Anchors Aweigh

Usually, I don’t use the phrase “It’s cute” as as praise in my reviews, but Anchors Aweigh is different.  There’s a charming mix of fantasy, romance, song and dance in this story about two sailors, their quest for dames and the obstacles that help them find love.  With all the good laughs, fun song and dance scenes and sincere motives that move the plot, cute isn’t belittling, but a real compliment.

Decorated sailors Joe Brady (Gene Kelly) and Clarence Doolittle (Frank Sinatra) are given a four day leave in Hollywood.  Joe, with his reputation as a wolf, plans to have a good time with a sultry sounding lady, Lola.  Clarence is more timid and inexperienced and asks Joe to help him find a girl.  Meanwhile, Donald (Dean Stockwell), a little boy wanting to run away to join the Navy, has just been found by the police, but they can’t get him to tell them where he lives.  Joe and Clarence are brought into the station, hoping that the boy will talk to his idolized sailors.  Donald is thrilled to meet them, warming up especially to Joe and lets them take him home.  They get stuck watching Donald until his Aunt Susie gets home, to which Clarence doesn’t mind but Joe is missing his big date with Lola.  Turns out, Aunt Susie (Kathryn Grayson) is a beautiful young woman, struggling to become a singer and Clarence wants Joe’s help in wooing her.  Instead, they promise Susan an impossible audition with José Iturbi, a famous conductor and pianist working in Hollywood.

To most classic film fans, a movie with Gene Kelly dancing and Frank Sinatra singing is pure gold.  Though this was their first of the three films they would be together in, the two collaborate so well and are a real treat to watch.  In the scene where they improvise a song about Susie, their sailor-buddy antics peak enough to scare off a prospective suitor for Susan and keep the audience in stitches.

One of the best and most famous song and dance scenes, many people have already seen without even knowing it.  When Joe is telling Donald and his classmates a fictional story about how he got his medal, the film goes into a fantasy world where Kelly sings and dances with cartoon animals, including Jerry the mouse from Tom and Jerry.  It’s a very well done scene showcasing Kelly’s moves and mixing live action with animation seamlessly.  The scene was ripped off by Family Guy, inserting Stewie over Jerry.  Just mimic the original choreography and you’ve got three less minutes of creative thinking to do.  I doubt many viewers realize how many classic dance scenes Family Guy shamelessly parodies.

Overall,  Anchors Aweigh is a really fun musical comedy with great actors, thought out characters and an interesting plot to the end.  This would make for a great classic movie night with the kids.  The sailor’s plight to find women and keep up appearances keep adults snickering while the singing, dancing and antics with Donald will keep kids connected.

“-These men have other things to do.
–No they haven’t, they’re on leave.”

Fiddler on the Roof

Let’s return back to Russia, to a rural Jewish village deeply rooted in tradition.  In this lively musical based off the musical play, Tevye (Topal) is a poor milkman with five daughters, three of which are quickly approaching marrying age.  Traditionally, the town matchmaker finds suitable husbands, and she has heard that the town’s butcher, Lazer Wolf (Paul Mann), wants to marry Tevye’s oldest daughter, Tzeitel (Rosalind Harris).  But Tzeitel and her childhood friend Motel (Leonard Frey) pledged to marry long ago, he was just too scared to ask Tevye’s permission in time.  Tevye is a good man who wants to see his daughter happy, so he consorts with God before breaking tradition and permitting Tzeitel to marry the man of her choosing.  This isn’t the last time Tevye will have to deal with his daughters breaking traditions in marriage.  And unfortunately, the Russians are planning a demonstration against the Jewish community that will damper the marriage and eventually change the village forever.

The idea of traditions changing is one of the main focuses in the film.  Tzeitel and Motel are only the beginning.  When Perchik (Paul Michael Glaser), a young man from Kiev arrives in town, he brings all his big city educated ideas with him.  Tevye employs him to teach his daughters in payment of food and he opens second eldest daughter Hodel’s mind to many new ideas in politics and religion.  At the wedding he even breaks tradition and dances with Hodel.  As the Russian revolution brews, he must leave and when he is in trouble, Hodel breaks even more tradition and must leave home to help him.

