I've been waiting for the right time to watch this again. The outsized scale of everything looms large in my memory. We all reshape films in our mind and sometimes we make better films than the real film...such is the case here, to some extent. The Telephone Hour, with its Kitsch - Camp - Schlock Quasi - Eisensteinian cutting and framing. That has always been the Masterpiece scene for me. And the family up in heaven, with their saccharine smiles and their cassocks, and Paul Lynne's lightly transgressive "Ed? I love you!" and the Pseudo - Renaissance melismas. Equally genius.
Watching it now (I think I was 8 when I first saw it, when it came out), I find that many things don't really work. I filtered those out. But I forgot how great "Honestly Sincere" was. And how wild and sexy "I've Got a Lot of Living to Do" gets.
I once read an article that discussed the style of George Sidney. The writer did a great job of not going too tongue - in - cheek, although Sidney's style seems like what Douglas Sirk would do if he didn't have a brain in his head. I looked for this article, but no luck...
Until I read stuff in these last days, I had no idea Rosie was supposed to be Hispanic. That would have added all kinds of nuances to the relationship between her and Maureen Stapleton's character. It would've added some punch to the Mother's resistance to her son's potential marriage. Instead we get this one - note Pseudo - Oedipal riff that has been woefully denatured. Would I have preferred more obvious "Jewish Mother" stereotypes? Well...it's not really that. It just would've all felt more "motivated". And it would've added a funny meta - riff to the usual Jewish Mother trope where whatever the son decides to do, it's inferior to the choice of becoming a Doctor. This mother wants her son to be a songwriter rather than a scientist!
The Russian Ballet stuff is forced and unfunny, with a typically American "anti - High Art" bias that annoys me. Conversely, listening to all of these old Broadway and Hollywood musical professionals having to wrap their minds around the 3 - chord vocabulary of Rock and Roll is sad, touching, and hilarious. Hey Johnny Green, "We Love You, Conrad" is a long way from "Body and Soul", no?
I notice I haven't said anything about Ann - Margret. She is hot. The opening and closing of this movie is surreal, existing in that Movieland which is everywhere and nowhere. She owns that space. They hit the jackpot with her in this way, but I think I would love to read (or maybe ever write) a detailed post - Mulvey - esque analysis of what she represents, both in this scene and in the film in general.
Watching it now (I think I was 8 when I first saw it, when it came out), I find that many things don't really work. I filtered those out. But I forgot how great "Honestly Sincere" was. And how wild and sexy "I've Got a Lot of Living to Do" gets.
I once read an article that discussed the style of George Sidney. The writer did a great job of not going too tongue - in - cheek, although Sidney's style seems like what Douglas Sirk would do if he didn't have a brain in his head. I looked for this article, but no luck...
Until I read stuff in these last days, I had no idea Rosie was supposed to be Hispanic. That would have added all kinds of nuances to the relationship between her and Maureen Stapleton's character. It would've added some punch to the Mother's resistance to her son's potential marriage. Instead we get this one - note Pseudo - Oedipal riff that has been woefully denatured. Would I have preferred more obvious "Jewish Mother" stereotypes? Well...it's not really that. It just would've all felt more "motivated". And it would've added a funny meta - riff to the usual Jewish Mother trope where whatever the son decides to do, it's inferior to the choice of becoming a Doctor. This mother wants her son to be a songwriter rather than a scientist!
The Russian Ballet stuff is forced and unfunny, with a typically American "anti - High Art" bias that annoys me. Conversely, listening to all of these old Broadway and Hollywood musical professionals having to wrap their minds around the 3 - chord vocabulary of Rock and Roll is sad, touching, and hilarious. Hey Johnny Green, "We Love You, Conrad" is a long way from "Body and Soul", no?
I notice I haven't said anything about Ann - Margret. She is hot. The opening and closing of this movie is surreal, existing in that Movieland which is everywhere and nowhere. She owns that space. They hit the jackpot with her in this way, but I think I would love to read (or maybe ever write) a detailed post - Mulvey - esque analysis of what she represents, both in this scene and in the film in general.