by Allan Fish
(USA 1952 102m) DVD1/2
Monumental Pictures Presents
p Arthur Freed d/ch Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen w Betty Comden, Adolph Green ph Harold Rosson ed Adrienne Fazan md Lennie Hayton m/ly Arthur Freed, Nacio Herb Brown art Cedric Gibbons, Randall Duell cos Walter Plunkett
Gene Kelly (Don Lockwood), Debbie Reynolds (Kathy Selden), Donald O’Connor (Cosmo Brown), Jean Hagen (Lina Lamont), Millard Mitchell (R.F.Simpson), Rita Moreno (Zelda Zanders), King Donovan (Rod), Cyd Charisse (Dancer), Douglas Fowley (Roscoe Dexter), Madge Blake (Dora Bailey), Tommy Farrell (Sid Phillips), Kathleen Freeman (Phoebe Dinsmore), Robert Watson, Mae Clarke, Dawn Addams,
Singin’ in the Rain is one of those films that finally convinces me that my generation is myopic. If you asked your everyday film buff what Singin’ in the Rain meant to them, it’s a fair bet to say about 50% of them will say that it was sung by Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange. The fact is that musicals are dead, but not because they aren’t still popular; Chicago won best picture, Evita did alright, too, and Joss Whedon’s musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was universally acclaimed, but they represent a stagy form of musicals, based on or inspired by Broadway productions. Real musicals are from that golden age of the studio system where studios had stars and technicians under contract and musicals were churned out like factory produce. At MGM, producer Arthur Freed headed a mini studio within a studio and, following the success of An American in Paris, he handed himself carte blanche for his next production, which was to be a movie satire including the back catalogue of songs written by Freed with Nacio Herb Brown. It didn’t sound promising, but what resulted was the greatest musical ever made. Period.
The story itself is pure cliché; two stars from the silent era have contrasting fortunes with the coming of sound. The male star sounds alright and turns to musicals, but the girl, in the words of Cosmo Brown, can’t act, sing or dance and has a voice akin to scraping claws down a blackboard. The guy falls in love with an aspiring ingénue, but she ends up merely dubbing the singing and dialogue of the female star so no-one knows her talent. But hey, this is Hollywood (twice over) and we know we’ll get a happy ending. If not, the patrons might just ask for their money back (no danger of that).
There are songs here that really aren’t that good, but sheer energy and enthusiasm gets them by (‘Moses Supposes’ and ‘Fit as a Fiddle’, for example). Likewise, ‘Make em Laugh’ so shamelessly rips off Cole Porter’s ‘Be a Clown’ as to be close to legal action, yet who cares when performed with such inexhaustible energy as Donald O’Connor. Quite ironically, the title song isn’t even the best number in the film, a title more deserving to either O’Connor’s aforementioned solo or the ensemble of ‘Good Mornin”’. Yet for pure iconography, Kelly’s solo in the puddles is matchless (especially considering he had flu on the day of the shoot), imitated so hilariously by Morecambe and Wise but undiminished to this day. Indeed, the performances are wonderful, from the fresh faced Reynolds suffering at nineteen under taskmaster Kelly to the walking energy ball O’Connor (who gets all the best lines), from Hagen’s splendidly garish Lina to Mitchell’s confused studio head pretending he’s still in charge. Nor can we forget the contributions of co-director Stanley Donen, Comden and Green for their wonderfully nostalgic yet barbed script, which skewers all those caricatures of the silent age (the European vamp with a new husband a week, the flapper with a string of rich old men who look like they’ve been resurrected from the dead) and MGM’s own period recreation, which captures the twenties flavour superbly. It’s so much fun, we actually regret being unable to see The Royal Rascal and The Dancing Cavalier, films out of the John Barrymore The Beloved Rogue tradition. When Reynolds kisses Kelly prior to the legendary title number, she tells him that “this California dew is just a little heavier than usual tonight.” Kelly replies “from where I’m standing the sun is shining all over the place.” Watching Singin’ in the Rain fills you with its own form of cine-sunlight.
Click on names for archives
Writers/Founders
Just for those of our cousins across the pond in the old colonies who don’t know of the late Morecambe and Wise, British TV comedians of the 70s and 80s, here’s their immortal spoof of the title number from Singin’ in the Rain…
Hi! Allan Fish,
While viewing that You Tube clip that you, posted my only two reactions were ….Laughter and couples of Omg!