With his extensive stage experience, Topal plays a perfect Tevye and earned an Oscar nomination for his performance.  Before the film, he had already played the role over four hundred times on stage.  One of my favorite traits about Tevye is his open conversations to both the audience and to God.  With the audience, he explains how tradition dictates everything in his village and keeps us up to speed with the story.  With God, he asks for guidance and humbly asks for a few things to be better.  We never see him drop to his knees and pray, but he talks to God like a friend, very casual and open.  Is that so traditional?  Seeing Tevye open up like this is refreshing, the song If I Were a Rich Man is my favorite in the film.

Musicals are not my usual favorite, but Fiddler was absolutely wonderful.  The whole film is filled with a passion and energy that just naturally overflows into traditional song and dance.  Even the more solemn songs that are meant to portray different aspects of Jewish tradition are engaging and thought provoking.

Though the film is three hours long, it doesn’t feel like a long marathon of a film.  The songs really do help break it up and the story is engaging and simple enough for all personalities to get involved. I would suggest this film for everybody, but would love even more to see Topal perform live on stage.

“Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as… as… as a fiddler on the roof!”

The Smiling Lieutenant

Style-wise, this is basically a cookie cutter copy of One Hour with You and it doesn’t help that it also stars Maurice Chevalier.  That would be alright, but The Smiling Lieutenant doesn’t have the same silly, toe tapping feel that made me fall in love with One Hour with You.

When Austrian Lieutenant Niki (Maurice Chevalier) and Franzi (Claudette Colbert) become lovers everything is perfect and he can’t help but smile and be happy.  But he smiles and winks to Franzi as the king and princess of Flausenshaum ride by, and the princess believes that the Lieutenant was laughing at her.  The nerve!  Especially when they have felt less than welcome in their travel to Austria.  When the king asks Niki to explain himself, Niki charmingly wins them over, but perhaps too much.  Suddenly, the naive Princess Anna (Miriam Hopkins) wants to marry Niki, and he is in no position to say no.  What will happen to Franzi and Niki’s happiness?

What makes this film feel so different to a film so similar is how the main conflict is treated.  Here, when Niki does not want to marry Anna, he’s helpless and forced to.  What’s worse, is we see him broken down and sad about it.  That doesn’t make for an easy-going, fun film.  Yet, in the end, the whole conflict becomes so trivial when ***SPOILER ALERT*** we realize that Anna just needs to look the part for Niki to warm up to her.  Typical guy.

The songs aren’t so great either.  This goes back to abruptly breaking into song again.  Franzi plays the violin and Niki the piano at times, and I guess that’s a way to justify their need for musical boisterousness.  I’d happily take a duet with no vocals.

There are also two bits where Maurice Chevalier sings directly to the audience again, just like in One Hour with You.  Problem is, he does it at the beginning and the end, like tidy bookends.  But with so much space in the middle without our eyes meeting it makes it feel more awkward, forced and less personal.  With less 4th wall breaking, I also got the feeling that Niki was not as warm and friendly a person as Andre.

There’s little need to see two film that are so similar.  Unless you really love Claudette Colbert or Miriam Hopkins you’re better off with One Hour with You.

“I don’t know very much about life. I got all my knowledge out of the Royal Encyclopedia. A special edition arranged for Flausenthurm, with all the interesting things left out.”

 

One Hour with You

This has got to be the most charming little film of the 1930’s I’ve encountered yet.

In One Hour With You we meet a young, happily married couple: Andre (Maurice Chevalier) and Colette (Jeanette MacDonald).  It’s summarized (partially in song) how happy they are and how great marriage is.  The next day, Colette’s old friend Mitzi (Genevieve Tobin) is coming to visit.  Mitzi is one of those flirtatious girls who won’t let up once they spot a target, and she’s all over Andre in no time.  Andre tries his hardest to resist, but by the end of the night after he and Colette host a lavish party, he is in Mitzi’s arms.  He isn’t proud of it, and even asks the audience, “What would you do?”  When he hears that Mitzi’s husband is planning to divorce her over the incident he knows he has to come clean to his wife.  But she’s been having to handle the advances of another man herself.

