Despite being dated & corny, this still must be some sort of high-water mark in terms of sheer entertainment value. It occurred pretty late in the musical lineage; it's bizarre to think that Kennedy is assassinated within a year of this movie. But as a throwback to simpler, lighter musicals, it fares much better than it's contemporaries that actually tried to jump forward in complexity (Sweet Charity) Yes, the stagey iris spotlight effect is odd and off-putting. Yes, Shirley Jones has a pretty lifeless idea of acting; what viewer could find the slightest nuance between this, Laurie (Oklahoma) or Julie (Carousel)? But Hermione Gingold, Paul Ford & Robert Preston pull this off, to say nothing of Meredith Wilson's percussive, patter songs.
I always find the Marian the Librarian number rousing and transcendent. In it, Shirley Jones is eventually danced around a reading room by 16 suitors (who appear ingeniously, in multiples of 4 from the book stacks), until she becomes joyous, dancing at the front of a human centipede, and she gives in, tossing her glasses out of camera range. Everyone agrees this project needed to be more filmic, but how many moments on film are as happy as this? For about 20 seconds, every step, every economical piece of choreography, every camera move, every piece of the melody is orchestrated perfectly. This moment has made my hair stand on end for 25 years.
It's a sturdy three act piece. Although I'm fine with the Shi-poopie number itself, it does signal the point you realize the movie could really use 20 minutes snipped out of it.
I always find the Marian the Librarian number rousing and transcendent. In it, Shirley Jones is eventually danced around a reading room by 16 suitors (who appear ingeniously, in multiples of 4 from the book stacks), until she becomes joyous, dancing at the front of a human centipede, and she gives in, tossing her glasses out of camera range. Everyone agrees this project needed to be more filmic, but how many moments on film are as happy as this? For about 20 seconds, every step, every economical piece of choreography, every camera move, every piece of the melody is orchestrated perfectly. This moment has made my hair stand on end for 25 years.
It's a sturdy three act piece. Although I'm fine with the Shi-poopie number itself, it does signal the point you realize the movie could really use 20 minutes snipped out of it.