Allan said, “Just for those of our cousins across the pond in the old colonies who don’t know of the late Morecambe and Wise, British TV comedians of the 70s and 80s, here’s their immortal spoof of the title number from Singin’ in the Rain”
Right you are!…I have never heard of “Morecambe and Wise.” And I must admit that I do watch a lot British comedies that are/were reruns (and my favorites I have purchased on dvd) on PBS.
Tks, For Sharing!
DeeDee 😉
Cont.
Cont.
I really “like” this movie….Because it’s hard to say “love” right now, but your review of “Singing in the Rain” cover all the bases. (another “baseball analogy, ” but this time I don’t have to try to” tag” you out!)
Btw, out there in the blogosphere there is a blog (If I can recall correctly) with the name “The Dancing Cavalier,” and every time I see that blog’s name…I think of actress Jean Hagen’s “Lena” high-screeching” voice.
Once again!…Thanks, for a sharing a very detailed and quite honest review of a film that my mother, placed directly in “me” hands.
Deedee 😉
Thanks, DeeDee, they did many musical skits – one from South Pacific – There is Nothing Like a Dame – and a genius riff on Slaughter on 10th Avenue, too. My all-time favourite has to be the breakfast routine, though, which is here…
First things first, great review Allan.
Make em’ laugh still mesmerises today, every time I see it I swear O’Connor is on strings or the purveyor of the earliest kind of CGI. It’s just sheer class. The film is peerless in its energy and vision, Gene Kelly’s final act, that beautiful dance, the billowing veil is exquisite and never bettered.
And Morecambe and Wise, just the names make me smile, how wonderful it is to see their magic still working on new audiences.
There’s a story about Gene Kelly watching that sketch for the first time at some award show, probably in his honour, and his absolute delight and love of whole thing. What praise indeed.
Excellent review of my favorite musical. I teach this film to highly appreciative students every year.
My question is–how do Allan and Sam maintain such an intense pace for writing new posts? Is there some secret that you could share with your readers?
Hi!Allan,
I just viewed their 2nd skit that you posted from YouTube….one word “funny”
btw, in that skit their precision was “great” neither one of them didn’t drop one “item” period.
Tks, for sharing and the intro(duction.)
Deedee 😉
Yes, heard something similar myself, Ibetolis, and it’s hardly surprising, being as it is the sincerest flattery to his genius.
Filmdr. My answer is simple. I cheat. All these reviews, of the vast majority of them, are already written. I have written a book on the masterworks of the screen – film and TV – that runs to presently 1,128 entries, and of which these are merely the tip of the iceberg. Each day, I merely paste them in from MS Word in a matter of minutes. I have been working on it for 6 years this coming July, so it’s a work in progress.
And DeeDee, glad you enjoyed again.
Film Dr.
From my own end I can say that while I don’t have a book written (or nearly written) like Allan does, my own posting is uneven. I go in spurts with some periods of prolific output, while at other times my domestic responsibilties limit my contributions. But this is true of all of us, I know. My efforts last year to overcome such a constriction got me in some trouble, but I learned my lesson so to speak.
Allan’s review of this musical masterpiece and his you tube clip are both exquisite.
And if you get time check out the Andre Previn sketch with M & W here…
By the way, I consider WEST SIDE STORY as the greatest film musical of all-time, as does Stanley Kauffmann.
Allan will go back at me on the thread and argue that it was the best Broadway show, but not the best film.
I will exhaustively argue my case during the upcoming 60’s poll with a comprehensive revisit. SINGIN IN THE RAIN of course, is near the top among musicals.
No serious film connoisseur can consider WSS a masterpiece film, because it isn’t, not in a million years. If they’d let Jerome Robbins do the while thing it may have been, but once Robert Wise was handed the director’s megaphone, they went for mediocrity (he made nothing of note after 1951) and safeness. Plus, Wood and Beymer redefined atrocious in the leads.
At least on the bright side, it’s a million times better than The Sound of Mucus (or for a sequel where the Nazis win, “The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Jack-boots”) or the execrable My Fair Lady with the all-time worst performance in a musical from Audrey Hepburn.
Interesting that you say that as the aforementionedd Mr. Kauffmann has said for many years that WSS is the greatest film musical, and many film “connoisseurs” that I know feel the same.
You originally had the film at **** (highest rating) when we first met, but you downgraded only after I showed it great enthusiasm. The comment about Natalie Wood being “atrocious” because they rightly dubbed her singing is completely assinine, as is that scurilous and wrong attack on Audrey Hepburn.
You gave THE SOUND OF MUSIC 3 out of 4 in your film book, (which is by your explanations, a very high rating indeed) but now you act like it’s the worst abmomination in film history.