This film is just an easy-going musical comedy, and I don’t mean that in a condescending way.  There’s something about the old-timey music and the screwy romance plot that makes you smile, relax and not take things so seriously.

Many times, a rhyming dialogue eases into a song.  That may sound strange, but it works as such a natural transition.  I’ve complained before about the sudden song breaks in 1930’s film, but this was a joy.  I honestly wish most musicals would use the subtle transition; it’s more quirky than odd, just like many other parts of the film.

There are also many scenes where Andre talks directly to the audience.  He becomes a narrator and brings his insight to whatever just happened in the scene with so much personality.  The first time he broke that fourth wall, I knew this would be a very relaxed and fun film.  And Maurice Chevalier’s heavy French accent just added to my smiles.

The plot is trite and there’s a good amount of singing, but everything made with just enough silliness that we can enjoy it.  If you’re weary about trying out a 1930’s musical, I would strongly suggest testing the water with One Hour With You.

“I am married and I like it.  Sorry to disappoint you.”

42nd Street

Stage director Julian Marsh (Warner Baxter) is starting a new show, Pretty Lady, despite his history of nervous breakdowns.  Abner (Guy Kibbee) will fund the production if his young girlfriend Dorothy (Bebe Daniels) is the star.  But Dorothy is only using old Abner as a sugar-daddy to move her career and she messes around with Pat (George Brent) on the side.  To stretch the love triangle further, Pat has taken an interest in a young, inexperienced chorus girl, Peggy (Ruby Keeler).  In only five weeks, Marsh gathers together scores of chorus girls and pulls the whole show together only for an accident to occur the night before the curtain rises and Peggy will have to rise to the occasion so that the show may go on.

Your first instinct would be to call this film dated, but there are some hilarious moments that transcend through the decades.  While the girls are auditioning, they have to lift their skirts to show their legs and old Abner sits forward in his seat, eyes wide and fingers wiggling.  The guy beside him delivers the perfect punchline: “Yeah, they got pretty faces too.”  During rehearsals, a pair of girls try to gossip between singing parts, where their chatter is only stopped when they have to move to different parts of the stage.  But when they’re not quacking away with each other, they’re cracking wise to their male counterparts, making sure they watch where their hands go.  And the final act during the production is full of laughs, from the Just Married sign stuck on the groom’s back to the great sung line, “Matrimony is baloney. she’ll be wanting alimony in a year or so.”  Also, watch the background in the scene with Peggy’s landlady, it had me in stitches.

If you get half way though this film and grow impatient for the musical numbers, have faith, all your prayers will be answered toward the end.  And it’s worth the wait. I’ve said before that I dislike musical numbers just wedging their way into the plot, so I personally like saving them for the end and not breaking up the flow of the story, but that’s just me.

The whole film is worth the wait for the ending production; it’s a real treat.  It’s a great way to end with all the beautiful visual choreography, toe tapping numbers and full of bits to put a genuine smile on your face. I especially enjoyed the long shots with the 42nd Street number.

Now, before I end, I have to ask did anyone else find the couple looking through the tunnel of legs just a little creepy?  That whole image traveling us through an army of legs to the look on their faces was just odd and unsettling to me, but maybe that wasn’t so odd in the thirties.

To reiterate: “Yeah, they got pretty faces too.”

An American in Paris

Riddle me this:  What does an American do in Paris?  He ruins it for everyone else.  I’ve witnessed it in my travels as well as in this film.

Jerry Mulligan (Gene Kelly) is an ex GI who decided to stay in Paris and live out his dream by becoming a painter.  He has an obvious love for the city.  One day he gathers up his paintings, trying to sell them on the street in order to pay the bills.  A heiress and fellow American, Milo (Nina Foch), offers him fifteen thousand francs a piece.  That’s much more than Jerry ever thought his work would be worth.  Milo genuinely likes his work and might be fishing for a date.  With her influence and money, she wants to make Jerry a successful artist.

