Gotta sing, gotta dance
Until the release of “Moulin Rouge” two years ago and the best picture Oscar for “Chicago” in March, movie musicals were as extinct as a T. rex. But musicals were an extremely lucrative staple during the golden age of Hollywood studios. And MGM, Paramount, Fox, Columbia, Warner Bros., RKO and Universal were overflowing with talented singers and dancers for these musicals.
Broadway composers also were continually lured to Hollywood to adapt their stage hits for the big screen or pen originals. Rodgers and Hart wrote 1932’s “Love Me Tonight,” George and Ira Gershwin penned 1937’s “Shall We Dance” and “A Damsel in Distress,” and Irving Berlin wrote 1935’s “Top Hat,” to name but a few. The sophisticated Cole Porter was another favorite of the Great White Way who proved equally successful in Hollywood.
Studios must think there’s still an audience for classic musicals, because a slew from some of the top composing and performing talents have been released on DVD recently.
Topping any collector’s list is bound to be Warner Home Video’s just-released DVDs of Porter’s best-loved movie musicals, “Broadway Melody of 1940,” “Kiss Me Kate,” “High Society,” and “Les Girls” and “Silk Stockings” ($20 each; $90 for the set).
“Without a doubt, Cole Porter is the supreme sophisticate of American song,” says Peter Fitzgerald, who produced, wrote and directed the retrospective documentaries included on each disc.
“In my opinion, he is one of the top three of the greatest American songwriters in American musical theater and one of the top five of popular music of the 20th century,” the documentary maker says.
Porter was very involved in the movie productions and would even change lyrics on the set to accommodate actors and “to make it just perfect,” Fitzgerald says. “He was happy with the results of these films and they all did well financially.”
Fitzgerald adds that people liked working with Porter, who died in 1964, because “he was very charming with everybody that he worked with. He made it his business to send everybody birthday cards and thank-you notes. He was the ultimate gentleman.”
Although he was the toast of Broadway and Hollywood, Porter was in constant pain: Both legs were crushed in a horseback riding accident in 1937. After his 33rd operation in 1958, he had his right leg amputated.
“By the time he had done ‘Les Girls,’ ” Fitzgerald says, “he had fallen into a lot of drinking and had an ulcer that erupted into his intestines. He had an unfortunate physical life with an extremely rich artistic life -- completely realized as an artist and at odds with a body that didn’t want to support him all the way.”
Each Porter film in the collection has been digitally remastered and looks “de-lovely.”
“The Broadway Melody of 1940,” the only one in black and white, stars Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell, and features their classic tap duet of “Begin the Beguine.” The DVD also features a documentary with host Ann Miller, a vintage “Our Gang” comedy and a behind-the-scenes essay.
“Kiss Me Kate,” from 1953, holds the distinction of having been shot in 3-D (this was a time when filmmakers were terrified by the onslaught of TV and relied on stunts to distinguish themselves).
Based on Porter’s popular Broadway comedy, the musical stars Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ann Miller and a very young Bob Fosse. The disc includes a documentary with host Miller, a music-only track and a short on New York City.
“High Society,” released in 1956, features a score Porter wrote specifically for the film -- a musical remake of “The Philadelphia Story” -- starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly (in her final film), Frank Sinatra, Celeste Holm and Louis Armstrong. The score includes the standard “True Love” as well as the snappy “Well, Did You Evah?” duet between Crosby and Sinatra.
The DVD includes a documentary hosted by Holm, a newsreel of the premiere, a “Millionaire Droopy” cartoon and radio ads.
“Les Girls” (1957) is another original Porter movie musical, this one starring Gene Kelly -- in his last for MGM -- along with Mitzi Gaynor, Taina Elg and Kay Kendall, who won the Golden Globe for her enchanting comedic performance. The DVD includes a documentary narrated by Elg and a Tex Avery cartoon.
“Silk Stockings,” released in 1957, was Astaire’s last romantic lead in a movie musical. Cyd Charisse is his leading lady this time. Also featured in the chorus is Barrie Chase, whom Astaire fell in love with and teamed up with on his Emmy Award-winning TV specials. Songs include “All of You” and “Too Bad.” The DVD features a documentary with Charisse as host, and a rare vintage musical short, “Paree, Paree,” starring a very young Bob Hope.
Warner Home Video is releasing the comprehensive documentary “The Great American Songbook” ($20 for VHS; $25 for DVD).
