Happy Labor Day! - Swing Hostess

Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC), 1944

Starring Martha Tilton, Iris Adrian, Charles Collins, and Cliff Nazarro

Directed by Sam Newfield

Music by Jay Livingston; Lyrics by Ray Evans and Lewis Bellin

This year, we honor secretaries, clerks, customer service representatives, and those who keep the country organized and up and running with this low-budget tuner. PNC was the smallest and least prestigious of the 11 movie studios that had filming facilities in Hollywood during the 40's. Though they were mainly known for westerns and film noir, they did occasionally dip into musicals. How does the story of a woman taking phone calls for a jukebox firm who discovers another woman using her voice look today? Let's begin with singer Judy Alvin (Tilton) gathered with other women to audition for prestigious bandleader Benny Jackson (Collins) and find out...

The Story: Jackson is so fussy about who sings with his band, none of the women pass the audition. Judy is so desperate for any kind of musical work, her best friend Marge (Adrian) gets her a job with a jukebox company that allows bar patrons to call and choose the songs heard over the loudspeakers. Judy, Marge, and the residents of the theatrical boarding house where they live are shocked when they hear spoiled southern belle Phoebe (Betty Brodel) singing with Judy's voice. Turns out Judy and Iris recorded the same song on the same day, and Phoebe's current boyfriend Mr. Fralick (Harry Holman) would rather promote her as a star. Marge is furious and recruits the other boarding house residents to help her prove which woman really has talent.

The Song and Dance: First of all, Judy's occupation is a new one on me. According to Wikipedia, telephone jukeboxes really were a thing in the 40's. These operators "streamed" music into bars via records 60 years before the internet existed. Just having a musical about it is pretty creative. Adrian does by far the best as the hilariously sarcastic best friend who is determined Judy will be heard, no matter what. Brodel also has some good moments as the bratty southern lass who is more than willing to use someone else's voice to get a big job.

Favorite Number: We open with a montage of several women singing the ballad "Let's Capture the Moment." Judy is by far the best of them, but Jackson won't listen to her. Judy and Phoebe both sing "Say It With Love" at the recording studio when the producers accidentally grab the wrong record for Benny Jackson to hear. Judy creates a unique hat from flowers, fruit, and a lamp shade while singing about how "I'll Eat My Hat" if it doesn't go over well. 

Judy, Marge, and their dates Benny and his trumpeter Bobo (Cliff Nazarro) sing "Highway Polka" while out in Benny's car. Phoebe attempts to reprise "Let's Capture the Moment" in the recording studio, but her voice is very different from Judy's. We hear Judy twice later with "Got an Invitation" and "Music to My Ears." Phoebe's dull rendition of "Music To My Ears" is laughed off the stage of the Tropics Club. When Merlini the Magician (Phillip Van Zandt) makes her appear onstage, she finishes things off by reprising "Let's Capture the Moment." 

What I Don't Like: Um, did I mention "low budget B-movie musical?" I appreciate the unique telephone jukebox angle, but otherwise, this is a pretty standard backstage story. Tilton is a fine singer, but she's not the best actress in the world and comes off as a little dull against take-no-prisoners Adrian in particular. The men barely register, including Collings, the one they're all supposed to be auditioning for. And speaking of those auditions, while Brodel's singing voice isn't great, I don't think it was as horrible as they were playing it up to be, either. She lacked passion more than anything.

The Big Finale: While not a masterpiece, or even on par with PNC's film noirs, this is a pleasant enough way to spend an hour and twenty minutes if you ever run into it online.

Home Media: This is in the public domain, so it's easy to find anywhere. The cheapest way to get it on disc is as part of a double-bill with the school-themed All-American Co-Ed. It's currently free with Amazon Prime.

DVD - All-American Co-Ed/Swing Hostess

Amazon Prime

C'mon, Let's Live a Little

Paramount, 1967

Starring Bobby Vee, Jackie DeShannon, Eddie Hodges, and John Ireland

Directed by David Butler

Music and Lyrics by Don Crawford

Paramount made one last stab at beach parties in 1967, just as the surf music wave was cresting. That could be why this one has a topical angle that mostly took it off the beaches and onto a college campus. Colleges across the US were rife with protests as students rallied for civil rights, women's rights, and their own right to speak freely and against the war in Vietnam. It's also a little bit more action-packed than most of these films, with car wrecks and brawls in and out of school. How does all this look now, as more college students one again stage protests and question the rules of society? Let's begin with tough little cookie Judy Grant (DeShannon) who ends up in that car wreck and find out...

