Jedi Council Forums - The Movie Musicals Thread: Now Dis. "Kiss Me, Kate" (1953)

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Author	Topic: The Movie Musicals Thread: Now Dis. "Kiss Me, Kate" (1953)
Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 1/23/08 12:46pm Subject: RE: The Movie Musicals Thread: 25 Best (Now Disc. 8. "South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut")
	7. A Hard Day's Night (1964) "A black-and-white farce spun out of a pop band's latest album? It shouldn't have worked. But screenwriter Alun Owen turns the Beatles into the most anarchic comedy quartet this side of the Marx Brothers, and director Richard Lester wraps it all in shaky, hand-held shots that perfectly match the brash humor. As ''the boys'' scramble from gig to gig, they roll out more great tunes than most modern popsters do in their entire careers. Behold their fecundity and marvel." Funny, lively, witty and innovative. Did I miss anything?
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Thrawn1786 Registered: Feb '04	Date Posted: 1/23/08 1:00pm Subject: RE: The Movie Musicals Thread: 25 Best (Now Disc. 7. "A Hard Day's Night" (1964)
	Zaz posted: It's a lovely movie. Next: 8. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) "The penis-joke title is one of the tamer gags in Matt Stone and Trey Parker's totally obscene, utterly inspired musical take on their Comedy Central TV show about the world's trashiest-talking grade-schoolers. (By one online count, the F-word is uttered here 146 times.) It's better than any episode, thanks to outrageously dirty ditties by Parker and Marc Shaiman like ''Uncle F---a,'' ''Kyle's Mom's a Bitch,'' and the Oscar-nominated ''Blame Canada.'' A confession: "Uncle F-----", with its chorus of synchronized farts, reduces me to tears of laughter every time. Okay, I'm twelve. This movie is also a highly effective satire of aminated Disney: most notably Satan's power ballad "Up There" I believe even Stephen Sondheim liked it, and wrote a letter to Stone and Parker telling them so. -----signature----- Knick knack, Patti's whack, diva's on her throne-you just got Patti LPwned! Senator of Thrawn Fans Unite, EU Senate My 2009 Dear Diary Challenge entry: http://boards.theforce.net/the_saga/b10476/29687672/p1/?3
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 1/24/08 8:28am Subject: RE: The Movie Musicals Thread: 25 Best (Now Disc. 7. "A Hard Day's Night" (1964)
	No comments on "A Hard Day's Night", the world's first music video?
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Thrawn1786 Registered: Feb '04	Date Posted: 1/24/08 12:02pm Subject: RE: The Movie Musicals Thread: 25 Best (Now Disc. 7. "A Hard Day's Night" (1964)
	I've never seen it, though I would like to. Sounds amusing. -----signature----- Knick knack, Patti's whack, diva's on her throne-you just got Patti LPwned! Senator of Thrawn Fans Unite, EU Senate My 2009 Dear Diary Challenge entry: http://boards.theforce.net/the_saga/b10476/29687672/p1/?3
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 1/24/08 12:15pm Subject: RE: The Movie Musicals Thread: 25 Best (Now Disc. 7. "A Hard Day's Night" (1964)
	It's a very funny, understated film, with great music. Next: 6. The Band Wagon (1953) "In which screenwriters Comden and Greene (see Singin' in the Rain) and director Vincente Minnelli send up the New York theater world. Meet Jeffrey Cordova (Jack Buchanan), a pompous windbag of a director-producer-actor who convinces a washed-up movie hoofer (Fred Astaire) to star in a musical Broadway version of Faust. It bombs, then becomes an old-school revue. Peak scene: Astaire glides through Central Park with Cyd Charisse to the strains of ''Dancing in the Dark.'' Patently fake set, sublimely convincing star chemistry." Oh, no, no...the best scene is the "Girl Hunt" ballet, especially in the bar, when Cyd Charisse does this... and this...
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 1/25/08 1:43pm Subject: RE: The Movie Musicals Thread: 25 Best (Now Disc. 6. "The Band Wagon" (1953)
	5. Mary Poppins (1964) "Okay, so Dick Van Dyke mangles his cockney accent. He's still magic as Bert, a chimney sweep in 1910 London infatuated with nanny Poppins (Julie Andrews, in her Oscar-winning movie debut). What makes the treacly lilt of tunes like ''Jolly Holiday'' and ''Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'' work so well? The sexy subtext of Bert and Mary's romantic fling. And dig the swipes at English imperialism, as in a fantastical cartoon scene where Bert and Mary rescue a bedraggled Irish fox from stuffy British hunters. Cheeky!" Haven't seen this one since I was five, and I'm still sure it's better than "The Sound of Music."
