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Re: Coming up on TCM...

Posted: April 24th, 2024, 2:40 pm
by ziggy6708a

so....should we blame this MESS totally on the greed & arrogance of the producers & director, without a mention of WHY 2 such major acting talents would embarress themselves in a major film musical when they simply CANNOT SING??!
:roll: :headbang:

Re: Coming up on TCM...

Posted: April 24th, 2024, 2:51 pm
by Hibi
O'Toole was dubbed (not even with a good singer). Sadly, Sophia wasn't.

I think the reasoning was using a great singer wouldn't sound like O'Toole, so they went with someone who sounded more like him but wasn't up to singing the score in a great way. My Quest (The Impossible Dream) was terribly done.

Re: Coming up on TCM...

Posted: April 24th, 2024, 3:15 pm
by ziggy6708a
just FYI
Leonard Maltin still gives the film a BOMB rating in his annual Movie and Video Guide, stating "Beautiful source material has been raped, murdered and buried".

Re: Coming up on TCM...

Posted: April 24th, 2024, 3:47 pm
by CinemaInternational
ziggy6708a wrote: April 24th, 2024, 2:40 pm
so....should we blame this MESS totally on the greed & arrogance of the producers & director, without a mention of WHY 2 such major acting talents would embarress themselves in a major film musical when they simply CANNOT SING??!
:roll: :headbang:
Well, it had been a growing trend beginning in the late 60s to hire actors who weren't singers for musicals (such as Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave in Camelot or Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood in Paint your Wagon), and it went from there. It still continues to this day on various musicals.....

Re: Coming up on TCM...

Posted: April 24th, 2024, 4:22 pm
by Hibi
ziggy6708a wrote: April 24th, 2024, 3:15 pm just FYI
Leonard Maltin still gives the film a BOMB rating in his annual Movie and Video Guide, stating "Beautiful source material has been raped, murdered and buried".

Oddly enough, there are some rave reviews for this film on imdb. No accounting for taste, I guess. Granted, adapting this stage musical for film was a daunting prospect at any time. But this adaptation released at the end of the roadshow era was a megaton bomb!

Re: Coming up on TCM...

Posted: April 24th, 2024, 4:35 pm
by CinemaInternational
Hibi wrote: April 24th, 2024, 4:22 pm
ziggy6708a wrote: April 24th, 2024, 3:15 pm just FYI
Leonard Maltin still gives the film a BOMB rating in his annual Movie and Video Guide, stating "Beautiful source material has been raped, murdered and buried".

Oddly enough, there are some rave reviews for this film on imdb. No accounting for taste, I guess. Granted, adapting this stage musical for film was a daunting prospect at any time. But this adaptation released at the end of the roadshow era was a megaton bomb!
Generally speaking, I think audiences who grew up since the film was originally made have become used to musicals with big stars who were less than ideal singers, which is probably why the reputations of once-slated films like Camelot, Paint Your Wagon, Man of La Mancha, Mame, and At long Last Love have increased a bit since their first release.

Re: Coming up on TCM...

Posted: April 24th, 2024, 4:48 pm
by Hibi
CinemaInternational wrote: April 24th, 2024, 4:35 pm
Hibi wrote: April 24th, 2024, 4:22 pm
ziggy6708a wrote: April 24th, 2024, 3:15 pm just FYI
Leonard Maltin still gives the film a BOMB rating in his annual Movie and Video Guide, stating "Beautiful source material has been raped, murdered and buried".

Oddly enough, there are some rave reviews for this film on imdb. No accounting for taste, I guess. Granted, adapting this stage musical for film was a daunting prospect at any time. But this adaptation released at the end of the roadshow era was a megaton bomb!
Generally speaking, I think audiences who grew up since the film was originally made have become used to musicals with big stars who were less than ideal singers, which is probably why the reputations of once-slated films like Camelot, Paint Your Wagon, Man of La Mancha, Mame, and At long Last Love have increased a bit since their first release.
Yes, probably so.

Re: Coming up on TCM...

Posted: April 24th, 2024, 5:28 pm
by ziggy6708a


& the final death knell for '70s musicals AND Cinerama...
:lol: :roll:

Re: Coming up on TCM...

Posted: April 24th, 2024, 5:34 pm
by CinemaInternational
ziggy6708a wrote: April 24th, 2024, 5:28 pm

& the final death knell for '70s musicals AND Cinerama...
:lol: :roll:
I didn't see this film, but I saw the earlier Song of Norway, made by the same group of people. That film made The Sound of Music look like A Clockwork Orange by comparison. (in terms of cinematic saccharine)

Re: Coming up on TCM...

Posted: April 25th, 2024, 9:02 am
by Hibi
ziggy6708a wrote: April 24th, 2024, 5:28 pm

& the final death knell for '70s musicals AND Cinerama...
:lol: :roll:
YEP!

Re: Coming up on TCM...

Posted: April 25th, 2024, 10:50 am
by Hibi
Song of Norway was Florence Henderson's shot at being the new Julie Andrews. She and the film failed miserably.

Re: Coming up on TCM...

Posted: April 25th, 2024, 1:19 pm
by CinemaInternational
Hibi wrote: April 25th, 2024, 10:50 am Song of Norway was Florence Henderson's shot at being the new Julie Andrews. She and the film failed miserably.
I'll give the film this much: it was exquisitely photographed and the music was beautiful. Otherwise, I'll go by what Thumper's mother said: "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"

Re: Coming up on TCM...

Posted: May 3rd, 2024, 11:56 am
by ziggy6708a

:smilie_happy_thumbup:

Re: Coming up on TCM...

Posted: May 3rd, 2024, 2:14 pm
by CinemaInternational
ziggy6708a wrote: May 3rd, 2024, 11:56 am
:smilie_happy_thumbup:
Pennies from Heaven is an extraordinary film, but very downbeat. Still, for my money its one of the greatest films of the 80s. And Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is his best comedy, a veritable feast for Noir fans. Don't miss that one. It's such great fun, and it was the final film for behind-the-scenes veterans Miklos Rozsa and Edith Head.

Re: Coming up on TCM...

Posted: May 3rd, 2024, 2:52 pm
by jimimac71
Of the 4 movies, "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid."
His brief cameo in "The Muppet Movie."
But of course, "The Jerk."
Not sure what the theme is. Not his birthday.
Don't remember ever seeing "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels."
"Father of the Bride" wasn't even close to being like the original in quality.
That's just me.