Underappreciated Film Musicals- Page 3

[BT]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 10:05am

Hey Jose - saw your post about Cabin in the Sky ... did you know that the tornado in the movie was the same one from Wizard of Oz? Oh, sometimes I wish I could remember things that really matter...

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 10:27am

Master beat me to it! I was going to say Too Many Girls. I love that movie! I'm really not fond of the 1947 Good News, but after seeing the clip of The Varsity Rag from the 1930 version, I would love to see that!

[Marquise]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 11:16am

Carmen Jones is underappreciated.

[musicgal04]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 11:30am

I also love "Half a Sixpence". I am a big Tommy Steele fan.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 11:31am

BT--remembering obscure bits of MGM trivia DOES matter!

It matters a great deal.

And, yes, Marquise, Carmen Jones is underappreciated. So is the long-supressed film version of Porgy and Bess.

[Marquise]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 11:38am

I never sot to see 'Porgy and Bess'.
I'm a HUGE Sidney Poitier fan.
I would love to see this.
Even though I know he made that film under some really f*ed up circumstances.

[BrendanStryker]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 12:27pm

Take my word for it, Marquise, there is nothing to appreciate in PORGY AND BESS. It's a horrible film. I saw it as part of a 70MM film festival. Horrible. Although, it does feature, in my opinion, the definitive rendition of SUMMERTIME.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 12:33pm

You know you all loves it.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 2:08pm

Can't believe I forgot Bells are Ringing...

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 2:09pm

I like Dorothy Dandridge's performance, and Pearl Bailey's. Even Sammy David Jr as Sportin' Life has an integrity to it.

I'm not saying it's perfect. I'm saying it's underappreciated and worth seeing as an attempt to render a difficult piece at a difficult time in American history.

It would have been much better if they hadn't fired the supremely gifted Rouben Mamoulian and replaced him with the ham-handed Otto Preminger.

Updated On: 10/31/05 at 02:09 PM

[Glebb]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 2:16pm

I love my recording of the Broadway BELLS ARE RINGING, but the movie never seems to do it for me.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 11/12/05 at 11:57am

Can I get some love for The Slipper and the Rose?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 11/12/05 at 12:06pm

I'm going to say ANNIE and HELLO DOLLY, and I'm not ashamed!

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 11/12/05 at 2:01pm

I can't believe no one has mentioned IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER!

I still think it's one of Gene Kelly's greatest films, I actually like it better than ON THE TOWN.

Great script, wonderful songs, some irritating performances but, had the film been a hit, Dolores Gray and Dan Dailey probably would have gotten Oscar noms. It's a gem, don't miss it.

[Goodtoon]

Posted: 11/12/05 at 9:49pm

Hello there-

New guy here.

I have to say that my tastes and those of MasterLcZA and PalJoey run very close together.

I am hard pressed to call some of these 30s 40s and 50s musicals as 'underappreciated' as it begs the question - "by whom"..(as someone noted).

I'll just name 3 or 4 that I think don't get enough 'press' -

Best Foot Forward

Most of the 1930s Bing Crosby Paramounts

The fascinating 1949 Wm Powell 'pre-make' of "The Band Wagon" called "Dancing In the Dark". Same songs, very similar plot line.

Hollywood Hotel

and I think that ANNIE got shortshrifted.

And there are film musicals that I have waited an entire lifetime to see and have still not seen them.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 11/12/05 at 10:20pm

Welcome Goodtoon!

You are right about sooo many of your choices BEST FOOT FORWARD. "The Three 'B's" is my favorite non-Judy MGM musical number. The story I hear is that before MGM bagged the rights, Harry Cohn had wanted it for Rita Hayworth, Shirley Temple (in the Virginia Weidler role!) and Glenn Miller (instead of Harry James)

I have to admit...a little Crosby goes a LONG way with me. I know he's a great singer. But IMHO his personality got calcified by 1940 and what was charming at first became unbearably smug. My favorite of his 1930s Paramounts in WE'RE NOT DRESSING - how can it not be a blast, if your co-stars are George Burns & Gracie Allen, Carole Lombard, Leon Erroll and Ethel Merman?! And the score is tops: I love "May I?" "Love Thy Neighbor" and "It's a New Spanish Custom".

I have never seen DANCING IN THE DARK and I need to do that. It's amazing to think that Fox sat on the score for years without doing anything with it. In 1945, it seems to have been tentatively sceduled for June Haver, who told the NY Times, "I can't wait to do THE BANDWAGON - It's such a wonderful score!"

HOLLYWOOD HOTEL is very good - I haven't seen it in years, though.

What are some of the musical films you've yet to see?

(Did I mention TONIGHT AND EVERY NIGHT? I'm going to say something heretical - I actually like it more than COVER GIRL, which has those deadly 'Gay '90s' flashback sequences, which make the film draaaaaaag (despite "Sure Thing"). I know 'Gay '90s' musicals were enormously popular in the '40s, but I can't stomach most of them.

Updated On: 11/12/05 at 10:20 PM

Posted: 11/12/05 at 10:46pm

BT, I just returned to this thread and read your post. Thanks for reminding me about the cyclone in OZ and CABIN.

Oh, how can one forget the 1936 Universal producion of SHOW BOAT? A forgotten musical classic directed by James Whale of FRANKENSTEIN and GODS, AND MONSTERS fame.

[fflagg]

Posted: 11/12/05 at 10:57pm

I am not a fan of the film BELLS ARE RINGING. It is OK in spurts but seems an overall film presentation. And I have never forgiven Judy for winning the Tony over Julie in 1956. :)

Another underappreciated musical is SWEET CHARITY.