Singer Michael Feinstein is the host of this three-hour exploration of the evolution of American popular song as told through the stories of songwriters including Berlin, the Gershwins, Porter, and Rodgers & Hammerstein. The DVD also features informative, passionate commentary from Feinstein, who is the leading performer today of these vintage American tunes. “Songbook” was on PBS recently.
The documentary, says Feinstein, features 146 songs culled from movie musicals, and most of the songs run full length.
“Because of my relationship with songwriters and families of songwriters and publishers, we were able to get clearances, which is almost impossible these days. In the last 10 years, licensing of material has become very difficult and the rates have skyrocketed. It took three years to get the clearances.”
Feinstein says they went back to the best generation of material for each clip.
“In the cases of some clips, they haven’t been seen in many, many years,” Feinstein says, “like Ray Bolger doing ‘Once in Love With Amy’ from ‘Where’s Charley?’ ” That 1952 film hasn’t been seen in years because the rights have reverted back to those involved in the production of the film including the widow of composer Frank Loesser.
“We had to get special permission from all the different people involved to use that clip. This DVD is the only place you see that clip, and it looks good because we found a 35-millimeter nitrate print to take the clip from. That is the exciting part for me -- to be able to resuscitate the material.”
Big movie musicals were in a lull when “West Side Story” was released in 1961. Not only was the haunting, vibrant adaptation of the Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim 1957 Broadway show a hit with movie audiences, it won 10 Oscars -- the most awarded any musical. Among the Oscars it received were best film, best director (Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins), best supporting actress (Rita Moreno) and supporting actor (George Chakiris). Among the highlights of the film was the landmark opening dance sequence set on the streets of New York, “Tonight,” “Maria,” “America” and “I Feel Pretty.”
MGM has recently released a special two-disc DVD set ($40) of the musical drama that starred Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer and Russ Tamblyn. The first disc includes a lovely wide-screen transfer with the option of watching it with the intermission music.
The second disc has a lengthy documentary chronicling the often turbulent making of the film -- Robbins was fired halfway through production -- with interviews with many of the creative team and actors, terrific behind-the-scenes footage and even Wood’s original vocal tracks -- Marni Nixon eventually dubbed Wood’s singing voice.
Ba-ba-ba-boo! Next Tuesday, Universal is releasing six vintage musicals that Bing Crosby made at Paramount during the 1930s and ‘40s ($15 each). The first disc features “Rhythm on the Range” (1936), a genial little film in which Crosby plays a cowhand who falls in love with a runaway heiress (Frances Farmer, who seems out of her league in a musical comedy). Bob Burns and Martha Raye supply the comic relief. The score includes the standard “I’m an Old Cowhand From the Rio Grande.” Both Roy Rogers and Louis Prima pop up in that number.
The second film on the disc is the pleasant 1940 romantic comedy “Rhythm on the River,” which finds Crosby as a fledging songwriter who is a ghostwriter for a lovesick Broadway composer (Basil Rathbone). Mary Martin plays a struggling poet hired by Rathbone to write his lyrics. Oscar Levant also stars.
The second double feature includes “Birth of the Blues” (1941), a musical comedy that tells the history of jazz through white eyes. Crosby, the noted Jack Teagarden and Brian Donlevy play members of the first all-white jazz band in New Orleans. Martin is also on hand as a young singer who is pursued by both Crosby and Donlevy. The music is great, but the film is anything but politically correct.
Rounding out the DVD is the 1946 Technicolor musical “Blue Skies,” which also stars Astaire and Joan Caufield. There are a lot of great Berlin tunes and dance numbers and the film looks lovely in Technicolor, but the story about two guys and the girl they love is a hackneyed snooze.
The final Crosby double bill features two of his later Paramount musicals, 1948’s “The Emperor Waltz” and 1949’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.” Billy Wilder directed and co-wrote “Emperor Waltz,” which was his first film in Technicolor. Crosby and Wilder are not a good fit, and Der Bingle has very little chemistry with his co-star, Joan Fontaine. Though it’s minor Wilder, there are some fun touches and Crosby’s canine co-stars end up stealing the film.
Much more entertaining is the very funny Technicolor version of Mark Twain’s fantasy of “A Connecticut Yankee.” Crosby is a bit stiff, but he’s surrounded by a great supporting cast including Rhonda Fleming, Cedric Hardwicke and the always-dependable William Bendix.