Consistency my friend. Consistency.
Allan apparently has lost his memory today.
The esteemed and celebrated LESLIE HALLIWELL, who wrote and originated the book that Allan has invested so much of his life promoting an studying, “Halliwell’s Film Guide”, gave WEST SIDE STORY his HIGHEST four-star masterpiece rating **** with this comment:
“The essentially theatrical conception of this entertainment is nullified by determinedly realistic settings, but production values are fine and the song numbers electrifying.”
That’s **** from Leslie Halliwell. Would you count HIM as a passable film “conneisseur?”
The same Mr. Halliwell, gave THE SOUND OF MUSIC an excellent *** capsule as well. 3/4
What makes these ratings even more astonishing is that Halliwell is perhaps the most resistent to giving high ratings to ANYTHING.
There are critics that love WSS and others that don’t, but Halliwell’s judgement goes a long way, when one considers how presumptive Allanj was in his original statement.
Mr Halliwell actually gave it *** and so it stayed right up until his death, it was later updated by John Walker, which anyone who knows their stuff – and Halliwell’s works – will tell you. In other words, not you, and if you don’t find him significant enough, why quote him? Touche!
Learn your place, little man, don’t start arguments with the big boys…
What pray tell does THAT mean??
So JOHN WALKER, another man you have praised to high heaven, and have had communication with directly, has no place here???
Point is then that Halliwell gave it 3/4 (still phenomenal) and Walker (does he qualify as a film connisseur?) gave it 4/4
Know your place indeed.
It just shows you don’t know your stuff, and you directly quoted Halliwell as giving it ****. Plus you can only bring forth someone you actually don’t consider a serious critic – laughably – and even then erroneously…
Out of your depth, fella, back to the paddling pool where you belong, this is the deep end.
The typical arrogance. What else is new?
Excuse me for opening up Halliwell’s Film Guide and accessing the WEST SIDE STORY entry and seeing it has a **** rating. Your prying into the specifics undermines the entire validity of the film guide. If Walker’s criticism isn’t worth a damn, why did you write that long piece here months ago, in which you actually did compliment him as a critic many times.
Walker is only good when you agree with him.
The point is that you said – AND I QUOTE –
The esteemed and celebrated LESLIE HALLIWELL, who wrote and originated the book that Allan has invested so much of his life promoting an studying, “Halliwell’s Film Guide”, gave WEST SIDE STORY his HIGHEST four-star masterpiece rating **** with this comment
You say LH gave it this. He did not. You say how were you to know? Those who know Halliwell would know. The point is your remark was bullshit, but when your idea of winning an argument is simply having the last word, despite being given the simple mop brush off (aka. I wiped the floor with you), I can only smile a rueful smile. We love you, dear friend, but you aint half an old fraud. Natural born bullshit!
Look, this argument is over WEST SIDE STORY. It’s NOT over who knows Leslie Halliwell intimately.
I open up the guide, I see the guide has WEST SIDE STORY at 4 stars and I take it like everyone else at the face value. Are we to all deduce that there are mitigating factors here?
YOU are the one who is looking to win this argument by issuing the last word!!!!!!!
And you are throwing your good friend John Walker to the wolves, all because he LOVES LOVES LOVES WestSide Story like so many others in the critical establishment do!
Your final words and your name calling are reprehensible, but you have no choice in the absence of reason.
Allan and Sam, I won’t add anything to the WSS/MFL debate except to say that I like them both and the music in them is without peer. (Surely that counts for something.) Maybe when you guys get to the 60’s I’ll have more to say. (I will say at this point that I find Halliwell such a curmudgeon that I don’t pay any attention to his star ratings.)
As for “Singin’.” I love musicals. My favorite musicals are the Technicolor MGM productions of the 40’s and 50’s. This is my favorite of the MGM musicals. I don’t know if there is a technical term for this form of reasoning, but the upshot is that “Singin'” is my favorite musical of all time, and one of my ten favorite films of any kind. I don’t know what I could add to Allan’s review, except to say I was surprised to find it at #4. Are there any other comedies in the top-50? I haven’t gone back and reviewed the entire list, but the closest I recall is “Sunset Blvd.” which has a warped sense of humor in some parts but isn’t per se a comedy. With all the heavyweights on the list, I don’t even recall any light-ish entertainments. The closest would be “North by Northwest,” I suppose.