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 1/29/08 12:33pm Subject: RE: The Movie Musicals Thread: 25 Best (Now Disc. 5. Mary Poppins (1964)) - Date Edited: 2/1/08 10:07am (2 edits total) Edited By: Zaz
	4. Cabaret (1972) "A truly adult movie musical — yet rated PG! — charting the ''divine decadence'' of 1930s Berlin as the Nazis come to power. A kinky M.C. (Joel Grey) is your host, along with delusional fag-hag chanteuse Sally Bowles (winningly played by future tabloid staple Liza Minnelli). Bob Fosse's direction copped him an Oscar, and the smash-and-grab editing helped usher in modern music videos. The songs, by John Kander and Fred Ebb, never wear out their Wilkommens." Lots of good things...Fosse's choreography chief among them. Grey is good, as is Michael York; Minnelli is pre-melt-down, but listening to her singing "Cabaret" is no longer fun, if you listen to the lyrics, and I do. She's pretty good otherwise, if suffering just a bit from trying to garner the audience's approval (it gets to be a raging disease later, and must be hereditary). Fosse suffers, too, from ham-handed obviousness at times, and like Minnelli, this gets worse later.
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 1/30/08 12:06pm Subject: RE: The Movie Musicals Thread: 25 Best (Now Disc. 4. "Cabaret" (1972)
	3. "Singin' in the Rain" (1952) "A happy mix of pitch-perfect elements, attached to a sendup of early talking pictures: Songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed; a zinger-laden script by Betty Comden and Adolph Green; peerless high comedy from Jean Hagen as a silent-screen star cursed with a hard-as-nails voice; abundant charm from Debbie Reynolds as a feisty ingénue; agreeable hamming by Gene Kelly as a vain actor; and sidekick Donald O'Connor doing extreme backflips. Nimbly codirected by Kelly and Stanley Donen." They forgot to mention a dream sequence with Cyd Charisse doing this:
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 1/31/08 11:49am Subject: RE: The Movie Musicals Thread: 25 Best (Now Disc. 3. "Singin' in the Rain" (1952) )
	2. West Side Story (1961) "Natalie Wood doesn't make the most believable Puerto Rican Juliet to Richard Beymer's pretty-American-boy Romeo. But choreographer and codirector Jerome Robbins injects the opening gang-warfare finger-snapping ballet and other big numbers with so much energy, it carries the whole thing along. Genius scene: The edgy, angsty, jazzy setpiece ''Cool,'' which feels like a nihilistic '50s teen-rebel movie on drugs. Kudos to composer Leonard Bernstein and lyricist Stephen Sondheim for the most sophisticated score ever to go mainstream." The dancing and the supporting cast are great; unfortunately Richard Beymer is a hole in the screen as Tony, and Natalie Wood isn't a whole lot better.
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JohnWesleyDowney Registered: Jan '04	Date Posted: 1/31/08 10:01pm Subject: RE: The Movie Musicals Thread: 25 Best (Now Disc. 2. "West Side Story")
	During some promotional material for Sweeney Todd, I saw Stephen Sondheim take a swipe at the West Side Story movie. He commented that the gang's clothing and shoes were nicely color coordinated, with sarcasm dripping in every word. I'm sure he's happy that his lyrics in West Side Story gave him his first big success, but I think he held some contempt for the quality of the film, I think he thought it was too Hollywood and phoney.
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Thrawn1786 Registered: Feb '04	Date Posted: 2/1/08 10:02am Subject: RE: The Movie Musicals Thread: 25 Best (Now Disc. 2. "West Side Story")
	Catch up time! "The Band Wagon": I keep meaning to watch this; every time it's on tv I always end up in the middle of the movie. "Mary Poppins": It's a cute movie. Julie Andrews makes the whole thing work. The kids are anything but cute(physically) though. "Cabaret": If you ignore the fact that Bob Fosse pretty much scrapped almost the entire original stage script, it's a good film. "Singin' in the Rain": probably my favorite 'classic' movie musical. Everything about it works. "West Side Story": haven't seen this one in its entirety yet. -----signature----- Knick knack, Patti's whack, diva's on her throne-you just got Patti LPwned! Senator of Thrawn Fans Unite, EU Senate My 2009 Dear Diary Challenge entry: http://boards.theforce.net/the_saga/b10476/29687672/p1/?3
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 2/1/08 1:11pm Subject: RE: The Movie Musicals Thread: 25 Best (Now Disc. 2. "West Side Story")
	25 Best Musicals 1. "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) "Who'd pine for drab, dusty Kansas after visiting fab, glamorous Emerald City? Homebody Dorothy Gale, that's who — and it's a testament to Judy Garland's hyper-emotional acting that you believe the kid really does want out. Entire books have extolled Oz's splendors, but here we'll just cite the eternally charming songs of Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg (anchored by the bathetic, Oscar-winning ''Over the Rainbow'') and the endlessly rich background score by Herbert Stothart (another Oscar)." I hope Rogue doesn't see this; he hates this movie. No doubt it has been rather over-exposed by TV, and it's very short on dancing, but the cast is excellent, the songs iconic (as Rogue himself said in the Best Movie Song thread, say "Which Old Witch?" to a roomful of people, and as like as not, they'll all respond: "The Wicked Witch!")
