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Musicals: From Stage & Film to Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

JohnMor

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MatthewA said:
/forum/thread/310725/musicals-from-stage-film-to-blu-ray/90#post_3803264
That LOST HORIZON would be a turkey was determined the minute they hired Burt Bacharach and Hal David to write the score for it. Bacharach might have been able to pull it off with a different lyric writer (his tune for "Where There's a Heartache" in BUTCH CASSIDY would have fit beautifully), but something like "Lost Horizon" is far beyond Hal David. As it is we got stuff like " 'Cause your reflection reflects/On ev'rything you do/And ev'ry thing you do/Reflects on you." Oy!
"Do you know the way to Shangri-La? I'm going back to find some peace of mind in Shangri-La!"
 

GMpasqua

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"The Boy Friend" is a wonderful Ken Russell film about a troupe of British actors putting on a performance of the musical play "the boy friend" while a Hollywood director/producer is known to be sitting in the audience the day the star actress breaks her ankle. Twiggy is the understudy who has yet to go on and the supporting cast shamelessly try to upstage her to impress the Hollywood produder "DeTrill" (what could possibly go wrong?) It's not a film adaptation of the Broadway musical. Some of the material is very adultl (Hey it's Ken Russell) but done is such a sutble way most will never notice. But it's fun, clever, very well done and highly recommended



"Lost Horizon" wouldn't be bad if they removed the songs, and really isn't not that bad, an audience I saw it with a few years ago in Los Angeles loved it



"Song of Norway" is beautiful to watch, very well sung - but really, who was this film made for? It's opera, and film audiences really do not buy into opera (unless it's rock opera), Unlike "The Sound of Music" which had popular children's songs, the score of "Song of Norway" is not something children will ever sing. So much will find "Song of Norway" a bore. Even if "Song of Norway" was better directed it still would have limited appeal. But I would love to see a 70MM presentation since the scenery is the real star of the film and it was shot in 70MM and that alone would make me want to get a blu-ray.



"At Long Last Love" has nothing going for it and is a complete mess in every sense of the word.
 

Erik_H

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BTW, "At Long Last Love" is now available for streaming via Netflix. Video quality is not great---and that's the least of the problems...
 

Mike Frezon

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Originally Posted by Erik_H
BTW, "At Long Last Love" is now available for streaming via Netflix. Video quality is not great---and that's the least of the problems...
I don't have Netflix...

But that seems crazy. No physical home media version of ALLL was ever produced, but it's up on Netflix?!? Crazy.
 

Rob_Ray

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While I do much prefer "Auntie Mame" overall as a film, I must defend Lucy's performance, apart from her disastrous singing. Unlike Roz, who's giving us her admittedly hilarious stage performance, Lucy is giving a performance geared for film (which is captivating when one considers how theatrical she was on TV by the time of Here's Lucy). Compare her morning-after "hangover" scene with Roz'. Her delivery of "Patrick, puleeeze!!! Your Auntie Mame is hung!" rings so true where Roz is just tossing off the line for an easy laugh. Of course, the musical version eliminated the earlier line where Patrick's dad had always uttered the exact same phrase to him, so that didn't help. But when working with top-notch comedy dialogue or tackling physical comedy like her bit on roller skates, Lucy is fine form. But I'll say she had guts tackling "If He Walked Into My Life" after Eydie Gorme's definitive recording of it and after Angela Lansbury made the entire Jerry Herman score her own. The orchestrations are wonderful, the costumes are hideous, and Robert Preston comes off best in his all-too-brief role.

Seen today "Lost Horizon" is mind-bogglingly bad in much the same way that "Airport 75" is. It reeks of bad 1970s filmmaking. It looks like an expensively mounted early 1970's TV movie, with everyone decked out in trendy turtlenecks and moo-moos. If nobody had sung, it could have played like an unnecessary but harmless remake of the Capra classic. The songs actually aren't bad if they'd been used in a contemporary Southern California setting, but sung high in the Himalayas as part of James Hilton's story of Paradise Found and Lost, they are beyond ludicrous. And the choreography is the worst ever -- who can forget Sally Kellerman on those rocks or Liv Ullmann and the kids prancing around like chimpanzees or that "Living Together" number? I've heard that Sony is working on a restoration -- and be careful what you wish for -- they may yet find more missing footage.
 

