A Few Words About A few words about...™ How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[PMF]

[...] Always amazing what we think we remember that never happened, the most obvious of which is the "to be continued" card for Back to the Future [...]

But we're talking about the Future, here. So, theoretically, isn't the Future always "to be continued"?
Guess its me who's now being the Card.

 

[PMF]

Memory is a tricky business.

I'll try to remember that.

 

[KPmusmag]

I have a relative who swears that when she saw "The King and I" in 1956 it contained "Shall I Tell You What I Think of You?". I suspect she listened to the soundtrack LP (which includes the song) so often she kind of invented it in her mind.

As to How to Succeed, it seems like opening at Radio City, despite its prestige, was the worst thing that could happen to a film, at least for posterity, with their demands for cuts..

 

[Mark-P]

As to How to Succeed, it seems like opening at Radio City, despite its prestige, was the worst thing that could happen to a film, at least for posterity, with their demands for cuts..

Poor Radio City Music Hall, being forced to take the blame when it has already been established that the cuts were made BEFORE the general release even occurred.

 

[KPmusmag]

Poor Radio City Music Hall, being forced to take the blame when it has already been established that the cuts were made BEFORE the general release even occurred.

I was under the impression that Radio City requested cuts to shorten the run time to accommodate their stage show, and for Bedknobs and Broomsticks, as well. Perhaps I misunderstood.

 

[Will Krupp]

I was under the impression that Radio City requested cuts to shorten the run time to accommodate their stage show, and for Bedknobs and Broomsticks, as well. Perhaps I misunderstood.

Bedknobs definitely, we don't really know for sure about this one. Bedknobs was shortened by 22 minutes, buying them (over the course of a day) nearly two hours. The removal of "coffee break" from SUCCEED would have bought them less than 30 minutes per day. It doesn't make all that much sense.

 

[Robert Harris]

Reminds me of an afternoon when Lawrence was running at the Z, and I was asked to drop in to speak to a college class for half an hour after the screening.

Civilians were invited to join.

There was a woman, who asked why I hadn't restored the sequence in which L and Ali become blood brothers.

No matter how I explained it, she insisted that she had seen it.

When I'd finally had enough, and explained that it wasn't in the film, because it had not been shot...

Because it was never in the screenplay, she left the theater, got into her chauffeur driven Huff, waiting outside, and was never heard from again.

As to odd prints entering distribution, there have been situations in which a preview print was pressed into egermancy service, but even that was a rare occurrence.

 

[Joe Caps]

Lets backtrack a bit about the Valley of the Dolls soundtrack album. I claimed it did NOT come out at the time of the film. Indeed, it was so late that I thought the release had been cancelled.

 

[rsmithjr]

Michelle Lee, on special feature included with the new TT Blu-ray, says that she was at Radio City Music Hall and heard personally that they were dropping "Coffee Break" because of timing. She has some convincing detail to offer as well as first-hand knowledge.

 

[Cineman]

This might seem way, way off the "I swear I saw it in the movie!" topic, but maybe not. The day after the video of the 1991 Rodney King incident was presented on a local Los Angeles news program a couple of co-workers swore they saw King in that video being beaten with billy clubs while sitting in a chair handcuffed! In the heat of discussion about it, virtually everyone I spoke with who claimed to have seen that video on the news agreed. I hadn't seen the famous video clip yet and so was surprised when I did that no such thing appeared on that or any other video no matter how many times I watched it.

Sometimes it doesn't take decades to mis-remember something we thought we saw in a movie or on video. With movies and video, sometimes our mind's eye conjures up images and therefore memories even on day one that our real eyes never witnessed.

 

[Will Krupp]

Michelle Lee, on special feature included with the new TT Blu-ray, says that she was at Radio City Music Hall and heard personally that they were dropping "Coffee Break" because of timing. She has some convincing detail to offer as well as first-hand knowledge.