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Thrawn1786 Registered: Feb '04	Date Posted: 2/1/08 1:48pm Subject: RE: The Movie Musicals Thread: 25 Best (Now Disc. 1. "The Wizard of Oz")
	I had a feeling this would be #1. This movie is definitely over-exposed; almost to the point of the musical Annie("If you don't love Annie, you're not American!" I was once famously told). However, The Wizard of Oz has a bunch of things that Annie does not: good music and the cast is excellent(they don't take it too seriously, which always works). Plus what dancing there is is cute and fits. -----signature----- Knick knack, Patti's whack, diva's on her throne-you just got Patti LPwned! Senator of Thrawn Fans Unite, EU Senate My 2009 Dear Diary Challenge entry: http://boards.theforce.net/the_saga/b10476/29687672/p1/?3
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RX_Sith Title: C&G Game Host Registered: Mar '06	Date Posted: 2/9/08 5:29am Subject: RE: The Movie Musicals Thread: Man of La Mancha (1972)
	Man of La Mancha. (from wiki) Man of La Mancha is a 1972 film based on the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha by Dale Wasserman, with music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion. The musical was suggested by the classic novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes, but more directly based on Dale Wasserman's 1959 non-musical television play, I, Don Quixote, which combines a semi-fictional episode from the life of Cervantes with scenes from his novel. The film was financed by an Italian production company, Produzioni Europee Associates, and shot in Rome. However, it is entirely in English. It was released by United Artists.The film is known in Italy as L'Uomo della Mancha. The film was produced and directed by Arthur Hiller, and stars Peter O'Toole as both Miguel de Cervantes and Don Quixote, James Coco as both Cervantes' Manservant and Sancho Panza (Don Quixote's "squire"), and Sophia Loren as scullery maid and prostitute Aldonza, whom the deranged Don Quixote idolises as Dulcinea. Gino Conforti, as the barber, is the only member of the original Broadway musical cast to repeat his role for the film, though James Coco also played that role, briefly, on Broadway. Synopsis Cervantes and his manservant have been imprisoned by the Spanish Inquisition, and a manuscript by Cervantes is seized by his fellow inmates, who subject him to a mock trial in order to determine whether the manuscript should be returned. Cervantes' defense is in the form of a play, in which Cervantes takes the role of Alonso Quijana, an old gentleman who has lost his mind and now believes that he should go forth as a knight-errant. Quijana renames himself Don Quixote de La Mancha, and sets out to find adventures with his "squire", Sancho Panza. Two changes are made to the storyline of the stage musical: one of them is the reason for Cervantes' imprisonment. The play begins with Cervantes and his manservant entering the dungeon, after which we learn that Cervantes incurred the wrath of the Inquisition by issuing a lien on a monastery that would not pay their taxes. In the film's opening scene, we see a festival in the town square, during which Cervantes stages a play that openly lampoons the Inquisition, thereby leading to his arrest. Another change in the film occurs when the Padre and Dr. Carrasco are sent to bring Don Quixote back home. In the play, they arrive at the inn and simply try to reason with him, but he pays no attention. In the film, in a scene directly inspired by Cervantes's original novel, an elaborate ruse is set up by Don Quixote's family. A man is brought in on a bier, apparently "turned to stone" through some enchantment. Don Quixote is told by the man's "relatives" that only he can break the spell, by fighting the dreaded Enchanter, Quixote's mortal enemy. This prepares us for the Enchanter's later appearance as the Knight of the Mirrors. Production According to both associate producer Saul Chaplin (in his memoir The Golden Age of Movie Musicals and Me) and Dale Wasserman (in his memoir The Impossible Musical), the film had a troubled production history. Originally, Wasserman, composer Mitch Leigh, and Albert Marre, who had directed the original show but had never before directed a film, were hired to make the motion picture, and original cast stars Richard Kiley and Joan Diener were screen tested in anticipation of the two actors repeating their stage roles. Because of a dispute with UA, however, Marre was fired, and Wasserman, Leigh, Kiley and Diener also left the project. British director Peter Glenville