Is there any chance “Some Like It Hot” will be #3? I’m not counting on it. I predict “Touch of Evil.” Further predictions: “Vertigo” at #2 and “Sansho the Bailiff” at #1 (based on Sam’s hints). If I’m right, do I get a prize? Allan, isn’t this what is called a trifecta at the racetrack?
Well, let’s just say you’re not a million miles away and leave it at that… 🙂
I have never been one for musicals, and if I ever did sit through Singing in the Rain, I can’t recall it, but strangely I did enjoy WSS and do think it is a great film, with its stunning on the streets feel, hip choreography, and the exploration of the urban working class, the immigrant experience, gang violence, and youthful angst. The young stars were at their peak, and all truly inhabited their roles.
Musicals are a strictly Hollywood phenomenon, and to mind were essentially frivolous, though Grouch did great things with his musical numbers in Duck Soup, Horse Feathers, and Go West. Also, the gritty musical numbers by a very raw young Elvis Presley in Jailhouse Rock and King Creole from the mid-50s are worth mentioning.
R.D. You have figured out two of Allan’s three Top 3, ,though he’d sign my death warrant if I let them out here in public.
My own Top 5, R.D. (and all the lists can be accessed on the thread link under teh banner head)
1 Sansho the Bailiff (Mizoguchi)
2 Tokyo Story (Ozu)
3 Diary of a Country Priest (Bresson)
4 Vertigo (Hitchcock)
5 Wild Strawberries (Bergman)
I never cared for SOME LIKE IT HOT, but I’m in the minority there. Your commentray on musical shere is again top-rank!
Now for Tony…………
Tony:
Your commentary on WEST SIDE STORY here is dead-on and most insighful to my perceptions, and although you are not a musical fan, I would imagine the operatic score ravished you too.
The Elvis stuff has dazzled many, and the Groucho numbers are priceless!
Yes Sam, the score is great and the renditions have never been bettered on disc, except that the absolute best rendition of Maria was a no. 1 single issued in the mid-60s by the now-forgotten P.J. Proby. It has to be one of the most beautiful love songs ever and Proby’s interpretation floors me every time.
How dare you say P.J. Proby is long forgotten!! He’s just started a big 2010 Spring tour of the U.K. & in the Autumn will be part of a 60’s tour visiting 40 U.K. towns & cities. You’re right on one thing….his interpretation of “Maria” (& countless other songs ) is second to none!
I must seek out Proby’s MARIA as soon as possible.
I confess to never hearing it before!
Careres does a fine job, but not definitive.
Good review.
Wouldn’t agree with the assesment that the ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ number wasn’t the best and was only memorable for it icon value – hindsight value. Think it’s up there with the other two numbers you cited.
The nothing of value that you cited from Wise after 1951, would uinclude these superior works.
Executive Suite (1954)
West Side Story (1961)
The Haunting (1963/I)
The Sound of Music (1965)
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
hmmmm
LOL!!
I’ve been reading this little war of wit over the WEST SIDE STORY dilemma for about 20 minutes now and almost wet my pants.
I only live a few seconds away from Sam. I have known him for well over ten years and consider him one of my closest friends and confidants.
We have been having this same argument since I first met him. He will fight for his beliefs as I am sure Allan will continue as well. But, I don’t know Allan personally and cannot comment on his personality. Sam, on the otherhand, I can comment on and I’ll say this; when it comes to WEST SIDE STORY, and defending it as the greatest film musical of all time, he’s like a swarm of starving sharks getting ready to ravage a school of tuna that has accidentally crossed over into the feeding ground. He LOVES the 1962 classic. This argument he’s having with Allan will not only keep him awake tonight but probably cause night sweats!
LOLOLOLOLOL!!!! LOLOLOLOLOL!!!
I’m glad I’m no longer the only one that has to go through this.
LOLOLOLOLOL!!!! LOLOLOLOLOL!!!!
However…
For me, I have to side with Mr. Fish. I will not go all analytical as to my millions of reasons why.
But, I will say this.
My house may have burned down. My dog might have just been run over by a car and my mother viciously raped after I just came home from the worst day of work.
But, if it’s on the tube, SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN would STILL make me smile ear to ear. I don’t know what it is about it. It’s just one of the most joyous films I know..
Sorry Schmulie, I have to admit I like SITR better…
You two crack me up!!!!
Dennis
I’m too lazy to pick a favorite, but I have to say — and maybe everyone will try to deck me for this — what about The Wizard of Oz?
I mean.
Singin’ in the Rain, as Dennis points out, is joyous. West Side Story is rapturous despite some cinematic imperfections. But then, Singin’ is transcendant . . . but WSS’s source material is pure heaven. . . .
