DeeF
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2002
- Messages
- 1,689
I didn't see any other review here, so...
I'm sure this movie is quite familiar to y'all, but I've purchased the brand-new DVD, and it is completely splendid, so I thought I'd write up a little review here. Feel free to chime in with exuberance or loathing.
I've seen the movie before, on television, but the quality of the DVD and my large, wonderful television has really changed by perceptions of the movie. On my set, the colors are so vivid, the costumes and sets really pop, and the actors' expressions are more natural and professional than I remembered. In addition, the DVD has been remixed in glorious 5.1 stereo (it was never in stereo before), so it sounds better than it has ever sounded. The movie was filmed for 3D, but by the time it was released, 3D was already over, so it was only shown in 3D in a couple of venues.
Kiss Me Kate is undeniably "lighter" material, long on setups and punchlines and short on character development. But as updated "vaudeville," I think it works very well, partly because of its ingenious construction (part backstage drama, part onstage drama, neatly integrated) and mostly because of its superior, and very beautiful, score, including rich numbers like "So In Love" and snappy tunes like "Too Darn Hot." Cole Porter could do high character songs and low comedy songs with equal ease, and he has never dazzled so bright as in this show (and the movie, which surprisingly uses most of the score intact -- not using "Another Opening..." except as underscoring, dumping "Bianca" -- thank goodness -- and interpolating "From This Moment On" for a dance number).
The movie does make some odd choices, like setting up "So In Love" before the show starts, adding a character named Cole Porter (the actor Ron Randell, from Australia, also appeared on DVD this month in King of Kings, as a Roman Centurion), and the oddest thing to me, having a live audience laughing and clapping at certain things but not at others. I might have had a live audience clap throughout the "show," but I'm used to sitcoms.
One wishes the acting, overall, were better, and yet truthfully, Howard Keel was never better, and this must be the role of Kathryn Grayson's career. Ann Miller was no actress (and if she's the best thing in this movie, it isn't saying much for the quality of acting) but she was a stock MGM player, so her casting isn't a real surprise (though a year older than Grayson, Ann plays Lois, the young paramoor of Fred). I wish Keel sang more straightforwardly; he always sounds to me like he has potatoes in his mouth, the sound is so far back in the throat. Grayson's voice has its appeal, but stylistically she's a throwback to operettas -- all that portamento is really grating. Keel must be huge -- he towers over Grayson and Rall and Fosse and everybody else. Ann Miller is there mostly for the dancing, but what dancing!
Everyone remembers this show for the dancing (the movie, I mean) and it is first rate, the reason to buy the movie (at $14.99, a steal). The choreographer was Hermes Pan, who appears as a sailor in the movie (he looks like Fred Astaire). For all the fuss of Bob Fosse's little bit with Carol Haney, the rest of the choregraphy by Pan is just as fun, and it is so energetic and precise! It's as good as anything in Singin' in the Rain, and it has more variety. I loved Tommy Rall's whole duet with Ann when he's on the trampoline.
There is a small documentary (about 7 minutes long) on each of these new Cole Porter DVDs. Ann Miller provides the commentary for this one, and we see James Whitmore, Tommy Rall, Kathryn Grayson, and Howard Keel all reminiscing (very worth it) about Bobby Van and Bob Fosse and Carol Haney and the whole megilla. On the Silk Stockings DVD, it's Cyd Charisse, and on the Les Girls DVD, it's Taina Elg!
I can't recommend this movie (and the other Cole Porter DVDs) enough.
Edit: Kathryn Grayson is a year older than Ann Miller, according to the IMDB.
I'm sure this movie is quite familiar to y'all, but I've purchased the brand-new DVD, and it is completely splendid, so I thought I'd write up a little review here. Feel free to chime in with exuberance or loathing.
I've seen the movie before, on television, but the quality of the DVD and my large, wonderful television has really changed by perceptions of the movie. On my set, the colors are so vivid, the costumes and sets really pop, and the actors' expressions are more natural and professional than I remembered. In addition, the DVD has been remixed in glorious 5.1 stereo (it was never in stereo before), so it sounds better than it has ever sounded. The movie was filmed for 3D, but by the time it was released, 3D was already over, so it was only shown in 3D in a couple of venues.
Kiss Me Kate is undeniably "lighter" material, long on setups and punchlines and short on character development. But as updated "vaudeville," I think it works very well, partly because of its ingenious construction (part backstage drama, part onstage drama, neatly integrated) and mostly because of its superior, and very beautiful, score, including rich numbers like "So In Love" and snappy tunes like "Too Darn Hot." Cole Porter could do high character songs and low comedy songs with equal ease, and he has never dazzled so bright as in this show (and the movie, which surprisingly uses most of the score intact -- not using "Another Opening..." except as underscoring, dumping "Bianca" -- thank goodness -- and interpolating "From This Moment On" for a dance number).
The movie does make some odd choices, like setting up "So In Love" before the show starts, adding a character named Cole Porter (the actor Ron Randell, from Australia, also appeared on DVD this month in King of Kings, as a Roman Centurion), and the oddest thing to me, having a live audience laughing and clapping at certain things but not at others. I might have had a live audience clap throughout the "show," but I'm used to sitcoms.
One wishes the acting, overall, were better, and yet truthfully, Howard Keel was never better, and this must be the role of Kathryn Grayson's career. Ann Miller was no actress (and if she's the best thing in this movie, it isn't saying much for the quality of acting) but she was a stock MGM player, so her casting isn't a real surprise (though a year older than Grayson, Ann plays Lois, the young paramoor of Fred). I wish Keel sang more straightforwardly; he always sounds to me like he has potatoes in his mouth, the sound is so far back in the throat. Grayson's voice has its appeal, but stylistically she's a throwback to operettas -- all that portamento is really grating. Keel must be huge -- he towers over Grayson and Rall and Fosse and everybody else. Ann Miller is there mostly for the dancing, but what dancing!
Everyone remembers this show for the dancing (the movie, I mean) and it is first rate, the reason to buy the movie (at $14.99, a steal). The choreographer was Hermes Pan, who appears as a sailor in the movie (he looks like Fred Astaire). For all the fuss of Bob Fosse's little bit with Carol Haney, the rest of the choregraphy by Pan is just as fun, and it is so energetic and precise! It's as good as anything in Singin' in the Rain, and it has more variety. I loved Tommy Rall's whole duet with Ann when he's on the trampoline.
There is a small documentary (about 7 minutes long) on each of these new Cole Porter DVDs. Ann Miller provides the commentary for this one, and we see James Whitmore, Tommy Rall, Kathryn Grayson, and Howard Keel all reminiscing (very worth it) about Bobby Van and Bob Fosse and Carol Haney and the whole megilla. On the Silk Stockings DVD, it's Cyd Charisse, and on the Les Girls DVD, it's Taina Elg!
I can't recommend this movie (and the other Cole Porter DVDs) enough.
Edit: Kathryn Grayson is a year older than Ann Miller, according to the IMDB.