The Story: Arkansas hillbilly singer Jesse Crawford (Vee) rescues Judy from the burning car. Her father (Russ Conway) is the dean of students at a local college. He's so grateful, he lets Jesse go to school for free. Jesse befriends nerdy inventor Eddie Stewart (Eddie Hodges), who introduces him to his singing group. Eddie's hoping to beat school intellectual Rego (Ireland) for school president, but Rego has his own ideas of who should be in charge. He holds a rally against the dean, convincing Jesse and Eddie's group to sing for the show. Judy's horrified, until Jesse finally explains that he had no idea what the rally was about, and Judy reminds Rego that there's more to life and love than revolution.

The Song and Dance: I give them a little credit on this one. This is the only Beach Party imitation that got anywhere near the campus radicalism that was much-discussed at the time. It does give you the idea of how scared many adults were of the revolutions happening on colleges around the country in the late 60's and makes for a fairly original twist. At the very least, it makes a bit more sense than teens gyrating on a beach. 

Favorite Number: Our first number is Vee's lovely "What Fools This Mortal Be" with Eddie's group, though most of the second half is drowned out by Rego and Judy's brother Tim (Mark Evans) deciding to add him to their big protest rally. Giggly Bee Bee Vendermeer (Suzie Kaye), Tim's girlfriend who flirts with every guy around, performs the title number with a male combo at a local club. Vee is encouraged to join Kaye and slinky dancers for the swinging "Instant Girl." 

Jesse's hillbilly relatives drive to college singing "Way Back Home" as they wonder about all the differences between their farm and the campus. Jesse sings "Over and Over" while he and Judy discuss their relationship. Eddie and his band rehearse the dance song "Let's Go-Go" at their dorm rooms before the rally. Jesse and Judy really get into their catchy duet "Back-Talk" at the rally, before Rego comes out with his big speeches and annoys the dean and the students alike. We end with black duet The Pair jamming with "Tonight's the Night" at the end of the rally. 

Trivia: Last movie for director David Butler, who had been doing fluffy musicals and romantic comedies like this one since 1927. 

Look for future rock star Kim Carnes as one of Judy's friends on campus. 

What I Don't Like: Even in the truncated version I saw on YouTube, it's still clear that this hasn't dated well at all. In 1967, most college students would have been far more likely to take those protests seriously, and they sure as heck would today. DeShannon comes off a little bit better than in Surf Party three years earlier, but Vee has no chemistry with her and can't act worth a darn and everyone else is either annoying or too goofy. Even Patsy Kelly as Dean Grant's housekeeper can't do much with the witless material she has to work with. The sets and costumes look as cheap as they likely are. We barely even get on the beach, much less have parties. 

The Big Finale: Paramount seems to have wiped out with their attempts to ape AIP. Only for the most ardent fans of Vee or DeShannon, or those who remember seeing these movies at the drive-in or late-night cable.

Home Media: Currently only available in truncated copies from those late-night cable showings on YouTube and the Internet Archive that are missing two of DeShannon's numbers. 

YouTube

Beach Ball

Paramount, 1965

Starring Edd Byrnes, Chris Noel, Robert Logan, and Gail Gilmore

Directed by Lennie Weinrib

Music and Lyrics by various

We're celebrating the end of the summer season this week with the two of the three Beach Party imitations Paramount released in the mid-60's. Beach Ball debuted at the height of the craze in September 1965, when the AIP Beach Party films were doing turn-away business at drive-ins and every studio had begun their own beach-set musicals. Seeing the profits, all of the major studios and many minor ones also started throwing rock acts and their young contracted stars into odd stories revolving around surf parties. How does Paramount's second shot at the teen market look today? Let's begin with shots of surfers hanging ten as the party starts and find out...

The Story: The Wrigglers (Robert Logan, Aron Kincaid, and Don Edmonds) are a rock group who would love to make good, if they didn't owe Mr. Wolf (James Wellman) at the local music store $1,000 for their instruments. Their ambitious manager Dick Martin (Byrnes) goes to Susan (Noel), the head of the college credit union, to try to get alone. He feeds her a sob story about wanting to return to college, until Susan and her friends Augusta (Mikki Jamison) and Samantha (Brenda Benet) see the boys having a party and Dick admits they have no intention of returning to college. 