And what’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg? Chopped liver? Showboat?
I’m gonna go look at those clips — thanks!
The above-linked breakfast routine is superb. One can only imagine the amount of rehearsal involved.
Bonjour! Messieurs,
Least we forget! Mademoiselle Deedee, favorite Musical…“Gigi”
…I think everything about this 9 times Oscars@ winner is“Parfait.”
From the first time that I was handed a copy of this film by my Mère, I have since been handed another copy recently, (on a “Laserdisc” which I just view as a ““collector” item) from friends that I assisted in their move from the U.S. to Canada. And I finally, purchased a copy of the film Gigi on DVD. (I also own the world famous affiche de film.)
Directed by Vincent Minnelli the Best Director …Oscar went to him…
From a novel by Colette
And with music by Lerner-Loewe
(Lerner and Loewe are the creators of another one of my favorite Musical” My Fair Lady.”)
The Cast: Is parfait!
Leslie Caron … Gigi
Maurice Chevalier … Honoré Lachaille
(Rick, from Coosa Creek Cinema…ha-ha!)
Louis Jourdan … Gaston Lachaille
Hermione Gingold … Madame Alvarez
Eva Gabor … Liane d’Exelmans
Jacques Bergerac … Sandomir
Isabel Jeans … Aunt Alicia
John Abbott … Manuel
Merci!
Deedee 😉
Bonjour! Pierre Du Plume,
Je dois chercher le film Parapluies de Cherbourg sur. Parce que j’ai entendu “parler” de la
ce film, mais je n’ai jamais vu cela avant.
Merci!
Mademoiselle Deedee 😉
Translation:
Bonjour! Pierre Du Plume,
I must seek out the film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg because I have heard “talk” of
this film, but I have never watched this be fore.
Merci!
Mademoiselle Deedee 😉
Bonjour! WitD readers,
Trivia Is this an unknown fact?!? 😕
to the readers and the film buff(s) who(m) visit “Wonders in the Dark,” but how many of you knew that actor Jacques Bergerac, who(m) portrayed Sandomir in the film “Gigi”…. was once married to actress Ginger Rodgers?
Merci!
Deedee 😉
Bobby, there’s no masterwork in those films you list to match The Set Up, The Day the Earth Stood Still, or even The Body Snatcher. Glad to have your contrary point again, but sorry, WSS, TSOM and the rest, not in the same league.
Pierre, I know exactly what you mean about the breakfast routine, pure genius…when they open the fridge door I start howling. The nearest we had were The Two Ronnies, and here’s their best…
Ooo LaLa! (Slap cheek)…. I would be “remissed” if I didn’t mention another one of my favorite Musical….“Funny Face…” starring actor/singer/dancer F. Astaire, and the beautiful and sweet actress A. Hepburn.
Without “running the risk “ of sounding like a bragger, but I own this film on vhs, (once again, handed to me by my Mère) dvd, and I also own the original soundtrack of this film on a Lp (that I was very fortunate to find on eBay. btw, I also own the world famous affiche de film.) and on a Laserdisc…given to me as a token of appreciation by my friends, who(m) were unloading items that they no longer wanted for their journey from the United States to a “new land” C-a-n-a-d-a!
(Now, who(m) would be the first “brave soul” to say…“I guess that she don’t like the film “Funny Face?!?”) ha!-ha! 😆
Merci!
Deedee 😉
lol…..
I’d have to site ‘The Haunting’ (1963) – an ode to his Val Lewton days, as one of the top six ghost stories in the movies, not too far behind ‘The Innocents’ and ‘Kwiadan’, ect. and the ‘The Andromeda Strain’ (1971) one of the 3 or 4 best SF films of the ’70s. But my general listing of those was more to say that there were other films of ‘value’ by the man. 😉
Looking forward to your next pick of the best of the decade.
Cheers, Bobby…for ghost stories, I always think of Kwaidan (full 4 hour version), The Innocents and The Uninvited…
Dee Dee:
Thanks again for your wonderful additions to the thread! Indeed in many ways GIGI is a real treasure, and I love that replication of the cast there! I know Allan is probably not a big fan of Minelli’s film, but that LERNER & LOWE score is priceless, as is their score for MY FAIR LADY in 1964!
And another gem with FUNNY FACE!!!
You are really getting me into “the musical mood” today!!!!
Hi!Allan and Wonders in the Dark readers,
Here goes Mr.Kelly….I hope that you, enjoy!
