It's Always Fair Weather--film on DVD

It's pure Hollywood invention on film for today--no Broadway antecedent, unless you count On The Town which is sort of a pre-quel to It's Always Fair Weather.

The stories for both Town and Weather come from the pens of Comden and Green, who between their stage and screens credits are leading the race for the most mentions in my Year's entries. The two stories also each feature three WWII GIs; In Town it is sailors on 24-hour leave in Manhattan. In Weather, we have three soldiers who reunite 10 years after they are discharged.

I have only heard of Michael Kidd as a choreographer; I didn't know about his cinematic past. I had never heard of Dan Dailey at all, although his bio says he was a former vaudevillian who was also in the original cast of Babes in Arms on Broadway. Both have a likable screen and musical presence, although they pale a bit in comparison to Gene Kelly's wattage. I'm sure that was part of the point of their being cast.

The story of this film is very down, and the behind-the-scenes extras on the DVD rightly credits that aspect with the film's initial failure. There are some wonderful dance and musical moments, but they didn't add up to enough to draw me into this film.

One bright spot in the show is Dolores Gray who does an hysterical turn as a television talk show host and musical performer--imagine Dinah Shore meets Rachael Ray. No Rachael is too folksy, but I can't think of another female talk show host I find as cloying as Ms. Ray. Anyway, Ms. Gray is a versatile musical performer who portrayed Lalume in in the film version of Kismet, had starred as Annie Oakley in the London production of Annie Get Your Gun, and was nominated for a Tony award for Destry Rides Again on Broadway (directed and choreographed by Michael Kidd).

The late Cyd Charisse is the leading lady opposite Mr. Kelly, and while I find the dancing Ms. Charisse performs in the film to be wonderful, her character and performance left me dry. The music as provided by Andre Previn and the legendary Arthur Freed Unit--ditto.

It's Always Fair Weather
Music by Andre Previn
Book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Released by MGM in 1955
Cast: Gene Kelly, Michael Kidd, Dan Dailey, Cyd Charisse, Dolores Grey,
Directed by Kelly and Stanley Donen

DuBarry was a Lady--film on DVD

Often very talented people don't fit into the narrow categories they are offered in the early part of their careers. They need to define themselves as performers and find their niche or remake the world to create a new niche for themselves. That seems the case with the very talented but ineffective cast of Cole Porter's DuBarry was a Lady.

Lucille Ball may suffer the most in this film for not fitting the mold of a beautiful chanteuse looking for marriage with deep pockets rather than love. In her early scenes, Ms. Ball falls flat and in delivering her dialogue and even in her nightclub song (where she is clearly dubbed). She comes to live much more in the "second act" of the film which is entirely a dream sequence in 18th Century France. Here there is a lot more comedy in which she can shine, and there are flashes of the comic genius that will redefine television and create the sit-com a decade later.

Gene Kelly and Red Skelton also suffer to a lesser extent being cast in this musical which really don't fit their talents. Skelton, too, will prove better in the medium of television. While Kelly has a fantastic tap number, he's not the singer to introduce Porter's song "Do I Love You."

The delightful find of the film is the comic song "Salome" sung by Virginia O'Brien, who fares well as the under-appreciated comic side-kick. The other big number from the score is the familiar "Friendship" where Ms. Ball is clearly no dubbed, but perhaps should have been.

DuBarry was a Lady
Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter
Film released by MGM in 1943
Cast: Lucille Ball, Red Skelton, Gene Kelly, Zero Mostel, Virginia O'Brien, Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra

Ziegfeld Follies--film on DVD

Okay, it's time for me to get back to what I said I was going to listen to--Broadway cast albums. It's been so cold, I've been content to let the DVDs be delivered to my mailbox. And some of the Hollywood musicals have been interesting and worth seeing, but they are not really what gets my juices flowing. And in the dead of winter I need some juice.

Unfortunately, I didn't get much from the musical revue film Ziegfeld Follies. As this was a commercial success when released in 1946, I'm certain it attracted a good percentage of a generation being nostalgic about pre-War entertainment. But if this film is indicative of what a Follies show was like, then I'll give up ever being nostalgic. With a cast of thousands, as many stars as are in the heavens, and the entire set, costume, and music staffs of MGM studios, I could have hoped for better. I think this may be a case of too many cooks ruining the pot.

The comedy scenes (featuring Fanny Brice, Red Skelton and others) fall flat to me. They are probably classic vaudeville routines, but they didn't reach out to me across the footlights--well, really across the living room. The musical numbers--while often lavishly produced with a seemingly endless string of costumes, lighting effects and chorus girls--also did not arouse much interest in me.

There were three possible exceptions to my dim view which warrant mention. Lena Horne sings an interesting song "Love" that has a lovely melody, although needs a better B-section. Regardless, Ms. Horne is an incredibly watchable performer. The satire song that Judy Garland sings has potential, but doesn't get to its point quick enough. The routine of Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire has some very nice dancing.

I watched the extras to this DVD before watching the feature. Included is an interview with Kathryn Grayson who relates the story of her great dislike of the song by Roger Edens which she sings in the finale. While listening to this story, I thought "How bad can it be?" Well, stay tuned to the finale and listen to the cloying lyrics and go-nowhere melody of "Beauty."

Better yet, don't, and go to a real Broadway show instead.

