Merry Music of May Marathon 2016

[1SO]

How does the fairy godmother and the transformation come into play (if you can get into it without being spoilery, which I now realise is probably not possible).

There are actually 2 fairy godmothers. One sets up and delivers the Happily Ever After while the other (Eugene Pallette) gives the mean family the punishment they deserve. (A great scene.) The transformation is handled by the staff, who put together the dress, the shoes and the escort to the ball in a way that's modern and only magical in a metaphorical sense.

[Sandy]

Tammy and the Bachelor



A one song musical? Good thing it's such an endearing song, sung by such an endearing actress. The song is simple, but it's in the beauty of the phrasing and the guilelessness of the girl, which lifts it into something enchanting. So too with the movie.

Tammy, "so wise and yet so young" seems simple at first, until she expresses herself and then the whole world makes sense. No more hiding behind fear, indecision, or doubt, because she's enchanting everyone out of their ruts with her innocent candor.

[Junior]

I've not actually seen that movie but I love the song thanks to its use in The Long Day Closes. I'm sure I've put this sequence all over the forum, but for the newbies...

https://youtu.be/UzZjgrFNuzA

Seriously one of the best things ever. I've been meaning to check out Tammy and the Bachelor because of it.

[1SO]

I had to stop watching. That kid was swinging me to sleep.

[MartinTeller]

Sandy used the same screenshot I did!

[Teproc]

Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly, 1952)

Singin' in the Rain is basically divided in two. For about an hour, it seems like "Make 'Em Laugh" is the mission statement here : this is supposed to be fun and entertaining, nothing else... and the film argues that there's nothing wrong with that because entertaining is the greatest thing one can do. So it's all poking fun at the movie industry, semi-antagonistic romance and musical numbers with good ole fashioned Gene Kelly mugging.  I'm very receptive to that argument, but... it was decently fun, funny at times, just nothing special. The songs and numbers were good, not great... well okay, "Singin' in the Rain" is pretty great, but even that slightly underwhelming me. Probably expectations more than anything else, but symptomatic of the film as a whole : pretty fun, but not particularly ambitious or impressive.

I get the feeling from looking at reviews that the (many) people who love this are in awe of numbers like "Make 'Em Laugh", "Moses Supposes" and "Good Morning". I'm not, and I'm not sure why... maybe it's the relative small scale ? I find them fun, don't get me wrong, just not... magical, I suppose.

And then the film gets more ambitious with Broadway Melody, a lengthy musical number that comes more or less out of nowhere and seems to signal that the film was kicking into another gear, actually demonstrating its whole "movies are magical" ethos (for me at least). And it does, to an extent : that number takes a bit of time to get there, but it ends up being pretty great... it's what follows that bothers me. The denouement is centered on Lina Lamont, a character that I don't find half as funny as the movie does, bullying the studio and our plucky heroes, and getting her comeuppance of course. The way the studio guy is depicted as a well-intentioned businessman having to deal with this craaaazy woman... it bothers me, a lot. Made the whole last scene very uncomfortable, as we're supposed to root for this character to be brought down and shamed... and yeah, she's awful, but the way the whole situation plays out is incredibly tone-deaf.

So it went from good, to touching greatness, to just bad. Now the last part is not a huge part of the film, but it did sour me on it a bit.

7/10 (would be 6.5 if I did that)

[1SO]

Going Places (1938)

I didn't think casting this month could get any screwier than You'll Find Out, but this one wins the prize. Crooner Dick Powell stars as a sporting goods salesman pretending to be a famous jockey, who is conned by two hustlers (Allen Jenkins and Harold Huber) into riding a wild horse that only calms down when caretaker Louis Armstrong plays "Jeepers Creepers". It was about 15 minutes before there was an actor we didn't recognize. Ronald Reagan is in this for no good reason, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson makes an appearance. So of course when the cops show up, one of them is played by Ward Bond.

I wish the movie was funnier, but it has a lot of energy including some of the month's Merriest Musical Moments. Aside from the Oscar nominated "Jeepers Creepers" there the comedic "Oh, What a Horse Was Charlie", sung by Powell, Jenkins, Huber and Walter Catlett. (Only one can sing, the others belt.) It starts as an improv piano tune, but eventually works in some choreography. Then there's "Mutiny in the Nursery", played and Sung by Louis Armstrong with His Band, Maxine Sullivan, and Dick Powell, which puts a jazz swing twist to Mother Goose. It's interesting that Powell doesn't get a single solo and there isn't a slow tune in the film.
RATING: * * * - Okay

[Sandy]

1SO, what a strange cavalcade of well knowns. You find the most interesting movies!

Sandy used the same screenshot I did!

I thought it looked familiar! It was your review that put the movie on my radar. Took me a long time to get to it, didn't it?


Teproc, most people love everything, but Broadway Melody! Where does Kelly's umbrella dance fit in?

[Teproc]

Teproc, most people love everything, but Broadway Melody! Where does Kelly's umbrella dance fit in?

I've been seeing that yes, I'm sure that somehow explains why I don't connect with it as much : I'm just not looking for the same things everyone else is I suppose.

You're talking about the titular song right ? It's very good. It might have been crushed by the weight of expectations for me... Having just done my awards for the musicals marathon, I thought to myself "if I had to pick one Gene Kelly thing, it'd easily be "I Got Rythm" over this". Which isn't fair, really, because again : very good. Just not as amazing as I expected.

[1SO]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifQ6B7YE6as

Roustabout (1964)
* *
More formula nonsense starring Elvis Presley, this time he falls in with a traveling carnival led by Barbara Stanwyck. I've gotten used to Presley's acting and again I didn't recognize any of the songs, yet enjoyed almost all of them. Stanwyck doesn't exactly phone it in, but her emotions seems awfully familiar. As for the rest... well I expect this shallow package to be about the norm for an Elvis film.
Also with Pat Buttram, whose voice is very familiar from Disney's Robin Hood and The Aristocats.




Hollywood or Bust (1956)
* *
I'm trying to get over my allergy to Jerry Lewis so I can hopefully enjoy his more acclaimed work with Dean Martin and/or director Frank Tashlin. This has a lot of Tashlin's cartoonish slapstick and Lewis plays a film geek, which helps. Not a success, but I've stopped bracing myself and am starting to warm up to Lewis' geeky side.