GMpasqua

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Members may have noticed I am a big fan of the film "Man of La Mancha" which many consdier truly awful. I think it is very well acted and stays true to the stage script and most of the songs are there. Yes, the singing is weak at times, but otherwise I find it wonderful. How could you not love Sophia Loren in this she looks incredible!

Please keep in mind I really do like musicals, though not the MGM stuff everyone seems to go crazy over. I could never get the appeal of "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers" "The Havery Girls" or "Meet Me in St. Louis" or the FOX fare with Betty Grable etc


My Fair Lady, West Side Story, The Music Man, Li'l Abner, Oliver, 1776, Annie Get Your Gun, Chicago are my favorites
I'll even add Hello Dolly, Gypsy and Finian's Rainbow (three other films most people think are awful)
 

Rob_Ray

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Originally Posted by GMpasqua

Please keep in mind I really do like musicals, though not the MGM stuff everyone seems to go crazy over. I could never get the appeal of "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers" "The Havery Girls" or "Meet Me in St. Louis" or the FOX fare with Betty Grable etc


My Fair Lady, West Side Story, The Music Man, Li'l Abner, Oliver, 1776, Annie Get Your Gun, Chicago are my favorites
I'll even add Hello Dolly, Gypsy and Finian's Rainbow (three other films most people think are awful)
You like book musicals where the property and the score are the stars. The films made by MGM and Fox were factory-generated artworks by craftsmen both in front of and behind the camera who routinely generated assembly-line product with amazing results. The talent of everyone from Roger Edens and Kay Thompson to Fred Astaire and Judy Garland is of the likes that we'll never see again. Those Fox musicals and things like "Seven Brides" weren't the momentous events that My Fair Lady and Hello Dolly! were. They were just trifles. But the talent they contained were staggering. Just watch the "Seven Brides" barnraising and tell me that "Chicago" with all its slight-of-hand editing, has anything that can compare.

But I will say this -- those sixties book musicals like West Side Story, The Sound of Music and Hello Dolly were the final flowering of what came before. Much of the talent from the earlier generations were working with the best properties ever to come from Broadway and with budgets that were never seen before or since.
 

allanfisch

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There is a gorgeous 4-track on La Mancha. I made a new DS track for the laserdisc(pre-AC-3 days)....Same with The Music Lovers, stunning mix. There is also a 6 track for 70mm on Tom Sawyer, found at the last minute in the Paramount vault of all places, not sure how it got there> The bummer was we had just made a, from scratch, stereo mix from all the recordings. We did make a new DS track on Huck Finn from the recordings as well. Love the Sherman Brothers. Very nice men. The commentary on Tom Sawyer, while not the most technical or relevatory about the film -making process, was one of the most fun things I did, they had a blast along with the director Don Taylor.


Originally Posted by GMpasqua
Members may have noticed I am a big fan of the film "Man of La Mancha" which many consdier truly awful. I think it is very well acted and stays true to the stage script and most of the songs are there. Yes, the singing is weak at times, but otherwise I find it wonderful. How could you not love Sophia Loren in this she looks incredible!

