Yolanda and the Thief
Posted: August 3rd, 2007, 3:03 pm
I saw a beautiful print of Vincent Minnelli's Yolanda and the Thief last night. In fact, the print was so pristine, I wondered if it'd been restored for a DVD release. This surreal musical foreshadows so many later MGM musicals. There were several details that I noticed that would pop up in later works:
1. In the dream sequence, Yolanda (Lucille Bremer) appears in billowing fabric that seemed to be choreographed by a large wind machine in the same manner as Cyd Charisse's billowing train from the surreal ballet portion of Singin' in the Rain five years later. The very unusual pallette of both segments from these movies are quite similar as well. Pinkish taupes and other hues, seemingly inspired by Salvador Dalí's dreamscapes.
2. In the dance numbers, a "sun"-shaped spotlight was used to follow the leads. It looks like a gobo is used to attain the ragged edge of light. The same spotlight is used to follow Gene Kelly in The Pirate ballet. Both films were directed by Vincent Minnelli, whose gift was art direction.
Many of the extras costumes looked like they might have originated from Oz' Emerald City. The green coated police uniforms, for instance. I wonder...
Toward the end of the movie, future Snoop Sister Mildred Natwick sees a priest and stops him to ask why he looks familiar. "Were you in Going My Way?", she asks. I was surprised they included this line, since Going My Way was made by a competing studio.
Anyway, this movie is all about "Coffee Time", one of my all-time favorite musical numbers. I hope this is transferred to disk soon, I'd love to study it...
1. In the dream sequence, Yolanda (Lucille Bremer) appears in billowing fabric that seemed to be choreographed by a large wind machine in the same manner as Cyd Charisse's billowing train from the surreal ballet portion of Singin' in the Rain five years later. The very unusual pallette of both segments from these movies are quite similar as well. Pinkish taupes and other hues, seemingly inspired by Salvador Dalí's dreamscapes.
2. In the dance numbers, a "sun"-shaped spotlight was used to follow the leads. It looks like a gobo is used to attain the ragged edge of light. The same spotlight is used to follow Gene Kelly in The Pirate ballet. Both films were directed by Vincent Minnelli, whose gift was art direction.
Many of the extras costumes looked like they might have originated from Oz' Emerald City. The green coated police uniforms, for instance. I wonder...
Toward the end of the movie, future Snoop Sister Mildred Natwick sees a priest and stops him to ask why he looks familiar. "Were you in Going My Way?", she asks. I was surprised they included this line, since Going My Way was made by a competing studio.
Anyway, this movie is all about "Coffee Time", one of my all-time favorite musical numbers. I hope this is transferred to disk soon, I'd love to study it...