The girls tear up the check, but change their minds after Dick and the guys say they'll return to college when they can make the money for their instruments. The girls try to give them the money, but Dick gets offended. They do manage to get them a spot in a big car show with a $1,000 prize. The boys end up getting in touch with their feminine sides when they get into trouble with Wolf and having to out-run the local cops.

The Song and Dance: In this case, the song is the only thing that's really of any consequence. Paramount lined up an impressive array of guest-star acts for such a silly film, including the Four Seasons, the Righteous Brothers. and in their first movie, the Supremes. There's also some nice cinematography during the few scenes actually shot on the beach. 

Favorite Number: Appropriately, we kick off with this film's big hit, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons with their smash "Dawn." "Surfin' Shindig" is the first of four numbers from The Wigglers...and the only thing that makes this different than their later songs is Dick insisting that the boys speed it up, leading to them ending with sped-up film. The Righteous Brothers really get rocking at the party that so offends Susan and her girls with "Baby, What You Want Me To Do." "We've Got Money" is the Wigglers' second song at the party they hold when they think they have that credit union check in the bag. We also get an instrumental version that's once again sped up after the ladies leave.

Actual surf rock group the Hondells take us back to the beach with "My Buddy Seat." "Doin' the Jerk" by the Walker Brothers provides the backdrop for the boys evading the cops and ending up in drag. The Supremes pick up next as Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Florence Ballard wriggle their way through the title song and "Surfer Boy" in elegant white dresses and extremely strange hairdos. I don't think the audience was expecting a drag-act Wigglers to turn up onstage, singing "I Feel So Good." The ladies certainly didn't!

What I Don't Like - This is dumb even by the standards of B teen drive-in fodder. All of the terrific music acts in the world can't make up for a ridiculous script, leads that are dull (the ladies) or annoyingly obnoxious (the men), and the cheap production by Roger Corman (one of his very few ventures into musical territory). Byrnes does well enough for a last-minute substitute for Tommy Kirk, but his character is grating and sleazy. 

The Big Finale: Only of interest to the most ardent fans of classic rock or Motown. Anyone else will want to stay very far away. There's far more enjoyable beach parties out there. 

Home Media: It helps that at press time, this can only be found in a washed-out copy on YouTube that seems to have been taped off VH-1 two decades ago. (That said, host Frankie Valli's comments before and after commercial breaks actually make the movie slightly easier to watch and helps put a lot of the idiocy in context.)

YouTube

Animation Celebration Saturday - Rio 2

20th Century Fox, 2014

Voices of Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Andy Garcia, and Jermaine Clement

Directed by Carlos Saldanha

Music and Lyrics by various

Rio was a smash in 2011, one of the biggest animated films of that year. It was likely inevitable that it would get a follow-up, especially after "Real In Rio" was nominated for an Oscar. This one proved to be an even bigger hit, one of the biggest of 2014. Is it as much fun as Rio was, or should this one get cut down? Let's begin back at Rio as everyone prepares to celebrate the New Year and find out...

The Story: The birds are celebrating when Linda (Leslie Mann) and Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro) are exploring the Amazon. After a close encounter with a waterfall, they discover a Spinx Macaw feather, proving there's more out in the wild. After hearing about it on TV, Jewel (Hathaway) thinks she and her family should search for their relatives in the Amazon. Blu's not crazy about the idea, but their children love it. They're joined by Rafael (George Lopez), Nico (Jamie Foxx), and Pedro (will.i.am), who are scouting performers for their big Carnival showcase. 

They eventually discover the Macaws living in an uncharted part of the Amazon. Jewel's father Eduardo (Garcia) is happy to see his daughter again, but thinks Blu is too domesticated and tries to teach him the ways of the jungle. He doesn't trust humans after loggers destroyed their original home. Blu being so close to Linda makes him suspect, especially after he accidentally causes a war with their rivals the Scarlet Macaws. Blu's knowledge of human technology is more useful than Eduardo wants to admit when they're attacked by the same loggers who burned their original home. Nigel (Clement) is still out there, too, looking for revenge with poison dart tree frog Gabi (Kristen Chenoweth) and anteater Charlie.

The Animation: Just as gorgeous this time around, and probably the best thing about this. The musical numbers, with the many birds in Busby Berkeley formations, are beautifully rendered. There's gorgeous details in the Amazon and in Rio as everyone celebrates the New Year. The birds flying to the Amazon is especially lovely as they soar around familiar landmarks and shining waters.

