Hello Dolly (1969) (1 Viewer)

[Malcolm Bmoor]

Anyone surprised by the absence of someone other than Ms Sreisand having a solo number has much to learn about Ms Streisand.

 

[John Skoda]

I've always heard that Anne Francis had a solo number, but I know nothing more than that. I think it must have been cut before release.

You can read about material cut from FUNNY GIRL here: http://www.barbra-archives.com/films/funny_girl_movie_cut1.html There's no mention of an Anne Francis song, but there seems to have been at least a couple of attempts to give Omar Shariff a solo number.

 

[ahollis]

Anyone surprised by the absence of someone other than Ms Sreisand having a solo number has much to learn about Ms Streisand.

Understand what your saying but I would think "It Only Takes A Moment" by Michael Crawford and "It Takes A Woman" by Walter Matthau were pretty much solo numbers in HELLO DOLLY. They did have a chorus behind them but the main body of the song was theirs.

 

[Matt Hough]

Originally Posted by ahollis
Understand what your saying but I would think "It Only Takes A Moment" by Michael Crawford and "It Takes A Woman" by Walter Matthau were pretty much solo numbers in HELLO DOLLY. They did have a chorus behind them but the main body of the song was theirs.

I think the reference was to Funny Girl and not Hello, Dolly. Irene Malloy has a solo number in Dolly! as well.

 

[Rob_Ray]

Ms. Streisand may have owned "Funny Girl" when it came to artistic choices for the film version, but even she could not dictate the solo numbers in "Hello Dolly!" which was one of the biggest hits Broadway had ever seen up to that time. And it would be hard to make "Dolly!" more a star vehicle than it already is.

 

[ahollis]

I think the reference was to Funny Girl and not Hello, Dolly. Irene Malloy has a solo number in Dolly! as well.

You are right. I was kinda trying to get this back to HELLO DOLLY.

 

[ahollis]

Amazon has it for 4/2. Just as Fox said. Going for $17.32 (?)

 

[Brent Avery]

I will be viewing it hopefully tomorrow, I like to reserve films such as this for the projector but might take a peek at it on my smaller 42" lcd. And can I help it if I found a copy locally a bit early? Obviously I am hoping Fox has put some effort into this transfer.

 

[Brent Avery]

Well, I have to say that it looks very, very good - even though it was on my 42" tv it obviously has beautifully saturated colors, black levels and detail. An example was the when she sang Hello Dolly - I have to say the reds on the uniforms contrasting with Streisands's gold gown looked spectacular. I am positive it will impress once projected on my 128" screen. Audio came across nicely with good dynamics, and some rear surround fill it sounded more open and was overall much easier to follow compared to the dvd, especially when a larger group sings. A look at the back cover shows English DTS HD 5.1 Master Audio; AVC @ 29 mbs; 50 gb dual layered and SDH English subtitles. There is the 1969 Featurette from the dvd and another addition Directing Dolly: Gene Kelly Remembered ( 10:39 ). Looks like another great release from Fox.

v

 

[BBbrowd]

Thanks for your update, Brent. I've been waiting for some kind of word as to what the quality of picture and audio are. No reviews have been posted online yet. I'm hoping the audio is a vast improvement over the poor DVD sound.

 

[trajan]

Is it in the correct aspect ratio 2:20:1 ?

 

[Matt Hough]

The PR firm handling review copies doesn't generally send them out to reviewers early which is why no reviews are showing up yet. Some sites have other methods for acquiring copies early, but if one waits for the "official" review copy, it likely won't come until the week of release.

 

[Brent Avery]

The aspect ratio on the back cover says 2:35 but the actual A.R. is 2:20 - just checked it on a 2:35 screen.

 

[trajan]

Thanks for info.

 

[Rick Thompson]

Ms. Streisand may have owned "Funny Girl" when it came to artistic choices for the film version, but even she could not dictate the solo numbers in "Hello Dolly!" which was one of the biggest hits Broadway had ever seen up to that time. And it would be hard to make "Dolly!" more a star vehicle than it already is.

The reason for the lack of solo numbers for anyone else was not Streisand's. Back when the show was written for Broadway, composer Jule Styne knew what he had in his lead actress (and remember, Streisand was NOT a star before Funny Girl). Styne, who was a vocal coach before becoming a major song writer, kept beefing up her part musically, which is why she had all the big songs. It didn't help that the male lead, Sydney Chaplin, had a very limited singing range. There was also no significant subplot to be established. It was about Fanny Brice; everything else was at best peripheral, and the score reflected that. Again, Streisand didn't dictate who got the songs in Funny Girl. If anyone made sure she had most of the songs, it was Jule Styne.

Hello, Dolly! had not one but two related subplots (Cornelius Hackl-Irene Molly and Barnaby-Minnie Fay/Ambrose-Ermengarde) that had to be established musically. Short of gutting the show and throwing out three major numbers ("Put on Your Sunday Clothes," "Ribbons Down My Back" and "It Only Takes a Moment"), and "Elegance", those subplots had to be kept in. While Dolly is part of "Sunday Clothes," there was no way to expand her part in it. The only addition she got was the new song, "Love Is Only Love" (actually a discard from Mame).

If you want examples of Streisand dictating -- and those abound -- check out her later projects.

 

[babsdude]

Brent -- thanks for the early review and stats. The "Barbra Archives" site that's linked to in a previous post is mine, so I'm (obviously) very excited for the Streisand Blu-rays coming out, especially DOLLY.

Nice to know the aspect ratio is wrong on the box. (Same thing happened on the DVD, I believe).

Is the Todd-AO screen credit in the opening credits?

As for FUNNY GIRL, the Sony announcement came out today --- someone posted it in another thread on this forum. Ann Francis did not have a solo number cut from the film. The drama behind all that was explained a few years ago. Francis blamed the "Streisand-Cut-Me-From-The-Film" urban legend on an over-zealous publicist she retained in the day and apologized to Streisand publically. If you look at some of the FUNNY GIRL pages on my Barbra Archives site you will see that the Georgia James character she played was also tried out on Broadway and cut for the same reasons: The story is about Fanny Brice and every time you cut away from her, the audience got bored. So, they lost the character on Broadway, and Ms. Francis' scenes were cut in the film.

I am VERY interested in the Nick-Playing-Cards-Superimposed-Over-The-Swan scene in FUNNY GIRL ... never heard that before! I wonder what Sony's come up with on the FUNNY GIRL Blu-ray. That was *not* in the restored version of the film they released to theaters in 2001 (and the eventual DVD of that roadshow version, too). I'd LOVE to see that.

 

[babsdude]

Brent -- another question on the Gene Kelly documentary on DOLLY ...... is Streisand in it?

 

[Brent Avery]

Babesdude - unfortunately she is not, it was hosted by Gene Kelly's daughter ( and I forgot her name already! ).I'm sure you can refresh my memory for me. I finally watched it projected on Saturday and I was suitable impressed, Detail held up very nicely amd it looked quite film like to me. All in all I think Fox has given us another transfer that should please just about eveybody. I am expecting a JVC X35 projector anytime and this will be one of my first blu rays I will chek it out with. I enjoyed all of the musical numbers of course but for some reason the first song Walter Matthau "sings" early in the film sounded quite good when the group sang together with him. It was just one example of how it has benefitted from lossless audio.

 

[Matt Hough]

I enjoyed all of the musical numbers of course but for some reason the first song Walter Matthau "sings" early in the film sounded quite good when the group sang together with him. It was just one example of how it has benefitted from lossless audio.

That would be "It Takes a Woman."

 

[babsdude]

Exciting! Thanks, Brent.