A PEEK AT VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1 Viewer)

[haineshisway]

Boobies, boobies, boobies - yes, Valley of the Dolls is on Blu-ray, a new Criterion release. There's never been anything quite like it, especially if you were around when it actually came out, which I was. Back then, before I was told it was a camp classic, I just watched it as, you know, a movie, and despite my being a fan of its director, Mark Robson, I thought it was pretty dreadful, and yet fascinating and kind of irresistibly bad. I've seen it a few times over the years, especially in its various home video incarnations VHS to laserdisc to DVD, none of which, for me, have looked very good.

Watching it again, it's still irresistibly bad, still fascinating, and still pretty dreadful, but it's just one of those movies that you have to give in to. Of course it has become a camp classic, and it became one within a year of its release and people laugh both with it and at it, but I suspect mostly the latter, although with fondness. Patty Duke is in a whole other universe, Susan Hayward is fun, Sharon Tate is actually lovely and sweet and delivers, for me, the film's best performance simply because she's playing it real, Barbara Parkins enunciates very well, Paul Burke is Paul Burke and a Lyon, and the rest of the folks are fun (including the young Richard Dreyfuss).

And now, finally, we have a wonderful transfer of it. It looks just great - lots of opticals, but they look pretty damn good, and the color is finally perfect. So, if you're in the mood to Sparkle, Neely, Sparkle, this is a prize Blu-ray.

 

[Virgoan]

And it has a wonderful score arranged by John(ny) Williams based on tunes written by Andre Previn and Dory Langdon.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Boobies, boobies, boobies

Wrong Valley of the Dolls there son.

 

[lark144]

Thanks Bruce for your thoughts. I also saw the movie when it first came out, and was flabbergasted, if that's the right word, by all of the continuity errors. It's beautifully lit, but man is it slapdash & sloppy simply on a technical level (never mind about the story) & this is from the man who (along with Robert Wise) edited CITIZEN KANE! This is one of the worst mainstream Hollywood films I have ever seen, and I'm not talking about content here, but a simple failure to edit two pieces of film together in such a way that it all makes sense. I suppose one could say that director Mark Robson was purposely using continuity errors in order to stylistically mirror Ms. Susann's not so scintillating prose, but I'm not buying it. Sitting in the theater watching this film was kind of like seeing the technical mastery of classical Hollywood cinema, which I loved more than almost anything in the world, slowly disintegrate, and for me, that's not funny at all.

 

[lark144]

And yes, Sharon Tate is the best thing about VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, very sweet & warm & vibrantly alive, which retrospectively also makes watching this film a very sad experience, at least for this viewer.

 

[Matt Hough]

I think they're all trying as hard as they can to make it worthy of their time and talent. But the film was wrong-headed from the screenplay onward discarding the lengthy time frame of the original book to condense the action into a few years in a fictional Hollywood that was no longer representative of the industry at that point in time. It just doesn't work as a completely contemporary piece, and the movie does look cheap more often than not.

But I have to say that I love all of the songs (though endless repetitions of the theme song do get wearisome after awhile). There are good things on display in the movie. And let's not forget that the film was among the biggest money-making films of its year.

 

[Charles Smith]

Wrong Valley of the Dolls there son.

Neely O'Hara: Boobies, boobies, boobies. Nothin' but boobies! Who needs 'em? I did great without 'em.

 

[Panavision70]

One thing they did right was finding singers to dub Patty Duke and Susan Hayward who sounded like the stars if they had been great singers. I love the film as it is, but often think of what a good version of the story would have been like. Billy Wilder should have taken a crack at "Valley of the Dolls" with songs by Stephen Sondheim. Every time I hear Sondheim's "I'm Still Here" I imagine Helen Lawson striding over to the grand piano after the wig-pulling scene and telling the guy to play the new song going into the play. And she kills it singing "I'm Still Here" while glaring at Neely. Angela Lansbury is Helen Larson in my version.

 

[Alan Tully]

I've never seen the film (& hopefully never will), but I remember the book being a huge world-wide best seller in the sixties, & its author, Jacqueline Susann was quite famous for a while. If they hadn't made the film I'd think book & author would be well forgotten by now.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

Here's my Valley of the Dolls story. In 1968 I was in the Navy, stationed at Subic Bay in the Philippines. Valley of the Dolls was playing at the base movie theater, so some friends and I decided to see it. My jaw dropped when I saw the scenes at the "Lawrenceville" train station, because they were filmed in my home town of Katonah, N.Y.! In fact, I worked at that train station for six months before I went on active duty. I also knew the taxi driver who drives Anne Welles (Barbara Parkins) when she goes home to Lawrenceville to visit her family.

 

[Virgoan]

I love the photography of New England with snow. I love the GIllian Girl commercial and I love the Neely montage. I think the French movie montage is well done, as well.