The Song and Dance: Once again, it's the supporting cast who really shine. Bruno Mars is usually a singer, but he manages to acquit himself relatively well here as Jewel's macho childhood friend whom her father wishes she'd married. Garcia also does well as Jewel's militant father. The three kids are hilarious, especially when talking their father into going on a jungle trek. There's some nice action sequences, too. The finale with the birds helping Linda and Tulio attack the loggers is well-composed and genuinely exciting.

Favorite Number: We open with a huge New Year's celebration in Rio to "What Is Love," with the cast dancing and Blu trying to stop his kids from shooting off fireworks (and not succeeding). "Let Me Take You To Rio" gives us a creative montage of the birds flying to the jungle via Blu's GPS and creative pop-up pictures from his daughter's book. "Poisonous Love" is Chenoweth's big solo as Gabi trills to the Nigel, the object of her affection (and obsession). Mars gets to pour his voice into "Welcome Home" as Roberto, Jewel's childhood friend, does just that. 

"Beautiful Creature" is the flock's song, apparently one that they've performed so often, "it's in our blood." This is where the Busby Berkeley comes in as we see the birds flying in lavish formations. Nico and Pedro's attempts at finding an act dig up everything from a mosquito orchestra to a capybara who sings "Memory," but each and every one gets eaten or killed. Gabi and Nigel have far more luck with their more dramatic "I Will Survive." "Bola Viva" is the big soccer match between the birds for their home. The movie ends with a reprise of "What Is Love," this time performed with all of Nico and Pedro's discoveries in the jungle.

Trivia: Disney supposedly has a third movie in development. 

What I Don't Like: Can we say "cliched?" Basically, this is mining any fish-out-of-water tropes they didn't hit in the first movie. I don't know why Jewel had such a hard time respecting Blu's wishes and treated him so badly after they found her family. The Macaws were no prizes, either, especially Eduardo. They barely let the guy have the chance to explain anything. 

The side stories with Pedro and Nico looking for talent and Nigel's revenge plot are shoved in to give those characters something to do and have nothing to do with anything. In fact, Nigel is reduced to a goofy comic relief character here with the annoying Gabi after being one of the scarier villains in the first film. They probably could have eliminated Gabi, Charlie, and Nigel all together with no one the wiser. There's also all the violence in the finale and with the gruesome deaths of the animals who sing for Pedro and Nico in the jungle being a bit scarier than the "G" rating warrants. 

The Big Finale: Same deal here. If your older kids love animal stories or birds or are interested in learning about other cultures, these are worth checking out once for the songs and animation alone.

Home Media: Easily found on all formats, this time including Disney Plus.

DVD

DVD - Rio 2-Movie Collection

Blu-Ray

3D

Disney Plus

Musicals on TV - Annie Get Your Gun (1957)

NBC, 1957

Starring Mary Martin, John Raitt, Retta Shaw, and Donald Burr

Directed by Vincent J. Donehue

Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin

Three years after Satins and Spurs failed to catch on, NBC tried another musical western, this time a Broadway adaptation with a somewhat more likely performer. Native Texan Mary Martin had been a stage star since the late 30's. She was a huge success in the 1947 national tour of Annie Get Your Gun, winning a special Tony for "bringing Broadway to the masses." After her Peter Pan was a ratings smash in 1955 and 1956, they returned to another role she was associated with. Does her version come off better than the 1950 theatrical release with Betty Hutton? Let's head to Ohio, where Buffalo Bill's (William O'Neal) Wild West Show has just gotten into town, and find out...

The Story: Annie Oakley (Martin) is the best shot in all of Ohio. She's so good, she shoots the stuffed bird off the hat belonging to Frank Butler's assistant Dolly Tate (Shaw). Manager Charlie Davenport (Burr) talks her into a marksmanship competition with their shooting star Frank Butler (Raitt) for them to win rooms at the local hotel. 

After Annie beats Frank hands-down, Charlie and Frank convince her to join the show as another assistant. Frank is so delighted with her work, he's smitten with the straightforward young woman, until Charlie gives her an act of her own. She's heartbroken when he takes Dolly and her daughter Winnie (Barbara Luckey) and joins Pawnee Bill's (Robert Nash) rival show. Sitting Bull (Zachary Charles), on the other hand, adopts her into his tribe. 

