Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!hsdndev!cfa203!thakur
From: jimomura@lsuc.on.ca (Jim Omura)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.cinema
Subject: Musicals (Astaire & Durbin)
Message-ID: <1991May8.071732.11998@zerkalo.harvard.edu>
Date: 8 May 91 07:17:32 GMT
Sender: thakur@cfa.harvard.edu (Manavendra K. Thakur)
Reply-To: jimomura@lsuc.on.ca (Jim Omura)
Followup-To: rec.arts.cinema
Organization: Consultant, Toronto
Lines: 77
Approved: thakur@zerkalo.harvard.edu


[ Moderator's note:

  Contrary to what some might believe, rec.arts.cinema never went away.
  There hasn't been any traffic in the newsgroup for some time, but
  that's only because no one has submitted any articles appropriate to
  the newsgroup.

  If you're interested in musicals and would like to reply to Jim's
  article about musicals (or discuss any other issue related to cinema,
  for that matter), I would very much welcome your input.

  In this specific case, if you have some favorite musicals, please
  consider describing them in a posting.  I'm sure readers would
  particularly be interested in your article if you could take a few
  moments to also explain *why* you consider them your favorites.  And
  if you have the time, it'd be terrific if you could briefly discuss
  the merits they have over other films in the genre that you've seen.

  I look forward to hearing from many of you who have been silent for
  too long!
  -- MKT ]


Musicals

     When I was growing up the only real chance I had to see musicals
was on TV.  They'd already pretty much disappeared from the theatres.
But even then musicals were not my normal fare.  I tended to watch the
usual popular shows of the day.  The only musicals I would try to watch
were Bing Crosby.  That narrowed it down to "Holiday Inn", "Bells of St
Mary's", and "Going My Way" for years.  Eventually I saw a "new" one
called "White Christmas"!  Fred Astaire?  Oh yeah, well he danced really
well in "Holiday Inn" . . . .

     So it was only very late in life that I started to see the wider
scope of musicals.  I owe this to Public Television (TV Ontario in
Canada to be precise) and a work schedule that left me exhausted on
Saturday nights.  My two biggest discoveries were that Deanna Durbin had
a voice that could make me sit down if I was standing up.  If I had the
opportunity to see her live at her peak I expect she could pull off the
reverse as well (ie -- standing ovations almost manditory).  And that
Fred Astaire was probably the greatest "Musicals Star" the art form will
ever see.  I think in the long run, although I'm not a great collector
of films I'd like to have a small collection of works by these two
artists in particular.  Unfortunately, I still haven't had a chance to
research their works.  I don't know how many films they did or the
titles.

     So far, of the Fred Astaire pictures, I've bought "Top Hat"
(starring Fred & Ginger).  I have "Shall We Dance?" taped from TV, as
well as "The Barkleys of Broadway".  I think I want, probably 2 or 3
more of the best of Fred's work with Ginger Rogers.

     The Deanna Durbin films are more of a problem.  There's no "hook" I
can look for to tell which of her works I'd want to get.  I've taped
"Three Smart Girls", "Three Smart Girls Grow Up", "100 Men and a Girl"
and "Christmas Holiday" from TV.  I tried to tape "It Started With Eve",
but I botched that taping.  Of these, my favorites are the latter two.
"It Started With Eve" probably had her at her best.  She's mature and I
think her voice was better as she got older.  She's better looking too.
Well, *I'm* older, so that probably has something to do with that
opinion. :-) Bob Cummings and Charles Loughton are also great in
supporting roles.  "Christmas Holiday" on the otherhand is a stunning
piece of Cinema Noire and not a musical at all.  Oh, she gets to sing a
number, but that doesn't make it a musical anymore than Casa Blanca.
The movie is also notable for having Gene Kelly as a murdering "bad
guy".  Kelly's performance was, maybe a tad over stylized, but not so
much as to detract significantly.  He does achieve a menacing presence.

     Anyway, that's probably the extent of what I know about black and
white musicals.  Any advice or opinions on musicals to look for would be
most welcome!
-- 
Jim Omura, 2A King George's Drive, Toronto, (416) 652-3880
lsuc!jimomura
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