When Milo dupes Jerry into a date, he couldn’t really care less, especially when he catches the eye of beautiful Lise (Leslie Caron).  He pursues her, unaware that his friend Henri (Georges Guétary) is already dating her.  But that’s what we expect an American to do in Paris; steal your girl when you’re not around.

Oh my, did I forget to mention this is a musical?  It is, filled with Kelly’s dance moves and songs about everything.  There’s even a song with French children all around Kelly as he sings a way to teach them English.  But I just didn’t enjoy the songs and that dance scene at the end was way too long for what little action was left to happen.  I felt that Kelly was just practicing for his greatest act around the corner: Singin’ in the Rain.

The great redeeming quality for this film is the character Adam (Oscar Levant) a struggling pianist and neighbor to Jerry.  Without Adam being the other side of the coin to Jerry, I don’t think I would have approved of half the musical numbers.  My favorite scene his Adam’s daydream when he becomes an entire orchestra.  Without a word being said, that scene says more about dear Adam than the entire flapity-jaws-singing film.

The problem is, Jerry is the main character, but I did not like him.  He leads Milo on to further his painting career, which he’s not sure if he’s ready (or willing) to be serious about, while he’s pursuing Lise, who doesn’t have much personality unless she’s dancing.

I agree that the sets are beautiful and I understand that many people love this film and sing along with all the songs, but I just didn’t feel it.  The more into the film I got, I started to remember an American tourist I saw while visiting the Louvre in Paris.  The beer gut gave him away before he opened his mouth and twanged, “We already saw Mona Lisa, can we just skip these paintings and find lunch?”  Americans just come to Paris to half-ass being a painter, steal your hot dancer girl and see nothing but The Mona Lisa in the entire Louvre.  Singin’ in the Rain is much more enjoyable.

The Gay Divorcee

At first glance, I expected this film to just be an excuse for excessive song and dance numbers.  It is, but that’s not the point.   The point is, I was surprised to find the whole thing very delightful.

First, we meet Guy Holden (Fred Astaire), an American dancer with the capability to burst into song and dance at any moment.  Did dancers really wear tap-shoes out to dinner?  You know, just in case.  Anyway, in that first scene, Guy and his pal Egbert (Edward Everett Horton) are out to dinner in Paris and they’ve forgotten their wallets.  Egbert’s afraid they’ll have to work the meal off by doing dishes (the horror!) so he gets Guy to dance for their dinner.  When the tap number is nearly over, Egbert finds that his wallet was in his coat the entire time.  What a riot!

Alright, laugh it up.  That scene pretty much sets the tone for the whole film: a convoluted song and dance over a slight mix up.  But you know what’s funny?  It is funny!  Every line is delivered with perfect timing, perfect tone and facial expressions that never miss a beat.  The whole film (except for the Lets Knock Knees song) keeps this zany, mixed up comedy that can keep a beat.

So let’s get to the meat of the story.  Guy happens upon Mimi Glossop (Ginger Rogers) in a bit of a pickle, her dress is caught in a locked suitcase.  I guess it’s love at first sight and though Mimi is obviously not interested, Guy decides to comb the city for her.  Luckily, they get into a minor fender bender and she leads him on a little car chase out in the country.  Guy corners Mimi and confesses his love, but Mimi speeds off only leaving him with her name.  Sounds like he’s not getting anywhere, huh?

Mimi has her reasons for speeding off; she’s married.  But it’s an unhappy marriage where she hardly ever sees her husband.  So with the help of her Aunt Hortense (Alice Brady), they hatch a scheme to give the husband cause to divorce Mimi.  They hire an Italian correspondent to make it look like Mimi has been unfaithful, but with a little mix up, Mimi thinks the correspondent is Guy.

Along the way there’s plenty of singing, dancing, jokes and quirky lines that just roll off the actors with ease.  The waiter (Eric Blore) is the best kooky side character I’ve ever seen, I smiled every time he did and laughed at half his lines.  Now, I realize this film may seem like a stretch for most modern viewers, but it’s a lot more fun than you’d expect.  And if I had to be brutally honest, It Happened One Night didn’t live up to my expectations, whereas The Gay Divorcee exceeded them by miles.