[roquat]

Posted: 11/12/05 at 11:43pm

Definitely "The Band Wagon" and "It's Always Fair Weather". Two of the most enjoyable movie musicals of all time, both overshadowed by "Singin' in the Rain" (I'm not complaining, but there's room for all of them.)

The movie of "Fiddler on the Roof". It was well cast and directed and almost verbatim from the show--I don't understand why it wasn't more popular. When a TV remake starring Victor Garber was proposed, I wanted to scream, "What's wrong with the original movie?!"

And "Pennies from Heaven" is an (imperfect) masterpiece. The concept--satirizing yet enshrining the movie musical simultaneously--is one that has never been equalled.

I didn't really think the film of "Fantasticks" was too bad. If you had to film it, that's probably about as good as it could be. I just think it's unfilmable.

[DG]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 3:03am

I've always been curious about the movies that aren't classified as 'musicals', but rather 'movies with music'. I know this discussion has focussed on the more distant past - and it's been VERY informative - but two more recent films that I like - but which aren't ALWAYS classified as musicals - are ALL THAT JAZZ and THE ROSE.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 7:18am

Goodtoon, where do you SEE Republic musicals? I'd love to see YOKEL BOY, ATLANTIC CITY, HIT PARADE of 1941 and HIT PARADE of 1943 and a few of the early Judy Canovas. I saw OKLAHOMA ANNIE a few years ago and it was pretty bad , but I need to see SIS HOPKINS and SCATTERBRAIN.

I loves me some Lynn Bari...I always felt she should have wound up with George Montgomery in ORCHESTRA WIFES instead of wimpy Ann Rutherford. I can't believe its actually coming out on DVD!

"My, my..it certainly is Noël Cowardish that you and your rival are such PALS!"

Have you ever seen CADET GIRL? One of my most-want-to-see films.

Updated On: 11/13/05 at 07:18 AM

[DaysOfWine&Roses]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 8:03am

I've only seen It's Always Fair Weather once many many years ago. The scene where he tapdances in rollerskates was.........amazing.

Another forgotten Gene movie I've always enjoyed - Les Girls. Gene and Mitzi Gaynor. A charming oft forgotten little gem.

Also Silk Stockings with Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. Another charming little movie nobody remembers.

And I agree with those who say Annie got shafted. What a lovely little movie.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 11:57am

Goodtoon, where do I start?

HIT PARADE of 1943 is now called CHANGE OF HEART.

I've seen DANCE HALL (for some reason, I alo think that is PD) and I really like it a lot. It captures perfectly the gaminess and sleaze of dance halls, and feels more like a Warners film. Landis and Romero have GREAT chemistry, and aside from Landis crooning "There's A Lull In My Life", I don't remember any other music from it. Have you ever seen TALL, DARK AND HANDSOME with Romero and Virginia Gilmore (the first Mrs. Yul Brynner)? I like that one too - nifty story and Ginny sings a snappy Robin-Rainger number called "Oh, Mother What Did I Do?" (or something like that).

Unlike Warners-MGM, Fox NEVER puts any fun extras (cut numbers) on its DVDs. ORCHESTRA WIVES may have the trailer, but even that I'm not sure of. It doesn't have Marion Hutton singing "That's Sabatoge", alas. Very dissapointing. It has a voiceover track with comments by Rutherford and Miles Kreuger.
Did you know that "At Last" was cut from SUN VALLEY SERENADE? You can hear snatches of it in the "Black Ice" finale medely.

There is much to love in COLLEGE RHYTHM: Roberti, Lanny Ross, Penner (and Goo-Goo) and the fabulous score ("Do eet low-down, Chai-De-Cho down, Dat's College Rhythm!") But Jack Oakie plays perhaps the most unpleasant and obnoxious "hero" I've ever seen in a film musical. He kills the film for me. On the plus side, Have you ever seen the Paramount short "Hollywood Rhythm" with "College Rhythm" and "Take A Number From One to Ten" are prominently featured and where Harry Revel and the magnificent Mack Gordon (all 300 pounds of him) demonstrate how a song is written for a musical?

[roquat]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 2:18pm

COVER GIRL, a 1950s Gene Kelly/Rita Hayworth musical. It's uneven, and there's a horrible flashback subplot set in the 1890s, but there's a lot of good-natured, colorful invention in the musical numbers, and Hayworth dances splendidly (she also mimes delivering the beautiful ballad "Long Ago and Far Away" with uncommon empathy, while another woman's voice is coming out of her.) The Technicolor still looks great.

DANCING LADY (I'm pretty sure this is the title, and that it's from the late 30s or early 40s--it's in black and white). A rather typical backstage story, not really interesting, but it features a number about beer delivered by Joan Crawford (??!!!) and a young up-and-coming contract player named Fred Astaire, both of whom are dressed in stereotypical Swiss outfits (braids, lederhosen, clogs, the works) Has anyone else heard of this one? Not to be missed. Miss Crawford's singing and dancing (which actually got her into the movies) is enjoyably terrible.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 10:16pm

Oooh Goodtoon, You're good! Very, very good!

I assume you have the Vitaphone "Swing, Swing, Swing" shorts tape with Betty Hutton with Vincent Lopez' orchestra singing "Old Man Mose", right? I really want to see her OTHER Vitaphones, but to my knowledge they are not available. I'm also keen to see the early Martha Raye shorts (big Martha fan here) ..I hope they even still exist.

Whats so sad about Roberti and Penner is that they both died when they were VERY young - heart attacks for both. I don't think Roberti was even thirty years old.

Updated On: 11/13/05 at 10:16 PM