was then brought in, but was fired when it was learned that he planned to eliminate most of the songs. It was then that Arthur Hiller and Saul Chaplin joined the project. Hiller re-hired Wasserman to adapt his own stage libretto, although, according to Wasserman, the film's new opening sequence, showing the actual arrest of Cervantes before he enters the prison, was not by him. Writer John Hopkins, who most likely wrote the scene Wasserman refers to, had been brought in by Glenville, and had left when Glenville was fired. However, it has never been made clear whether or not it was Glenville or Hiller who cast the usually non-singing actors (O'Toole, Loren, Brian Blessed, Harry Andrews, and Rosalie Crutchley), although it may be assumed that Glenville did, since he had tried to eliminate the songs, and had previously worked with both O'Toole and Laurence Rosenthal, the music adaptor, on the film Becket. The only member of the original cast to reprise his role in the film was Conforti, the amazed barber, whose shaving basin is mistaken by Don Quixote for the Golden Helmet of Mambrino. Saul Chaplin also explains in his book that the sets and costumes, designed by Luciano Damiani, had already been made by the time that he and Hiller were brought in to work on the film, which meant that Hiller could not have them altered. Music Mitch Leigh's Tony Award winning score is augmented in the film adaptation with discreet string orchestration by conductor Laurence Rosenthal, whose work was nominated for the Academy Award for Original Song Score and Adaptation. The original stage orchestration had used no strings other than guitar and string bass. Two songs from the musical, "What Does He Want of Me" and "To Each His Dulcinea", were omitted from the film, as were two verses of "Aldonza" and the second verse of the reprise of "Dulcinea". The lyric of "It's All The Same" was partially rewritten by Joe Darion. The last few lines of "I Really Like Him" were also rewritten, but, as in the play, Aldonza tosses Sancho a dishrag to take to Quixote as a "token". When Sancho does so, Quixote immediately believes it to be a silken scarf. Peter O'Toole's vocal performance was deemed to be inadequate, and was re-recorded by Simon Gilbert. All the other actors did their own singing. Fidelity to Costumes and Locale In Original Novel The film presents a more faithful depiction of Don Quixote's armor, as written by Cervantes, than does the play. Cervantes describes Quixote's armor as having a brownish quality because of rust, which is the way it appears in the film (it is silver, like most armor, in the play). Also in the movie, before he begins using a shaving basin for a helmet, Quixote obviously wears a morion with a cardboard beaver attached, as Cervantes tells us he did. In the stage production, his first helmet is simply a regular medieval one. The film was criticized by some for having shabby-looking scenery in the Don Quixote scenes, but the design of both the windmills and the inn is remarkably faithful to that of the actual windmills and inns of that time in La Mancha. (There is a roadside inn still in existence that is, according to legend, one of the two inns that Cervantes describes in the novel.) Cast (First billed only) * Peter O'Toole - Don Quixote de La Mancha/Miguel de Cervantes/Alonso Quijana * Sophia Loren - Aldonza/Dulcinea * James Coco - Sancho Panza/Cervantes' Manservant * Harry Andrews - The 'Governor'/The Innkeeper * John Castle - The 'Duke'/Dr. Sanson Carrasco * Brian Blessed - Pedro, the Head Muleteer * Ian Richardson - The Padre * Julie Gregg - Antonia Quijana * Rosalie Crutchley - The Housekeeper * Gino Conforti - The Barber Awards and nominations Nominated * Academy Award for Original Song Score and Adaptation - Laurence Rosenthal * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy - Peter O'Toole * Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture - James Coco Won * National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Award for Best Actor - Peter O'Toole (Also for The Ruling Class). The board selected Man of La Mancha as one of the Ten Best Films of 1972. Discuss. -----signature----- Chief of Staff - The SWC Rebel Scum
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Princess_Tina Registered: May '01	Date Posted: 2/9/08 6:08am Subject: RE: The Movie Musicals Thread
	A lot of people have a negative opinion of Man of La Mancha, but I'm not among them. Certainly it isn't as good as it could have been, but it also isn't as bad as some people would have you believe.
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