“I wonder why he preferred to hunt elephants when he could have married me!”

Yankee Doodle Dandy

This is a film about the life of real life Broadway actor, singer, dancer, composer and playwright George M. Cohan.  The film starts with Cohan as an older man, playing the President in his newest play, “I’d Rather Be Right.”  Just after his performance, Cohan is asked to visit the President; what an honor!  During his visit, Cohan proceeds to tell the story of his life, and the film follows into flashback until we’re back at the present.

George M. Cohan was born on the fourth of July, extremely fitting for his later patriotic works.  He was born into a family of stage performers, who quickly get their two children, George and his sister into the act.  As George grows to a young teen, he starts to get cocky, forgetting where his character ends and George begins.  With the line, “I can still lick any kid in town,” the kids of that town take it as a challenge and beat up young George, teaching him quite a lesson.  As a young man, he becomes reckless and feels like he owns the theater.  He sends his girlfriend, Mary (Joan Leslie), out to perform a number he’s written without any permission from the theater owners.  Consequently, he and his family are fired and stumble on hard times because of George’s stubbornness.  Realizing he’s holding his family back, George takes off so they can have better luck and tries to get his own work produced.  Once his “Yankee Doodle Dandy” becomes a hit, he’s got Broadway at his fingertips and brings the family together again.  Then it’s a great ride through George’s career on Broadway.

James Cagney plays an astounding George M. Cohan.  His song and dance numbers are filled with so much energy you feel like part of a live audience rather than a bum on your couch.  In fact, while filming a dance number Cagney broke a rib, but continued without aid until filming was over.  He keeps the heart of George flowing in every scene and even improvises a little tap dance down a flight of stairs.  It’s not just the singing and dancing where Cagney shines.  Offstage, where we see the life of George he’s got even more heart than on the stage and his every movement reminds us what a great man he was.  Thus, Cagney easily takes Best Actor.

I’ve said before how these sort of musicals from the 30’s and 40’s bore me, but Yankee Doodle Dandy is a step higher than the rest.  I found the musical numbers truly enjoyable, and there’s no way to make a film about George M. Cohan without including some of his best work.  Besides, James Cagney is wonderful to watch and never lets the songs get stale.

Yankee Doodle Dandy is recommended for patriotic people who love musicals.  Maybe if you just really love musicals or really into patriotism this would work as well.  I realize there a lot of people who wouldn’t care for this today.  Complaints to expect: “too much singing and dancing” “i don’t like black and white” “not enough action.”  Well fine, be sticks in the mud.  This may not be it, but I know there’s a movie for you in 1942.

“”For some reason they teamed me with a donkey, I was a good democrat even then.”

Chicago

Living just an hour from Chicago, I’ve often wished to know the Windy City in it’s hayday.  In the roaring twenties, Chicago was the place to be, there were gangsters hiding out in speakeasies, jazz being played everywhere, the theater was booming, crime and corruption was all part of the show.  Chicago brings all this out and mixes its engaging stage roots into the story effortlessly.

Roxie (Renee Zellweger) is a little blonde beauty itching for stardom, but all she’s got is a boring auto-mechanic husband and a little apartment in Chicago.  She’s been messing around with a guy who says he can make her a star, but when he gets what he wants and comes clean, Roxie is so enraged she shoots him.  In the slammer, she hears about the one lawyer who has never let a lady hang, Billy Flint (Richard Gere).  Soon, after a few hurdles, he turns Roxie into a sob story all of Chicago is raving about, but there are other women in need of Billy and the spotlight.
Never before have I enjoyed a performance by Zelwegger so much.  Her scrunched up face always rubbed me the wrong way, but in Chicago, it’s hardly noticed.  In fact, her occasional stink-eye is quite character building.  She really does make a wonderful unlikely jailbird as well as a ventriloquists dummy in a very surreal musical number. 

