A Few Words About A few words about...™ Mame -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[JohnMor]

Bernadette Peters would have been ideal a few years back. Better suited to Mame than she was to Gypsy, imo.

 

[MatthewA]

After Bette Midler scored such a major success with Gypsy on television, there was serious talk of a made-for-TV film of Mame starring Cher. I don't know whatever became of those plans.

They had a bunch of people attached to it before her, including but not limited to Bette Midler and even Whoopi Goldberg! But apparently, they just never came up with a script that Jerry Herman approved.

 

[Brian McP]

Sad to say that the reason Angela Lansbury was passed over for "Mame" was because of the relative box office disappointment of Disney's "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" -- WB could have also recast "Mame" when in pre-production when Lucy broke her leg in a skiing accident and they put the production back an entire year, but didn't.

Also regarding the mono soundtrack and the stereo soundtrack album -- when the movie was being prepared for dvd release, Warners admitted they tried everything to to bring the movie out in some kind of stereo but couldn't as Lucy's vocal tracks were patched together after many takes and they could not bring these out in 5.1 stereo (but survive in 2.0 stereo on the soundtrack album....but is it really stereo?)

When "Mame" came out in 1974 it ran head-on into "The Exorcist" and that was pretty much it for the movie -- but it was a huge hit internationally notably here in Australia where it was in theatres for nearly a year.

 

[Everett S.]

I was the projectionist 4 the opening night @ the Arcade theatre in Balto. City, we only had one guy show up. They still had carbon arc lamps,and had the best looking picture in town!

 

[KPmusmag]

Sad to say that the reason Angela Lansbury was passed over for "Mame" was because of the relative box office disappointment of Disney's "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" -- WB could have also recast "Mame" when in pre-production when Lucy broke her leg in a skiing accident and they put the production back an entire year, but didn't.

Also regarding the mono soundtrack and the stereo soundtrack album -- when the movie was being prepared for dvd release, Warners admitted they tried everything to to bring the movie out in some kind of stereo but couldn't as Lucy's vocal tracks were patched together after many takes and they could not bring these out in 5.1 stereo (but survive in 2.0 stereo on the soundtrack album....but is it really stereo?)

When "Mame" came out in 1974 it ran head-on into "The Exorcist" and that was pretty much it for the movie -- but it was a huge hit internationally notably here in Australia where it was in theatres for nearly a year.

The soundtrack album is definitely true stereo. If you listen through earphones you can easily hear that the orchestra has a very wide stereo spread.

 

[Ethan Riley]

Sample of the title song. This was posted on youtube by Warners themselves, from the soundtrack album.

 

[GlennF]

Sample of the title song. This was posted on youtube by Warners themselves, from the soundtrack album.

Thanks for posting this. Interesting to listen to but I MUCH prefer the version on the Broadway cast album.

 

[GlennF]

And you can see this on YouTube. Someone has put the stereo track to Bosom Buddies. What I don't understand about all this is if the songs were recorded in stereo, and they would have been lip synching to those recordings, I don't really understand why the film couldn't be in stereo. I guess I am just being dense.

 

[MatthewA]

The music sounds richer, and pumping the surrounds up could help make Lucy's singing voice less harsh on the ears, but the lack of foley effects made it seem weird. The actresses talk, there's background music, but nothing else makes a sound. Spoons and teacups don't clink when put down, shoes don't make any noise when people get up and walk. That's why it's not as simple as looping album masters over it.* There's also underscore that didn't make the cut onto the LP. They need to find those, too. When they made those comments here, that was more than a decade ago. Audio technology advanced since then. I guess they thought it was worth a remastering as is with existing DVD extras but not anything else. That's better than Disney would have done. At least you got the whole movie, even if it is in mono.

Sad to say that the reason Angela Lansbury was passed over for "Mame" was because of the relative box office disappointment of Disney's "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" -- WB could have also recast "Mame" when in pre-production when Lucy broke her leg in a skiing accident and they put the production back an entire year, but didn't.

Angie left the country to get her daughter away from Charles Manson, and WB lied to Lucy and said she didn't want the part. With Bedknobs, a more complete film might have done better; we will never know because even if you can restore a film, you cannot do so retroactively. Even the obviously truncated 117-minute theatrical cut eventually out-grossed the 131-minute Mame anyway, yet Disney still didn't stop there. I'm not sure WB would have changed their minds regardless, but without it, there was no chance of Angie even being considered for it, and the second half of her career might have taken a decidedly different path. And her daughter's real-world safety overrode every other concern.** Even so, Lucy had enough clout that she could have sued WB for breach of contract if they'd tried to fire her while she was infirm. There was already enough bad word of mouth spreading simply because they'd passed Angie over so blithely. Imagine the bad press they'd get over headlines that screamed "60-YEAR-OLD LUCY FIRED FROM MAME OVER BROKEN LEG".***

*Along with the second half of "Eglantine" that included Miss Price standing up to Mr. Browne's ladies' man act, the one part of the Bedknobs and Broomsticks restoration that had to resort to this was the added lyric to "Portobello Road" with a female vendor who vaguely resembles Connie Gilchrist, who appeared in three other Disney movies after Auntie Mame, but whose last credit was in 1969. I want to say it's her, but I can't for sure. Although the LP whittled about 80 minutes of score down to 32 minutes to fit on a single disc, Disney saved all or most of the three-track pre-records to remix the film. That makes it all the more disappointing that some of their other 5.1 remixes just sounded like mono spread out to every speaker. And don't get me started on the early years of stereo TV and how some key shows are misrepresented on DVD in that respect.
**She admitted she never actually watched Mame.
***Here's Lucy wrote it into the plot of the concurrent season, their fifth.

