authentic than John Ford's opus The Quiet Man from three years later. Paramount probably kept this one on the lot and in black and white because Bing's previous two big-budget musicals flopped. Technicolor and location shooting might have gone a long way to enhancing the drama and adding a lot more real Irish whiskey flavor. This is more like watered-down green beer. 

Blyth is an excellent singer in her own right, on a par with Durbin. Why on Earth doesn't she have more to sing besides her part of "Oh, 'Tis Sweet to Think?" Not to mention, there's the mood whiplash. This is pretty fluffy stuff until the last 20 minutes, when it suddenly takes a screeching left turn into shadowy film noir territory. It ends happily, but getting there is surprisingly dark for an otherwise sweet comedy.

The Big Finale: If you're a fan of Crosby or Blyth or want to try something a little different for St. Patrick's Day, this venture into Irish folklore and mystery is worth checking out at least once.

Home Media: As far as I can tell, this exclusive to YouTube at the moment.

YouTube