Unusually intricate, witty songs may ultimately have hurt the film


Having finally seen the film in its entirety, I struck by how the Shermans went way out of their comfort zone with the songs. Usually their style was instantly hummable melodies backing simple, easy to remember lyrics. The "Slipper and the Rose" songs seem inspired more by the Lerner & Lowe 'My Fair Lady' score....the music basically supporting the increasingly complex, clever rhyming patterns.....this may be one of the reasons for the film's fall into obscurity - the songs are tuneful and pleasant to listen to when you're watching the film.....but honestly, a day after seeing it, I can't remember a single one of them - and that never bodes well for any musical......

reply

I also was reminded of Lerner and Loewe. Richard Chamberlain's songs were tuneless enough that he might as well have spoken them à la Rex Harrison. And some of them were intricate, repetitive explorations on a theme like "Why Can't the English" ? emanating from the brain and not the heart, not melodically interesting, overlong, and designed to show off verbal cleverness (Lerner manages this better than the Shermans). A concise lyric is usually stronger, more memorable, and more difficult than a wordy one.

reply