Please keep in mind I really do like musicals, though not the MGM stuff everyone seems to go crazy over. I could never get the appeal of "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers" "The Havery Girls" or "Meet Me in St. Louis" or the FOX fare with Betty Grable etc


My Fair Lady, West Side Story, The Music Man, Li'l Abner, Oliver, 1776, Annie Get Your Gun, Chicago are my favorites
I'll even add Hello Dolly, Gypsy and Finian's Rainbow (three other films most people think are awful)
 

Charles Smith

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I'm mostly all about book musicals, too. Filmed versions of the great stage musicals. (Meaning, those I like! )

Admittedly, I haven't given a lot of pure "Hollywood" musicals much of a chance. I do love Holiday Inn and White Christmas, but I got into loving those for a host of other reasons, as well as a few others that aren't coming to mind at the moment. Oh, someone mentioned Seven Brides. Busby Berkeley type stuff in general has never called out to me. Oh - Singin' in the Rain, which usually shocks people to hear. But I know I need to give that one a serious chance!

My passion runs to the 1940s-1960s book musicals for which I grew up playing the original cast recordings to death. Later ones, too, to be sure, but those are the core for which I'll always hope for the best DVD or Blu-ray possible. And of course filmed or taped stage productions. The Mary Martin Peter Pan and Julie Andrews Cinderella. There's a Richard Harris Camelot that, like the film version, veers a bit far from the original concept for my liking, but it's still essential. The "ultimate edition" Cats. Concert performances. etc. etc. etc.
 

Ethan Riley

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Originally Posted by GMpasqua /img/forum/go_quote.gif



Members may have noticed I am a big fan of the film "Man of La Mancha" which many consdier truly awful. I think it is very well acted and stays true to the stage script and most of the songs are there. Yes, the singing is weak at times, but otherwise I find it wonderful. How could you not love Sophia Loren in this she looks incredible!



Please keep in mind I really do like musicals, though not the MGM stuff everyone seems to go crazy over. I could never get the appeal of "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers" "The Havery Girls" or "Meet Me in St. Louis" or the FOX fare with Betty Grable etc




My Fair Lady, West Side Story, The Music Man, Li'l Abner, Oliver, 1776, Annie Get Your Gun, Chicago are my favorites


I'll even add Hello Dolly, Gypsy and Finian's Rainbow (three other films most people think are awful)




"The Harvey Girls" is almost like a Broadway musical that was never seen on Broadway. It boasts a complete original score (rather than 5 or 6 numbers like Meet Me in St. Louis). It even feels like a two-act play. Since they're putting all these other movie musicals on Broadway like Thoroughly Modern Millie I don't understand why they've never gotten around to Harvey Girls. They don't even have to sit down and write new (yucky) songs like they usually do, because there's so many deleted songs they can use those if they need more. And Millie deserves a blu, and if they ever find some deleted scenes that would be delish!



Li'l Abner deserves a bluray with a stereo mix. Stereo masters do exist for the musical numbers, and boy oh boy do they sound fantastic! The existing dvd is acceptable but there's definitely some restoration that can and should be done. Unfortunately Abner's never been a big draw and that hurts its chances for a major upgrade :(



Mame on bluray...hmm. Trot it out if you must, but either find those stereo masters or don't bother. I hate musicals that suffer from monocinemucous!



I don't think Man of La Mancha is an awful film; I just think Peter's old man makeup is awful. If you want an awful Peter O'Toole musical, I give you Goodbye, Mr. Chips. It ain't the acting--the songs are dull and unmemorable IMO.



Lost Horizon shows up on AMC from time to time; it's hardly a long-lost forgotten musical. I don't know if they've ever aired the complete Roadshow version though. Some of the deleted scenes are on youtube; and I don't know why it's never been on dvd. If they can put out megaton bombs like "Sextette," they can certainly put out Lost Horizon.
 

Rick Thompson

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I never saw "Man of La Mancha" because it never played where I was. I do like "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," though, and am immensely glad it made it to at least an anamorphic DVD. As for "Finian's Rainbow," there are some magnificent sequences and some that make you cringe. Not everyone thinks ill of it, though. Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide gives it three-and-a-half stars and calls it "an imaginatively filmed, widescreen winner -- perhaps the best movie musical of its era."
 

Mike Frezon

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Originally Posted by allanfisch
Love the Sherman Brothers. Very nice men. The commentary on Tom Sawyer, while not the most technical or relevatory about the film -making process, was one of the most fun things I did, they had a blast along with the director Don Taylor.