Richard Gere is one of my grandma’s favorite actors, and he’s fantastic as Billy Flint, “the silver tongued prince of the courtroom.”  Gere creates Flint to be wonderfully charismatic to his clients, a puppet-master of the press and a ringleader in the courtroom with the uncanny ability to tap-dance his way around a tricky witness.  Don’t worry, those traits are illustrated with glitz and style bigger than any stage could contain.  “Would you please tell the audience… err… the jury what happened?”

Chicago was up for a slew of awards: Adapted Writing, Cinematography, Director, Best Song and four for acting just to name a few.  By the end of the night, it won six of the thirteen nominations, including Best Picture and Supporting Actress for Catherine Zeta-Jones portraying Velma Kelly, the murderess who used to own the Chicago stage.  Costumes, Art Direction, Editing and Sound were also won by Chicago, easily.

Ah yes, the style of this film is phenomenal.  It all starts with a little slide trombone and rhythm, and it’s never lost until the credits are over.  The way the film slips in and out of a concrete setting and conscious story to glitzy song and dance on different forms of a stage is a sight to be seen.  It’s never chunky or forced, the transitions are fluid and natural to the viewer’s eye and mind.  I was wowed by the way settings were intermingled and honestly found myself snapping along with half the songs, and I’m not even a big musical fan.

Please do yourself a favor and see Chicago.  This isn’t your Mary Poppins type of musical, everything is jazz, glitz, sex, murder and corruption.  Like a juicy steak with an extra spicy kick.

“This is Chicago, kid. You can’t beat fresh blood on the walls.”

***Yup, I’ve gotta agree with the Academy on this one, 2002 was all about Chicago.***

My Fair Lady

If you absolutely love the classic musical, My Fair Lady, I’m sorry, but we do not share that common interest.  The annoying voice and exaggerated dialect of Miss Eliza drove me to scratching my ears off in the first act and by the ending act I was in bored agony, begging for the film to end.  And it ended just as I suspected it would from the beginning of the action, boringly predictable.  But please don’t let me ruin it for you, I’m just a sarcastic kid who’s never cared much for musicals.

The story begins with Eliza trying to sell her flowers to wealthy people waiting for taxis in the rain.  Through her butchered English she’s discovered by phonetics professor Henry Higgins who boasts his qualities by saying that he could turn even a hopeless case like Eliza into a high class lady.  Eliza tracks him down and wants him to give her speaking lessons so she can be a lady.  Amused, Professor Higgins’s collogue, Colonel Pickering, decides to put a wager on the idea and together they try to turn a hopeless street peddler into a lady.

At the beginning Eliza (Audrey Hepburn) is as unrefined as they come.  She walks with a slumped back, skitters along like an overgrown rat and sounds like a London hillbilly, if ever one existed.  At first, it was fascinating, but after her third or so outburst that reminded me of a sick cat trying to imitate Lucille Ball’s crying, I was just waiting for the film to end.  When she does start to speak correctly, it is welcomed by all.  I personally breathed a sigh of relief at that moment.

Like most musicals, this movie is too damn long.  If these people didn’t spend two hours singing we’d have a little bit of our lives back.  And yes, some of these songs are classics, I even enjoy a few of them.  But for the most part, I was checking my watch.

My favorite scene though, is at the horse race.  Higgins decides it’s time to see how Eliza behaves in public and takes her to a party where everyone is dressed in white, black and gray.  She behaves well, but the subjects of her stories are too interesting for such high society.  It was the first genuine smile I had through the whole film.  And when she has an outburst at the horse she’s holding a bet on, it’s hysterical and gave me a much welcomed laugh.

I really wish I had enjoyed My Fair Lady more.  It won eight Oscars, including Best Picture.  It is done very well and I’m sure it does its original play justice.  It just hasn’t survived as well as its counterpart, Mary Poppins.  Think about it, everyone knows Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, but not as many can sing I Could Have Danced All Night. Well, maybe it fares a better chance since being in an episode of Glee.

Watch My Fair Lady if you love musicals, phonetics or Audrey Hepburn talking funny.

“Come on, Dover, move yer bloomin’ arse!”