So many MGM musicals are lauded to the skies, but there were some real duds in paricular anything with Cyd Charrisse or Kathryn Grayson-with the exception of Kiss Me Kate. Lovely to Look At is just a dull dreary formulaic bore.
John Ratcliffe
Well, you are right about Cyd Charisse.
Except for Singin' In the Rain.
And The Band Wagon.
And Brigadoon.
And Silk Stockings.
Wait! I guess you're not right after all. Maybe they aren't all the greatest musicals but hardly duds.
Excellent reply, dgz78.
~You know, James....I was always better.
In your opinion. In mine, I like a lot of them. They are enjoyable and I always have a smile on my face at the end. They may not be gourmet restaurant quality, but there are times I just enjoy something that satisfies my appetite, not something that looks great on a plate but is only 6 bites in amount.
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Very few movies of ANY genre are classics. The MGM musicals boast
classics, good films, fair films, and a few lousy ones. This film
is a fair film - a fair film with some sensational musical numbers,
which will be watched by film historians a hundred years from now
and beyond. After we're all gone. Do you think anyone will be watching
JLO movies??? I doubt it.
I have to agree with original post on this particular movie. It is pretty rough sledding. That fashion show finale is tedious, too long and it makes poor Red Skelton look foolish rather than funny. To me the most potentially interesting characters were those played by Kurt Kasznar and Zsa Zsa.
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The fashion finale was directed by Vincente Minnelli (uncredited) who
didn't want to do it, but was forced to by Metro. It looks like he
threw up. Garish colors, cluttered staging, a royal mess. By contrast,
director Mervyn LeRoy and choreographer Hermes Pan gave us some terrific
stuff earlier in the film: "I Won't Dance", superbly danced and staged;
both versions of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" - beautifully danced by
Marge and Gower; hauntingly sung by Grayson. And while I'm no Skelton
fan, his monolgue at the piano is hilarious. Anyway, I'd rather watch
this again, then sit through half the crap that gets released today.
Interesting because I thought the opposite. The fashion show was, for me, the best part of the movie. The colours, the settings and the 50's clothes, it worked for me.
shareGive me Fred, Ginger, and Irene Dunne in the original Roberta. In this one, three women were needed to play the roles that Ginger did so well in the classic.
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