Deedee 😉
Dee Dee!!!
Both our submissions came in at the same time (check above)
Great minds think alike!! LOL!!!
I will check out your you tube now!!!
Merci Beaucoup!!!
Whereas I am already on record here as a lover of film musicals, and whereas this thread is enjoying unprecedented longevity, I hereby submit my personal list of my dozen all-time favorite (American) movie musicals:
1) Singin’ in the Rain
2) On the Town
3) Meet Me in St. Louis
4) A Star Is Born (1954)
5) Funny Face
6) West Side Story
7) Gigi
8) Top Hat
9) Swing Time
10) Gold Diggers of 1933
11) & 12) The Band Wagon, Easter Parade
Afterthought: Anybody interested in my thoughts on “The Haunting” can read my post on it from last fall at The Movie Projector (sidebar links: “Horror,” “Julie Harris,” “Robert Wise”).
Tremendous list there R.D.
Here’s mine:
1) West Side Story
2) Singin in the Rain
3) Cabaret
4) Love Me Tonight (1932)
5) An American in Paris
6) Meet Me in St. Louis
7) Showboat (1936)
8) Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
9) Goldiggers of 1933
10) The Music Man
11) Chicago
12) Beauty and the Beast (1993)
13) My Fair Lady
14) The Sound of Music
15) A Star is Born (1954)
Runners Up: Swing Time, Top Hat, The King and I, Funny Face, Gigi, Band Wagon, Babes in Toyland, Footlight Parade, Godspell
Note: I did not consider “The Wizard of Oz” a straight musical, even though I did consider “Babes of Toyland” (which crosses genres) as one. “The Wizard” is a fantasy with some songs, “Babes” is an operetta with a comedic plot.
R.D.
I will check that HAUNTING piece out ASAP.
Sam, how could I have overlooked “Cabaret”? As you could tell from my list, I’m not a big fan of movie versions of Broadway musicals, but that one certainly should have been on there, probably between “Gigi” and “Top Hat.” I like your list too but must confess there are a couple on there I haven’t seen.
R.D. It is easy to forget some here, as I had to add on three occasions before submitting. I noticed you aren’t a big fan of Broadway-to-Film, but that fair enough. Many film purists understandably feel the same way.
I’d like to see Allan’s list.
Thanks, Allan, for the linke to Morecambe & Wise. Although I don’t always catch references that are specific to England, I’ve always enjoyed the sense of humor of the English.
With all this talk about favorite musicals, no one has mentioned “Oklahoma,” which many view as a significant milestone in the evolution of the musical.
Sam — “Oz” in my book falls into the category of musical. If one starts defining sub-genres, it gets too messy.
And — while we’re at it and if it’s not too late — what about The Rocky Horror Picture Show?
Getting back to Singin’ in the Rain, I’ve been wondering about something now for decades. Toward the beginning of one of the film’s production numbers, the audience sees a shot of a door with a geometric symbol on it. I’ve been told the symbol has some special meaning. (I believe I’m talking about the production number where Gene Kelly later knocks on several other doors looking for work as a dancer.) Does anyone know what I’m referring to?
Pierre:
You have me very intrigued with that last query, but I’m loathe to say I can’t provide an immediate answer. I will see what I can find out, and am tempted to access that scene later today when I get home from school. Perhaps Allan can shed some light on this, as he is very observant, as you are. This one really has me going now.
At the end of the day, I can’t argue with you declaring THE WIZARD OF OZ as an out and out musical. I guess I’m really (deep down) looking for an excuse to ‘disqualify’ it, as it would seriously challenge WSS for the Number 1 spot among musical, and would thereby ‘fly in the face’ with my ongoing war with Allan!!! LOL.
Pierre: GODSPELL was my ‘irreverent’ musical pick (I had it as a runners-up) but you won’t get an argument out of me concerning ROCKY HORROR, which I saw twice at midnight shows in marajuana-infested theatres. It would be more than a legitimate choice, no doubt.
I love the music in OKLAHOMA, and it’s an important film for all sorts of reasons. But for me it’s not a very good film, as it’s clunky, episodic and pedestrian. SOUTH PACIFIC is maligned with the same issues, methinks. Neither is blessed with imagination, kinetic energy, nor especially fine acting, even if those songs still resonate. I’d say it’s ‘elephantine.’
Oh, man, I can’t even begin to start naming my favorite musicals. They are all so knotted up together in my heart. I grew up on them, and used to dance around on the furniture singing at the top of my lungs to my parents’ 8-tracks of things like The Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof, My Fair Lady, Oklahoma and West Side Story.