When Buffalo Bill's European tour produces acclaim but no profit, Sitting Bull comes up with the idea of putting the two shows together. Annie and Frank are all for it...until they start arguing about who's the better shot again. The duo finally take part in one last competition to see for once and for all who really is the best sharpshooter in the world.

The Song and Dance: At the very least, we get some songs that didn't make the cut in the film version and more of a sense of what this was originally like onstage. Raitt is a sexy and very manly Frank Butler and sings better than most of them. Reta Shaw makes the most of Dolly Tate's expanded role, including her reaction when Annie shoots that bird off her hat and her trying to sabotage her gun in the finale. Mary Martin sounds wonderful. Her "I Got Lost In His Arms" is especially lovely, and she works great with the kids. 

Favorite Number: We open with the crowds cheering "Colonel Buffalo Bill" as Charlie and Dolly tout the delights of the Wild West Show. Frank claims "I'm a Bad, Bad Man" to the ladies as he boasts about being thrown out of half the towns in the Midwest. Annie and her siblings say they're only "Doin' What Comes Naturally" when she brings perfectly shot poultry to the hotel owner. Frank tells her that she's not enough woman for him. "The Girl That I Marry" will be feminine through and through. Annie laments that "You Can't Get a Man With a Gun." 

Charlie, Frank, and Buffalo Bill convince Annie to join them with Irving Berlin's show business anthem, "There's No Business Like Show Business." After singing her siblings and two Native children to sleep with "Moonshine Lullaby," Annie's thrilled when Frank says he'll give her billing. They discuss how "They Say It's Wonderful" to be in love. Frank for his part can't believe "My Defenses are Down" and he's fallen for this straight-shooting hillbilly. Annie reprises "Show Business" in the spotlight in front of her image on the poster. Sitting Bull and his tribe literally kidnap her to appear in their big elaborate tribal dance. Annie seems more dazed by their "I'm an Indian Too" than anything.

Annie readily admits she's fallen for Frank, even if he isn't happy about her being a star. "I Got Lost In His Arms," she realizes when they arrive in New York. She sings "I Got the Sun In the Morning" with the crowd at the reception for Pawnee Bill's show after there's talk of merging the two Bills. She and Frank are less thrilled at their competition. Annie points out that "Anything You Can Do," she can do better - including trick shooting.

Trivia: This, too, was broadcast in color for those few who had color TVs in 1957. It was filmed at NBC's new color-equipped studios in Burbank and broadcast to New York. Unlike the Brooklyn studios, the Burbank Studios continue to be used for television filming, though they're no longer owned by NBC.

This would get a TV remake in 1967 based around the 1966 Lincoln Center revival, this time with original stage star Ethel Merman. Alas, that version remains lost at the moment other than one brief clip of her singing "I Got the Sun In the Morning." 

What I Don't Like: First of all, the problems inherent in most versions of Annie pertain to this one, too. It still doesn't treat women and especially Natives well. The Native Americans are still played for comic relief, the lyrics on "I'm an Indian Too" are still condescending, and it's obvious even in the black and white kinetoscope currently available that they're all played by white actors in bad red makeup. It's also very far from historically accurate. In real life, Annie was a soft-spoken and gentle woman who did needlepoint, and Frank quickly realized she was the better shot and stepped down to become her manager. 

Martin is too dainty and feminine to make a great Annie. She does better after Annie cleans up than in the opening when she's supposed to be a hillbilly. Though this does retain the characters of Winnie Tate and Tommy Keller, it eliminates their songs "I'll Share It All With You" and "Who Do You Love, I Hope?" leaving Barbara Luckey and Norman Edwards with nothing to do. And yeah, this is obviously a TV production, with cardboard sets and minimal movement besides two good dance routines on "I've Got the Sun In the Morning" and "I'm an Indian Too." 

The Big Finale: If you love Martin or Annie Get Your Gun, this is worth seeing as a recording of most of the original show prior to that 1966 revamp. 

Home Media: It is on DVD and Blu-Ray, but VAI's discs tend to be expensive. Your best bet currently may be YouTube.