Ziegfeld Follies of 1946
Music by who cares
Lyrics by many
Directed by Vincente Minnelli and others
Cast: Lucille Ball, Red Skelton, Fanny Brice, Fred Astaire, Kathryn Grayson, Gene Kelly, Lena Horne, Cyd Charrise, Judy Garland, Esther Williams

Gene Kelly--Anatomy of a Dancer on DVD

After my recent first and last with Gene Kelly, I was glad to find in my mailbox something I thought might help me understand Kelly's place in the dance world of musical movies. Gene Kelly--Anatomy of a Dancer was an American Masters PBS broadcast from 2002 and includes lots of clips from Kelly's films and talking head interviews with people who worked with Kelly and critics who put his work into the perspective of dance history on film.

Knowing very little about dance, I can tell that Mr. Kelly doesn't dance in the same way as Fred Astaire, and one critic puts it rather simply, in a manner even we neophytes can understand: Kelly puts everything down into the floor, while Astaire lifts everything off the floor. I can appreciate that critics here refer to Kelly's style being more athletic, but I think perhaps that does a disservice to the other dancers' styles. Kelly's choreography looks more athletic.

I wanted to see more early history on Mr. Kelly in the feature, but touting itself as analyzing the contribution to film dance of its subject, I guess I need to find a more traditional biography to fill in the early blanks.

It was especially nice to include so much information from Kelly's first wife Betsy Blair and their daughter. I also enjoyed seeing Betty Garret--the Edna Babish of my youth, from Laverne and Shirley. And Arthur Laurents may be one of the last connections to that era of musical-making, both on stage and on film--and he's still directing, with a new Broadway production of West Side Story in both Spanish and English set to open soon.

Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer
PBS American Masters Series
Broadcast in 2002
Released on DVD in 2004
Cast: Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Cyd Charisse, Leslie Caron, Besty Blair, Elvis Mitchell, Betty Garret, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Nina Foch, Arthur Laurents

A Gene Kelly double bill--his first and last for MGM

Completely unplanned by me, I find that I have sitting in my mailbox the films that feature Gene Kelly's first starring role for MGM and his last starring role for MGM. So I thought it might be interesting to watch them back to back and compare and contrast. While both For Me and My Gal and Les Girls are films with music, neither were produced on the stage, although the later features songs by Cole Porter. Separated by 15 years, these films are definitely products of their times and present incredibly differing sets of morals.

For Me and My Gal from 1942 stars Judy Garland and Kelly as vaudevillians making the circuit and trying to climb up the ladder to better acts, better theaters and better pay. Essentially, though, this is a war film, promoting the heroic efforts of our boys in uniform (depicting WWI, but playing to a WWII audience). Kelly is willing to make any choice to get booked into the Palace Theater (the height of the circuit) and when his draft notice threatens that, he makes a "coward's choice", which he nearly immediately regrets.

Les Girls from 1957 is also set on the show circuit, this time in Europe, and with Kelly again playing a bit of a cad who is looking out for his own interests. The story-telling here is much less linear than the earlier film, as the story is presented as flashbacks from several characters' differing viewpoints.

Gene Kelly is of course the quintessential musical film cad--good-looking in a slick way and likable, but not trust-worthy. I found it interesting this was his niche from beginning to end at MGM, although I haven't watched his entire filmography, so perhaps he ventured outside that niche at some point. With that scar on his left cheek, you just have to wonder how he got it.

Dancing styles had certainly been transformed in the years between these two films. The choreography in Me and My Gal is straight out of the vaudeville theater, very presentational, very two-dimensional, and broadly performed, despite being directed by Busby Berkeley. In Les Girls, dance numbers are much more lavish and emotionally charged. There are moving camera points, movable sets, and a looser, more sexually charged style of choreography.

The music in both films is rather forgettable, I'm afraid. The title song in the earlier film is a standard, but nothing else really reached out to me. Les Girls features "Ca C'est L'amour", which is a nice song, but with only five songs in the whole film (mostly presented in the "show within the film" setting) I can't really consider it a musical. I was interested to learn, though, through a DVD extra interview, that Porter wrote 12 songs for the film and only 5 were used.

For Me and My Gal
Music by several people including Roger Edens
Directed by Busby Berkeley
Released in 1942
Cast: Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, Marta Eggerth, George Murphy

Les Girls
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Directed by George Cukor
Released in 1957
Cast: Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor, Taina Elg, Kay Kendall

On The Town film on DVD

New York, New York, it's a Wonderful Town. And this is a Wonderful Film! Deservedly a classic musical picture with a star-studded cast. The stage show of On The Town has some music that didn't make it to the film, most notably for me is "Lonely Town", a ballad which Gabey sang in the original Broadway production. It's a great song and I miss it. I also miss "I Can Cook, Too" which Nancy Walker sang in the stage version as cabby Hildy. The songs that Roger Edens wrote for the film, aren't all that special when compared with Bernstein.

With Gene Kelly as star and co-director, it's not surprising that dance plays a big role in this film, as it must do in the stage version, too, since the show originated as an idea for a Jerome Robbins ballet with music by Bernstein. As the theatrical trailer, which is about the only DVD extra, states--"It's twice as gay as 'Anchors Aweigh' " and boasts "A Torrent of Talent and Tunes."

I wonder if there is a more accurate version of On the Town on film, perhaps a taping of a stage production.

On The Town
Music by Leondard Bernstein
Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Screenplay by Comden and Green based on their stage play
Additional music by Roger Edens
Directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen
Cast: Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Jules Munshin, Betty Garrett, Ann Miller, Vera Ellen.