The Unsinkable Molly Brown film on DVD

I didn't know Meredith Willson wrote a musical other than The Music Man! Well, The Unsinkable Molly Brown was his follow-up. The music for Molly doesn't reach the same level as Music Man. Mainly I miss the group numbers--not just chorus numbers, but also songs for smaller groups. And the leading lady doesn't even get a big 11 o'clock number for herself.

This 1964 film version of the 1960 stage musical stars perky Debbie Reynolds as the titular floater. Ms. Reynolds is not one of my favorite performers, but is the right balance of bubbly and brassy for this role. Harve Presnell makes his screen debut as John Brown, a role he originated on Broadway. Mr. Presnell has a robust and agile baritone voice that I very much like.

I was surprised by how much dance there is in this film. And it was choreographed by Peter Gennaro, a Broadway hoofer and choreographer from the 50s through the 70s. He danced in the original casts of Pajama Game, Bells Are Ringing, and Guys and Dolls. He choreographed Molly Brown on Broadway, Fiorello!, and won a Tony for Annie, as well as being co-choreographer for the original production of West Side Story. His choreography for Molly is lively, and appropriate for character/time/place/etc. without being over-the-top.

The Unsinkable Molly Brown
Music and Lyrics by Meredith Willson
Cast: Debbie Reynolds, Harve Presnell

Paint your Wagon film on DVD

Points given to Lee Marvin for at least trying, which is more than some seem to do in this 1969 film version of Lerner and Loewe's 1951 Paint Your Wagon.

Alan Jay Lerner is the producer of the film, and it must be due to his efforts that the show was put on film 18 years after its stage debut. I've never seen the stage version, so I don't know how they compare.

This show and story and score have not passed the test of time. "They Call the Wind Maria" is the only song I previously knew from the score. "I talk to the Trees" might be a pretty tune, but it's lost in delivery. And Elizabeth's song "Behind the Door" and Ben's "I was Born under a Wanderin' Star" might be pretty, too, if they were written in a real vocal range, rather than in the key of basement husky. There's some fun choruses for men--lively and raucous--but nothing that really moves the story along. On the whole there are better "frontier" musicals that I look forward to hearing and seeing as my Year progresses.

Paint Your Wagon
Music by Frederick Loewe
Lyrics and book by Alan Jay Lerner
1969 Film version
Cast: Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, Jean Seberg, Harve Presnell, and Ray Walston with the worst red hair and accent of his career.