MovieChat Forums > Kismet (1955) Discussion > Keel gives an Oscar worthy performance

Keel gives an Oscar worthy performance


I think Howard Keel's performance was outstanding. His singing of course was brilliant. His acting and engaging personality, highlighted by the last scenes with Cabot and the ending were certainly Academy Award worthy.

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He was fine but he was no Alfred Drake!

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True. Alfred Drake was a very short man. He made a couple of screen tests, but he apparently did not film well.

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Howard Keel was outstanding in "Kismet" indeed. Not only does he sing and act beautifully, but watch how attentive he is to the staging of the music. I also like him in "Kiss Me Kate".

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I'm watching "Kismet" for the very first time...I know, where have I been? And I've always loved Mr. Keel. I think my all time fave was "Calamity Jane".

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I have loved Howard Keel since I was 8 years old and saw Kiss Me Kate in 3D.

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Maybe his best performance, but better than Brando in On the Waterfront? Please! Brando's was probably the greatest single performance by an actor; it certainly was the most influential.

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If Howard Keel had been nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for KISMET, he would not have been competing with Brando but with Ernest Borgnine (MARTY), James Cagney (LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME), Frank Sinatra (THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM), Spencer Tracy (BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK) and- the one who should have won in my opinion- James Dean in EAST OF EDEN. No major acting award was given posthumously until Peter Finch won for NETWORK- in that scenario the votes were in before he suddenly died. Heath Ledger may be the first Oscar winner to be voted for after his demise. Reportedly, Keel understudied Alfred Drake in this role. He gives a good performance despite very little assistance from Minnelli, who did not like the show and only took on the job in order to be given LUST FOR LIFE, a pet project of his. According to some sources, he spent more time on the costumes and sets than anything else related to the film. This certainly shows as the film is a visual treat, particularly on the recently released blu ray.
It's a mixture of good and bad, with the former (just) winning out, largely due to the beautiful score, sung better in the film than by the original Broadway cast. It's flat and stagy in places, performed with gusto (by everyone but Vic Damone, who tries hard but was never an actor by any stretch,although this was nonetheless his best role), well composed in the still-new CinemaScope format by Joseph Ruttenberg (who also shot GIGI), sadly bowdlerized by the censors, well orchestrated and performed by the MGM orchestra but ends with a whimper, not any kind of a 'bang' (though this may be the fault of the stage libretto- the play was a success in SPITE of mostly negative reviews). The box office failure of this, JUPITER'S DARLING and IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER caused the demise of many contracts and - virtually- the MGM musical. Fox, Warners and Columbia took over in the ensuing years for various brief periods of time as the leading makers of film musicals, almost totally derived from Broadway shows.
P.S. Keel was not even up for a Golden Globe for this performance. I think his best acting work was in SHOW BOAT. The Rhino CD is very worth getting, although whoever wrote the liner notes makes it sound as though this was one of MGM's best musicals. The LP notes went even further, comparing it to GONE WITH THE WIND (if you can believe that.)

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You're right about Brando/Borgnine, also about Dean. His not winning for East of Eden disappointed me so much that my mind must have blanked on 1955. If Dean had lived, he might have turned out like Paul Newman, who should have won for at least one of four films before the Academy threw him a bone for a lesser performance and role. He wasn't even nominated for Somebody Up There Likes Me, an astonishingly loose and daring performance. With some maturity, Dean could have played Hamlet. Regarding the Oscars in general, they're a political sham.

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