For anyone who enjoys the Sherman Brothers (and most likely their music!), I highly recommendhttp://www.amazon.com/Boys-Sherman-Brothers-Story/dp/B003TVTRY2/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1303415224&sr=1-1
 

GMpasqua

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Originally Posted by Ethan Riley

Li'l Abner deserves a bluray with a stereo mix. Stereo masters do exist for the musical numbers, and boy oh boy do they sound fantastic! The existing dvd is acceptable but there's definitely some restoration that can and should be done. Unfortunately Abner's never been a big draw and that hurts its chances for a major upgrade :(
Ethan,

Where did you hear the Stereo tracks? The LP used completely different orchestra recordings than used in the film. I would love to have the "Oh Happy Day" number which was supposedly filmed and then cut (it's in the press materials) and used as the advertising slogan and also "Unneccessary Town" (which is on the LP) and Abner's version of "otherwise" which he sings to Daisy in his bedroom before the white house party

I was told Paramount can not find anything stereo or scenes cut from Li'l Abner and On a Clear Day
 

JohnMor

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My only real complaint with Finian's Rainbow is Tommy Steele's performance. Granted, one could say it's relative what is "over the top" for a leprechaun, but in my book Tommy Steele found that line... and went WAY past it! And it could use a little judicious cutting.

I also feel that way about Hello, Dolly! Not that I want them to actually alter the existing films; I just mean they would "move" better for me. For instance, I would have taken out 60% of "Dancing" and ALL of the Waiters' ballet in Dolly. Both just stop the show dead for absolutely no benefit (imo). The dancing is certainly very well done but banal and tedious in those bits. But funnily enough, neither Gene Kelly nor Ernest Lehman asked my opinion!
 

GMpasqua

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Originally Posted by JohnMor
My only real complaint with Finian's Rainbow is Tommy Steele's performance. Granted, one could say it's relative what is "over the top" for a leprechaun, but in my book Tommy Steele found that line... and went WAY past it! And it could use a little judicious cutting.

I also feel that way about Hello, Dolly! Not that I want them to actually alter the existing films; I just mean they would "move" better for me. For instance, I would have taken out 60% of "Dancing" and ALL of the Waiters' ballet in Dolly. Both just stop the show dead for absolutely no benefit (imo). The dancing is certainly very well done but banal and tedious in those bits. But funnily enough, neither Gene Kelly nor Ernest Lehman asked my opinion!
Well, not be fair (spolier) Tommy Steele isn't even human in the film until the last 5 minutes where he does downplay the role and his delivery of "fairy land was never like this" is priceless
 

Ethan Riley

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Originally Posted by GMpasqua
Ethan,

Where did you hear the Stereo tracks? The LP used completely different orchestra recordings than used in the film. I would love to have the "Oh Happy Day" number which was supposedly filmed and then cut (it's in the press materials) and used as the advertising slogan and also "Unneccessary Town" (which is on the LP) and Abner's version of "otherwise" which he sings to Daisy in his bedroom before the white house party

I was told Paramount can not find anything stereo or scenes cut from Li'l Abner and On a Clear Day
Is it? Bah! I thought the LP was the actual soundtrack. That and Disney's Babes in Toyland...
 

ajabrams

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I'd love to see a BD of BELLS ARE RINGING. It's pretty faithful to the original play and has Judy Holliday's classic performance along with fine support from a well-cast Dean Martin. Great score too and lots of fun.
 

MatthewA

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Since we talked about the never-heard-since-the-theatrical-release 4-track mag sound on Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, what other films got 35mm mag track prints during the Dolby era? IIRC, I think Yentl was the last movie to have 4-channel mag tracks in 35mm. Now they don't even make them for 70mm anymore!
 

Marco S

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Here is an old photo I took of the Annie marquee. I think this was the Cinerama Dome, here in Hollywood, when it premiered in 1982.
 

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