Singing in the Rain was a very late discovery for me, actually. I think it was about five years ago that I saw it for the first time. On the first viewing, I liked it well enough, and fell in love with some of the best production numbers. But I had to see it again and again. Now, I just love it all, even the musical numbers that I don’t think work quite as well as the eponymous and iconic Gene Kelly song and my personal favorite, Make ‘Em Laugh (didn’t know that was so similar to the Cole Porter song, but I doubt that would change my mind. It makes me laugh out loud, literally every time).
When I’m having one of those particularly dreary or down days, in a funk I can’t shake, this is the film I reach to put in the DVD player. I usually don’t watch it straight through, but watching even a few selected scenes immediately improves my humor.
I’m not sure my list of best musicals would have these particular two, Singin’ and West Side, duking it out for #1, but both are strong choices. I would guess that Sam falls hook, line and sinker for the more operatic elements of West Side Story, whose music I could sing (if I could sing, that is) all the livelong day and probably all the livelong week as well. Great music, great lyrics all the way through, just tremendous. These two are so different, though, one a light comedy interspersed with songs and one more of a prolonged series of dramatic songs interspersed with dialogue, I find them hard to compare.
It’d be a much sadder and less cinematic world for sure without either of them in it.
Let me know who wins. ; )
SITR won, Jenny, but Sam will obstinately refuse to bow down to any sort of reality. He’s like a founder member of the Flat Earth Society, refusing to look facts in the face. Or, in cinematic terms, like Admiral Lord Horatio d’Ascoyne, getting his ship sunk due to an act of extreme obstinacy and then insisting on going down with his ship.
Jenny, I certainly agree with you about the music and lyrics from WSS. This was the first film musical I really loved, and I knew every note and every word by heart. My high school algebra teacher went to see it and complained to the class, “There wasn’t a single tune I could come out of the theater humming”! My reaction was one of astonishment. A few years ago I heard an interview with Steven Sondheim (in my opinion, along with Andrew Lloyd Webber responsible for destroying the stage musical–I’m fully prepared to be pilloried for expressing this opinion) on NPR in which he said he didn’t like the songs from WSS: “Lenny wanted to write pretty songs, and he wanted pretty lyrics to go with them. The only song I like is ‘America.'” Considering the quality of the music and lyrics, to me it’s a shame that most of the great Broadway musical didn’t translate that well to film, or at least not as well as musicals that were from the beginning conceived as movies. I found it interesting that neither Sam nor I included “An American in Paris” or “Oliver!” (two of the few musicals to win the best picture Oscar) as one of our favorites. It doesn’t seem as though anyone else mentioned them as especially notable examples of the genre either.
R.D.: Truth be said, I am actually a fan of both OLIVER! and AN AMERICAN IN PARIS. The stylistic Gershwin opus speaks for itself, and the Lionel Bart musical is the U.K.’s answer to the Hollywood musical, with infectious songs like “Consider Yourself,” “Where is Love?” and “Food Glorious Food” among others, generating sustained effervesence. I couldn’t quite sneak AN AMERICAN IN PARIS into my comepetitive Top 25 of the 50’s, but OLIVER at least contends for the upcoming 60’s poll. Of course, with the preponderance of foreign-language excellence, it’s doubtful I’ll get a musical in my Top 25 list, apart from WEST SIDE STORY, which is going to be my #3 behind Bresson’s AU HASARD BALTHAZAR and Bergman’s PERSONA.
Your algebra teacher probably regreted the day he uttered those treasonous words! LOL!!!
Of course R.D., I do agree with you on the incomparable quality of Leonard Bernstein’s music and Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics. Only one other musical property in history is on that level of excellence, and that’s Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s SHOWBOAT. Those ate the two titans in stage history. Interestingly enough, I will be seeing the stage revival of WEST SIDE STORY here in Manhattan in the upcoming months, and in addition to a planned full review for the site, I will again revisit the issues R. D. astutely brings here to the table, as well as the time-worn discussion of stage vs. screen.
Allan continually reprimands me on my love for the “film” WEST SIDE STORY as nothing more than a validation of it’s inherent strengths as a stage work (music/lyrics) The film by Robert Wise and Jerrome Robins captured the work’s “spirit” and “essence” and it’s deft editing, cross-cutting, kinetic energy and soaring emotions on screen mitigate less vital issues like “dubbing.” Allan of course believe the dubbing to be harmful. I don’t.