Yes, but does she claim it was at RCMH's direction rather than by the producers or studio? Most deletions are made because of pace or timing in sneak previews. RCMH may be the place she heard it but is she saying THEY caused the deletion? I think it would be highly unusual for United Artists to take specific editorial advice from a theater, even one as prestigious as Radio City. Their concerns would have been strictly "how can we get more time for the Easter Show?" and, as the amount of stage time that deletion would return would be negligible at best, it seems far more likely that it was an artistic decision by the powers that be, IMO.

 

[haineshisway]

Lets backtrack a bit about the Valley of the Dolls soundtrack album. I claimed it did NOT come out at the time of the film. Indeed, it was so late that I thought the release had been cancelled.

That's right - I misremembered which way it went - funny, that's kind of what we're talking about here. But just to put the period on this: You claimed and rather vociferously that it did NOT come out at the time of the film and that it was so late that you thought the release had been cancelled. You absolutely remembered that and you would not budge because you were right. But you weren't because the soundtrack was available when the film came out - we had to actually go do the research, even though several of us had bought it - and of course we were all correct and you finally, finally apologized - and yet, right now you seem to be saying you still believe it was late. And there you have it. VOTD LP came out concurrently with the film - even stated so in advertisements. The entire point of this, lest we forget, is that memory can be faulty for any number of reasons, and yours is faulty here thinking you saw Coffee Break, when you'd probably heard it on the soundtrack LP and just planted it in your memory - or whatever.

 

[PMF]

And speaking of Radio City Music Hall, I remember when "The Bells of St. Mary" was booked there;
oddly enough, though, I have no actual memories of seeing the film, itself.
On the other hand, what I do remember most about that evening was spotting Al Pacino and Diane Keaton walking out together, towards a newspaper stand.
As they passed, I'm absolutely certain that I over heard Keaton saying, "Michael, do you think I'd make a good Nun?"
As I look back upon that memory, I now find it strange that Keaton was addressing him as Michael.
I mean, c'mon, the guy's name is Al.
Maybe they were keeping a low profile. I don't know.

 

[Mike Frezon]

All right, How to Succeed fans.

After a bit of a delay, this film made it into my mailbox from SAE this afternoon. Peg and I watched it immediately and I have a question.

It's not about the film so much, but about 1960s NYC.

Here's some screen grabs (with my phone off my screen). On some of the location shots, you see all these great old objects:
red/blue US mailboxes, traffic light posts, fire call alarm boxes, etc.

But there are also some gold mailbox-sized boxes on several corners. They have slots near the top of each side. And I cannot figure out what they are (although I have a guess).

Does anyone know for sure?

My guess:

Spoiler

Large public ashtrays?

Like what you might see outside the doorways of some public buildings nowadays?

 

[TravisR]

^ Isn't that a caduceus on the box? If it is, I'd guess it's some kind of medical thing.

 

[B-ROLL]

All right, How to Succeed fans.

After a bit of a delay, this film made it into my mailbox from SAE this afternoon.

TG Our long National Nightmare is OVER

 

[Mike Frezon]

Isn't that a caduceus on the box?

I am spoilerizing my response, only because it pertains to my spoilerized guess above:

Spoiler

I had convinced myself--based on my guess--that it was a cigarette with a flame on the end and a pool of smoke rising above.

But that took some imagination on my part.

Peg thinks the image looks like an eagle!

 

[Mike Frezon]

TG Our long National Nightmare is OVER

Nobody's more thankful than me!

 

[John Maher_289910]

I find the film well made, but compared to the show, it pales. The libretto to the show is, perfection. The film isn't as witty. Too bad, for me, since it is just about my favorite Broadway musical, which I saw during its initial Broadway run, and fell madly in love with Michele Lee and her incredible delivery of all the great numbers that were cut from the film. Not sure if she mentions it in her interview on the Blu-ray, but she was devastated by the cuts, and wasn't going to even do the film, until Bobby Morse convinced her that it was in her best interest, regardless of what they did to her role.

 

[Mike Frezon]

By the way, I forgot to mention that the Blu-ray looks and sounds fabulous.

Michelle Lee mentions the cut of Coffee Break for the Radio City engagement. But it is not dwelt on. And she just mentions it as matter-of-fact...not with much regret.

My wife posted my quiz/question on FB, but so far, no one seems to know.