I agree!! Tommy Steele definitely makes the movie!! He is the perfect singer, dancer and actor for this film!!! I saw this movie when I was little and bought it on DVD last year and still listen to the songs while on my computer working!!
~Paul
100% agreement
the human mind is not an omeletteshare
He's got that very Dick Van Dyke-ish way about him, if you'll take my meaning. When he's on screen, it's hard to pay attention to anyone else...With perfect comedic timing and effortless singing and dancing. He truly makes "I'll Always Be Irish" and "Let's Have a Drink on it" his very own. I loved the bit with him and Fred MacMurray before the intermission, "Well, you know what they say about people who talk to themselves." I just wish he were in more.
"Poison Dart? Ahem. Cherry Tart?"
What a pity Walt Disney didn't cast Tommy Steele as Bert in Mary Poppins three years earlier. A Cockney as a Cockney, though Dick Van Dyke (in spite of his terrible accent) is good, and helped 'sell' the film to the American audience. However, Tommy, though a great all-round entertainer, was TERRIBLE as the Irish Leprachaun in Finian's Rainbow in 1968, a ridiculous, over-the-top and annoying performance that probably killed his career in America - and so soon after it had launched! But there is one wonderful number he did in the film with Petula Clark: 'Something Sort of Grandish', a little gem in a mess of a movie.
shareI'm sorry you didn't enjoy him in Finian's Rainbow; personally, I loved him and that movie. However, to each his or her own, we all have different tastes. I hope others won't be discouraged from giving it a look and judging for themselves. Tommy Steele was/is/always will be a charmer and a great talent. It's good to see he is still an active performer in England, and seems to be so beloved by audiences.
shareI love TS in Finian's Rainbow (just got it the other day - my first viewing of it!).
Oh I love when he says "Poison Dart...I mean Raisin Tart?" (it was raisin, but that's okay).
Sorry, just kind of slap happy right now, lol.
-Amanda
"She will remember your heart when men are fairy tales in storybooks written by rabbits"
I saw this when it first came out, along with my 2nd wife, son, and stepdaughters. Steele was good although I won't say he stole the show.
I'm the kind of guy, when I move - watch my smoke. But I'm gonna need some good clothes though.
To me he is like Mickey Rooney - a small amount can go a very very long way. I have a difficult time watching movies with these two performers. The only film I can handle of Mr. Rooney's is "Mad Mad World". I do get a great laugh from his performance in that film.
shareK'cha! T.S. was charming as you please, far more so than Rooney.
I first saw this maybe twenty years ago, and !YAY!, it entered my short-list of delightful films right away. For me, the combination of Mr. Steele and Mr. MacMurray was magic. They played wonderfully off each other!!
The 'solid-as-a-rock' MacMurray apparently said some scathing things to Steele....covering his homosexuality, his avid use of mind-numbing substances and his character in general.
Despite some evidence to the contrary, I believe this was AFTER the movie was made -- simply because they work so well on-screen here.
Wheee!
Steele is not homosexual.
shareI agree. I loved the movie and the album, Steele's numbers in particular, when I was a child. But now I find his performance of the opening number "Fortuosity" so gag-inducing that he's worn out his welcome for me before we're five minutes into the movie.
shareI have not yet seen "The Happiest Millionaire" but have seen "Finian's Rainbow". I do like "Half a Sixpence" - perhaps this is the better introduction to Mr. Steele's American films. He has had quite an illustrious career in the U.K. and continues to perform there.
sharei completely disagree with welch57's assessment of t. steels performance in Finian's Rainbow. Like one of the other reviewers, i can't take my eyes off of him when he is performing. He has tremendous charisma & great comedic timing. i especially liked him in the scene with the little blind girl. And i consider that to be his best performance.
shareI found his mugging and waddling walk irritating. But I liked the movie in spite of him.
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