R.D. As far as Andrew Lloyd Webber goes, I will say this: he wrote one extraordinary score: “The Phantom of the Opera.” The overwhelming popularity of the work has been well-realized, but it’s true that the jury is still out on whether Webber destroyed or revitalized the stage. He did write a second score, which was kitsch and insulting to some, but it had legs, and that one is “Cats.”
Similarly, Sondheim gave us “A Little Night Music” and “Into the Woods,” which taken on their own terms are quite good.
But the damaging aspects of their vision are also evident in a general sense.
The dubbing wasn’t harmful, the performances of Wood and Beymer even when not singing were harmful. She never lived up to her name more in her life.
Wood was fine in that role. Beymer wan’t ideal, but no damage was done, and Moreno and Chakiris were vivid.
Moreno danced well, Chakiris looked cool in his clothes, nothing more…stop flogging the dead horse, it’s not a masterpiece.
John Walker says it is!
YOU stop flogging that dead horse with eternal neagativity.
Sam, now that I think about it, I did see “Sweeney Todd” with Angela Lansbury and George Hearn on PBS quite a few years ago and liked it. It didn’t seem much like a traditional Broadway musical, but I thought it was excellent, and both leads were outstanding.
R.D., I’m sure that SWEENEY TODD was great stuff.
If I may ask, what did you think of the Johnny Depp film version directed by Tim Burton?
Sam, I didn’t see it. The cast and director sounded intriguing, but what I read about it was so tepid that I didn’t feel inspired to go out of my way to see it. If you’ve seen it, what did you think? Should I watch it if I get the opportunity?
Sam rates most musicals as masterpieces, to be fair this one isn’t bad. Burton isn’t capable of producing a great film, but this one is probably alongside Edward Scissorhands, his best. ***½ for me.
Depp and Bonham Carter are good.
I DO NOT rate “most musicals” as masterpieces. OLIVER, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, OKLAHOMA, SOUTH PACIFIC, THE KING AND I, MARY POPPINS, CAROUSEL, CAMELOT, SEVEN BRIDES, THE MUSIC MAN, GUYS AND DOLLS, and so many others are NOT masterpieces by a stretch. I like some of these, and am indifferent to others among them, but the MASTERPIECE label goes to some of the ones I mentioned the other day, including WEST SIDE STORY, MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, CABARET and SINGIN IN THE RAIN.
R.D. SWEENEY TODD deserves your attention, especially since the reviews it received were overwhelmingly favorable. You may have come across a few that were in the extreme minority. It’s very well-done.
Hang on, you said Oliver is in contention for your best of the 60s lists, despite mentioning at least 60 films from the 1960s only a few days ago that you DID consider masterpieces. What gives?
Here’s your quote…
“I couldn’t quite sneak AN AMERICAN IN PARIS into my comepetitive Top 25 of the 50’s, but OLIVER at least contends for the upcoming 60’s poll.”
And you say above An American in Paris is not a masterpiece by a long shot, yet here you say you couldn’t quite sneak it in. That’s pure contradiction, old boy.
Unless of course by your definition of “in contention” means “it was first seen between January 1st 1960 and December 31st 1969”. Another example of being seen to agree with everyone, whether you actually do or not. By those rules, Dr Sex, The Creeping Terror and The Curious Dr Humpp are in contention. Let’s have a few votes for Russ Meyer’s masterpiece Mondo Topless while we’re at it.
If this was The Muppet Show, you’d be Kermit the Frog, and the rest of us in the main cast. Thank God I’m up there with Tony in the balcony playing Statler and Waldorf.
I NEVER made a statement that implied that EVERY film in contention for my decade listing was a “masterpiece.” That is YOUR designation. OLIVER get 4.5 of 5. That is NOT a MASTERPIECE, but rather a near-masterpiece.
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS comes close.
Congratulations on your comedic flourishes with Kermit and company.
You said “are not masterpieces by a stretch”
Didn’t realise ½ a star was a stretch.
As for masterpieces, it was the other night, when I counted 57 certainties for your 25…IN YOUR OWN WORDS…
I NEVER used the word ‘masterpiece’ in describing those 57. That is your own embellishment.
Actuallt 1/2 is a stretch, by my rating system, as a five star designation could well eclipse 4 1/2 by quite a distance. There is no limit on 5.
well, you said “well, that’s a amasterpiece”, or “that’s an absolute masterpiece”, or “that’s a shattering masterpiece”, so sorry, old man, I thought that meant you thought it was a masterpiece. My mistake, I thought we were using English here, not doublespeak.
I have no further comment on this subject.