And isn't it always a treat to see Lee Grant portray a hardcore bitch.

 

[John Maher_289910]

My favorite continuity error is during the Neely montage, when she's tap dancing and her shadow clearly shows a girl with short curly hair, then she jumps down into the frame, and it's Patty with her straight longer hair. I cannot be objective about the film. When it was in theaters, I, instantly became an immediate fan. Yes, I knew it was pretty much crap, at the time, but it was the most watchable crap, ever. It remains that, for me. I agree that Sharon Tate gives the film's finest performance, but the film wouldn't be the enduring "classic" it is, without Patty and the others, exactly as they are.

 

[JoeDoakes]

Boobies, boobies, boobies - yes, Valley of the Dolls is on Blu-ray, a new Criterion release. There's never been anything quite like it, especially if you were around when it actually came out, which I was. Back then, before I was told it was a camp classic, I just watched it as, you know, a movie, and despite my being a fan of its director, Mark Robson, I thought it was pretty dreadful, and yet fascinating and kind of irresistibly bad. I've seen it a few times over the years, especially in its various home video incarnations VHS to laserdisc to DVD, none of which, for me, have looked very good.

Watching it again, it's still irresistibly bad, still fascinating, and still pretty dreadful, but it's just one of those movies that you have to give in to. Of course it has become a camp classic, and it became one within a year of its release and people laugh both with it and at it, but I suspect mostly the latter, although with fondness. Patty Duke is in a whole other universe, Susan Hayward is fun, Sharon Tate is actually lovely and sweet and delivers, for me, the film's best performance simply because she's playing it real, Barbara Parkins enunciates very well, Paul Burke is Paul Burke and a Lyon, and the rest of the folks are fun (including the young Richard Dreyfuss).

And now, finally, we have a wonderful transfer of it. It looks just great - lots of opticals, but they look pretty damn good, and the color is finally perfect. So, if you're in the mood to Sparkle, Neely, Sparkle, this is a prize Blu-ray.

I need a doll just from thinking about it!

 

[MatthewA]

It is regrettable that no one has been able to clear Dionne Warwick's actual film vocals for any kind of album release. Scepter Records refused to allow them for the film's soundtrack LP (IIRC Dory Previn replaced her) though she recorded a single version, and k.d. lang later covered it, too.

I've never seen the film (& hopefully never will), but I remember the book being a huge world-wide best seller in the sixties, & its author, Jacqueline Susann was quite famous for a while. If they hadn't made the film I'd think book & author would be well forgotten by now.

The movie has already outlived the movie about its author, 2000's inaptly named Isn't She Great? In that film, Bette Midler sits in a theater next to Nathan Lane looking miserable as the hair-pulling scene unspools, complaining "they've ruined it," and also speculating how much money it will make. In reality, she first saw the film on a cruise ship where they played it at the wrong speed!

 

[Richard Gallagher]

I love the photography of New England with snow.

It's very nice, but most of what passes for New England was actually shot in Westchester County, New York. The exception is the Welles home, which is located in Redding Center, Connecticut, a few miles east of the Connecticut-New York border.

 

[Matt Hough]

I had asked to review Valley of the Dolls, but Criterion didn't send it. So, I watched my purchased copy tonight. It looks very good (more softer focus shots than I remembered), and the colors really pop, I thought. 3.0 channel sound most effective, too. The movie is no better or worse than it's always been.

I watched a couple of the new bonus features (already very familiar with the commentary and the AMC Backstory featurette) which added to my knowledge of Susann and Travilla.

 

[Dick]

My jaw dropped when I saw the scenes at the "Lawrenceville" train station, because they were filmed in my home town of Katonah, N.Y.!

Ah, another Westchester-ite! I grew up in Chappaqua and had to go to Katonah to take my driving test (Which I flunked the first time). Also saw SOPHIE'S CHOICE in your local theater when I returned briefly to the area from Maine, which is now my roost. Anyway, nice to know I am among some others from the area.

To add something on-topic, I never saw and have no desire to see VOTD. I have several times seen, and own a copy of, BTVOTD, which I like quite well for all of its well-executed and excessive and over-the-top flamboyance..

 

[John Skoda]

I watched a couple of the new bonus features (already very familiar with the commentary and the AMC Backstory featurette) which added to my knowledge of Susann and Travilla.

One nice thing I noticed is that in the Fox DVD version, for some reason the AMC Backstory featurette was edited to remove the excerpt from Judy Garland's unused prerecording of "I'll Plant My Own Tree" but this is now back in the Criterion version.

 

[Matt Hough]

Yes, I watched that today at lunchtime and was glad to see excerpts of her wardrobe tests and hear the song again.

 

[Johnny Angell]

It's been a long time since I've seen the movie. My lasting impression of the movie is dominated by how bad Patty Duke was. I do get how people can enjoy it because it's so bad.