 

[KPmusmag]

And you can see this on YouTube. Someone has put the stereo track to Bosom Buddies. What I don't understand about all this is if the songs were recorded in stereo, and they would have been lip synching to those recordings, I don't really understand why the film couldn't be in stereo. I guess I am just being dense.

If you are dense so am I. I also synced up several other songs with no problem. I suppose it is possible that a separate foley track no longer exists. I still am of the opinion it could have been done. That being said, I am sure I will enjoy the typical high quality of a Warner blu-ray.

 

[ahollis]

I would love to have sit down with Lucille Benson, Ruth McDevitt and Burt Munson and talk about Mame over a glass of bourbon. Sighhhhh

 

[ahollis]

Watching the Blu-Ray now. It’s gorgeous. WA you have succeeded.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

I watched it last evening and thought it was a splendid presentation. The color and clarity were absolutely superb- pure inky blacks, red reds, and most importantly white whites. No blooming- visually stunning.
The movie never worked for me before but does now with this presentation with one exception. The “If He Walked into my Life” torch number is a big fat dud where it should fly. The decision to not have her lip sync but thinking while this song is playing is weird- it loses all dramatic effect. Not to mention that they could have dubbed this song if her lips weren’t even moving. It threw me out of the film. It’s definitely requires a voice that can sustain holding a note.
Also the child actor couldn’t sing either- I wonder if this was to make her not seem so bad. Lol
But still highly recommended!

 

[KPmusmag]

I watched it last night also (projected on 110" screen) and I thought it looked great. It also gave me an odd deja vu sensation - I think it is because after having seen it only in standard def on video for so many years, the filmic quality now possible with blu-ray took me back to 1974. The last time I felt that way was when the blu of Mary Poppins came out - the filmic quality of that one also transported me back in time to a childhood viewing. I will always wish for stereo sound which so nicely showcases the great Ralph Burns orchestrations on the soundtrack album, but this is a high quality presentation and I am very pleased with this disc.

 

[JohnMor]

The movie never worked for me before but does now with this presentation with one exception. The “If He Walked into my Life” torch number is a big fat dud where it should fly. The decision to not have her lip sync but thinking while this song is playing is weird- it loses all dramatic effect. Not to mention that they could have dubbed this song if her lips weren’t even moving. It threw me out of the film.

But all the songs not sung to others were treated that way in the film. “St. Brigit” and “The Letter” were also voice overs. No one in the film sings to themselves when they’re alone. It would be weird if Mame DID imo.

 

[PMF]

[...] It’s definitely requires a voice that can sustain holding a note.[...]

I believe that "Mame" became the only film that have both the MPAA rating, along with the Surgeon General's warning.

 

[lionel59]

I certainly find it the most enjoyable of the “non-singer” musicals so prevalent in the day: Paint Your Wagon, Man of La Mancha, At Long Last Love and the hideous Lost Horizon being the main ones that come to mind.

And I actually prefer Bea Arthur and Jane Connell over their Auntie Mame counterparts of Coral Browne and Peggy Cass, both of whom are great though.

I agree re Bea and Jane, although Coral Browne - a fellow Aussie- has an acidic tone to her voice which adds something to the part.
Interestingly, Peter O'Toole was DUBBED in LA MANCHA. He sings for himself in GOODBYE, MR CHIPS which I think was/is underrated and better than LA MANCHA. Most of the cast in LOST HORIZON were dubbed. Sally Kellerman and Bobby Van are the only ones who do their own numbers. Peter Finch's voice double no doubt toned down his singing prowess to make it more plausible that it could be Finch. I think I read Lisa Kirk did this for Roz in GYPSY and the singer who dubbed Liz in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC must also have subdued her voice (one critic thought it was Liz singing and likened her to Minnie Mouse).
Lucy had clout and I suspect she insisted her tracks be used. She sounds faux surprised in the interview with Phil Donahue that Warners elected to not use Kirk's tracks. Her one Broadway musical (WILDCAT) failed and her limited singing talent was often made fun of in her tv sitcoms. If Lisa's tracks are in the vaults, they would make an invaluable special feature on cd or blu ray. By the way, there was an unusual HERE'S LUCY episode in the final season promoting MAME in which Lucy Carter meets Lucille Ball and enters a lookalike contest. Costumes from MAME are utilized. Weird but entertaining.

 

[KPmusmag]

I love that Here's Lucy episode where Lucy meets Lucille. It was a fun teaser for the movie back when it aired. And Mame is never mentioned in the episode; I have heard it was because ABC was a producing entity of the film.

 

[KPmusmag]

I forgot to mention that they restored the 1974 Warner logo (Saul Bass I think?), so that is a plus as well. I was happy to see that.

 

[Matt Hough]

A couple of clarifications about Lionel's post above:

Wildcat was a flop, but not because of Lucy's voice or the lack of an audience. It was SRO from the time it opened (Lucy's mega TV fame assured that), but Lucy hadn't counted on the tedium of a long Broadway run performing the same material eight times a week, and it was she who closed the show after about six months.

Elizabeth Taylor sang "Send in the Clowns" in A Little Night Music and the talking parts of "You Must Meet My Wife," but she was dubbed by Elaine Tompkinson in the opening number "Love Takes Time." The misguided movie, however, also used Miss Tompkinson to dub Chloe Francks in "The Glamorous Life" AND Lesley Anne-Downe in her numbers - the same singer for three different characters! Unbelievable!