With the IMC featuring Song and Dance films, I decided to take advantage and watched several old-time musicals which I had never had the opportunity to watch: 42nd Street [IMC DVD 791.43657 F745 2006], The Band Wagon [IMC DVD 782.14 B214 2005], and Singin’ in the Rain [IMC DVD 781.542 S617 2002].
42nd Street surprised me, because most of the movie is a rehearsal for the final 15 minutes or so which actually features the performance of the musical. This movie is about a show which might be the last musical for the director. He gets backing from a gentleman on the condition that Dorothy Brock (played by Bebe Daniels) is the leading lady. However, the night before the show, Dorothy breaks her foot. When the director discovers, he is anguished, until some of the chorus girls recommend Peggy, a fellow chorus girl, to play the lead part. The director and Peggy (played by Ruby Keeler) then practice up until the final moment when the show goes on. The finale is Peggy performing wonderfully in the part as the musical is performed for the Broadway crowd.
My next movie was The Band Wagon, which stars Fred Astaire as a faded star, and Cyd Charisse as a ballerina. Astaire’s friends write a musical which they hope with reinstate him to his former glory. They take it to a popular director, which decides to reimagine it into a serious musical. Opening night, the musical flops, and the backers for the musical pull out. Astaire decides that they will reinstate the musical to its original script while touring, a way to save money but still perform the musical as they work on it, which saves it from flopping. The end result is an interesting sort of musical, but my favorite scene is a parody on film noir which captures the essence of film noir perfectly in my opinion.
My final movie, and the best in my opinion, was Singin’ in the Rain. Gene Kelly is absolutely perfect in this role, and Debbie Reynolds plays her part wonderfully too. This is another film about reimagination: successful silent movie actors must transition into sound as The Jazz Singer is introduced to audiences and becomes a success. When the producers of Kelly’s film add sound, it is laughed at by audiences as soon as it is in theaters. Kelly and Reynolds with help from Donald O’Connor must somehow make the movie a success, and they accomplish it by adding music. They save the movie, and help to get Reynolds the credit she deserves.
Next week our Halloween movies will be on display, so come check some out! Don’t forget to keep following along on your own film travelogue at https://letterboxd.com/peterstanley/list/1001-movies-you-must-see-before-you-die/by/release/ .
0 Comments.