DVD

Blu-Ray

YouTube

Musicals on TV - Satins and Spurs

NBC, 1954

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

Directed by Max Liebman and Charles O'Curran

Music by Jay Livingston; Lyrics by Ray Evans

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

YouTube

Animation Celebration Saturday - Rio

20th Century Fox, 2011

Voices of Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, will.i.am, and Jamie Foxx

Directed by Carlos Saldanha

Music and Lyrics by various

Blue Sky Studios began in 1987 as a firm that created special effects for commercials and films. They broke into feature-length animation in 2002 with the original Ice Age and continued until Disney shut them down in 2021. Though they had many musicals in the pipeline over the decade of their existence, this and its sequel are the only ones that made it into theaters. It was a hit back in 2011, but how does the story of two Spix's Macaws fleeing poachers during Carnival in Rio De Janeiro look now? Let's begin in the jungles of Brazil with birds singing about how they're "Real In Rio" and find out...

The Story: Blu (Eisenberg) was captured as a baby and taken to Minnesota, where bookshop owner Linda Gunderson (Leslie Mann) found him and took him home. She raised him as her own beloved pet, but he's so used to his cage and her shop that he can't fly. One day, bird scientist Tulio Monteiro (Rodrigo Santoro) comes to her shop and insists on her bringing Blu to Brazil to mate with Jewel (Hathaway), the last-known female of his species. Jewel (Hathaway) has no desire to mate with anyone and wants to return to the jungle. Blu, for his part, just wants to go back to Minnesota and his quiet life with Linda. 

This becomes a lot harder when they're stolen by orphan Fernando (Jake T. Austin) and sulphur-crested cockatoo Nigel (Jermaine Clement), who work for bird smugglers. Nigel is deeply resentful of any bird prettier than him after he was replaced by a parakeet on a hit TV show. Jewel and Blu get help on their way through Rio from toucan Rafael (George Lopez), his drooling bulldog buddy Luiz (Tracy Morgan), and goofy bird buddy pair Pedro (will.i.am) and Nico (Foxx). As Linda and Tulio follow their blue friends through Rio, both pairs learn lessons about love, loyalty, trust, and letting your instinct guide you.

The Animation: Colorful and gorgeous, appropriate for the Rio De Janeiro setting. Carnival in particular is rendered beautifully, with its amazingly detailed costumes and floats. The animals look so good, you can see individual feathers on the Macaws. The opening "Real In Rio" number is especially amazing, with its birds blending for Busby Berkeley effects.

The Song and Dance: This is so cute, I really wish Blue Sky had gotten some of those other musicals they had planned off the ground. Though Eisenberg and Hathaway do well enough as the domesticated and wild birds with different trust issues, it's the supporting cast where this one really shines. Lopez is wise and hilarious as Rafael, who keeps trying to push Blu at Jewel, and Foxx and will.i.am play beautifully off each other as the funniest avian duo in Brazil. Jermaine Clement is a nice bitter villain bird, too. Some of the songs aren't bad, either, especially that kaleidoscopic opening number. We also get a lot of real-life Brazilian culture, thanks to Saldanha being an actual Rio native. 

Favorite Number: We open with the entire cast singing "Real In Rio" as birds dance in spectacular formations, fly gracefully across ocean blue skies, and celebrate their native homeland. "Let Me Take You To Rio" covers Linda and Blu's arrival in Brazil and the colorful people they see there. We get a bit of "Say You, Say Me" by Lionel Richie when Blu sees Jewel for the first time. 

"Sapo Cal" and "Copacabana Dreams" can be heard during their escape into Rio. Nigel rants about how a "Pretty Bird" took away his dreams of stardom and why he now wants revenge. Lopez and Bebel Gilberto as his mate get a bit of "The Girl from Ipanema." The marmosets naturally get "Funky Monkey." "Telling the World" is performed by its author Taio Cruz, while will.i.am leads the samba in Rio with "Hot Wings (I Wanna Party)." 

Trivia: "Real In Rio" was nominated for an Academy Award.

What I Don't Like: All of the fancy trappings and Carnivals in South America can't disguise the cliches here. This is a very familiar young love story with a happy ending that has been seen before and will likely be seen again. As good as the songs are, I wish Saldanha would actually let one finish. Most of them are cut off before we hear the whole thing. The action sequences come off as frantic and even a little silly, with people running around in skimpy bird costumes and chasing birds around. 

The Big Finale: If you have kids who love animal stories, birds, or are interested in learning about different cultures, try this one on them. 

Home Media: Easily found in all formats. Rio isn't currently on Disney Plus (though its sequel is), but it's currently streaming just about everywhere else. 

DVD

DVD - Rio 2-Movie Collection

Blu-Ray

3-D

Amazon Prime