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Reviews
Everybody Does It (1949)
Tongue-in-Cheek Music
The beautiful music for the opera in the film, an imaginary work titled "L'Amore di Fatima," was written by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.
In a little tongue-in-cheek detail, the poster for the opera lists Tedesco — who also wrote real operas — as the composer.
I imagine this might have sent innumerable musical scholars on a fruitless search for the complete score of this hitherto "unknown work" by the prolific composer.
To add to the illusion of the opera's authenticity, in the film Paul Douglas also sings some known songs, including a musical setting of the Kipling poem "The Road to Mandalay" (a real pot-boiler) and the "Toreador Song" from "Carmen."
The singing is in itself one of the film's recommendations. The producers were not afraid to include long stretches of music that are quite rapturous.
Into the Wild (2007)
2:20 Music Video
I squirmed almost from the pretentious opening credits. The soppy music, the self-conscious titles, the interminable wait for the film to actually begin ...
The first sight of the lead: a handsome, golden boy from Hollywood. An actor, "indicating" like crazy instead of just doing.
And what followed was a tedious, two-hour and twenty-minute music video.
If a superb book had not been the "inspiration" for this dud, it never would have made it past its first studio reader. Jon Krakauer's gritty story of a confused idealist was turned into clichéd, sentimental mush about a Johnny Appleseed who enriched the lives of all the stereotyped characters he encountered.
It was the typical, corrupt Hollywood treatment, but without Hollywood production quality. Most of the beautiful scenery was perfunctorily photographed, and the pacing was atrociously slow.
I kept hoping it would improve, but it actually got worse and worse, right up to drawn-out, hackneyed ending and self-congratulatory final credits.
Chris McCandless and Jon Krakauer deserved better.
Green Dolphin Street (1947)
Great Story, Hokey Script
As the cliché goes, the book is so much better than the movie.
That having been said, it's a great story, and the film acting is excellent according to the standards of the 1940s.
I've wondered why such a bland actor was cast in the lead. He's supposed to be a weak character, but surely MGM had roster of highly skilled actors who could convincingly PLAY weak.
Unfortunately, some of those lines in the script are just unactable. Despite the talent on screen, they make you want to gag.
Nevertheless, there's some dynamic drama, and those special effects are spectacular, even today.
The evocative, romantic theme music was made into a song, "On Green Dolphin Street," which has become one the most frequently played tunes in the jazz repertoire.
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968)
A Great Film That Grows on You
When I first saw this film in 1968 I had mixed feelings about it, much the same as many of the other reviewers here.
But with subsequent viewings I've come to consider it an outstanding accomplishment. LIke all great art, it bears up best under repeated exposure.
Meanings I missed the first time through due to a generally poor soundtrack, unfamiliar terminology, and the often hurried dialogue have become clear.
The newsreel-style cinematography has the slight distancing that we associate with visions of reality. There is little Hollywoodization, except for the inclusion of an unnecessary subplot about a domestic triangle.
The acting is so superior that it makes one think anew of the abilities of almost every actor in the cast, even those one has already held in high regard.
Some reviewers are concerned about historical accuracy to the nth degree. The film is accurate in its main points, and is far less guilty of fabrication than almost any other historically based film especially that dreadful, jingoistic Errol Flynn vehicle.
Recent showings on cable television (late 2006) unfortunately are in pan-and-scan rather than letterbox format, depriving us of the director's excellent use of the full wide screen.
It's Always Fair Weather (1955)
Better Every Time
I liked "It's Always Fair Weather the first time I saw it." Although I was old enough to see it in 1955, I missed it until the early 1970s.
Well, it just gets better. For one thing, it's the most moving musical ever. For another, although I've always loved the dances, for a long time I thought the music mediocre. Well, it's grown on me. And although there are no tunes of "standards" memorability, they are perfectly suited to the plot.
I don't agree with comparisons to "Singin' in the Rain" and "On the Town." The former is a wonderful comedy, but emotionally pretty thin. The latter is a travesty of the stage musical, with a couple of the best tunes missing, and a really trite plot line.
The only embarrassment in "Fair Weather" is Dolores Gray, whose overacting is shrill and off putting. Big mistake for Kelly and Donen not to have her play it straight. But perhaps they feared that audiences, less hip then about TV's prevalent silliness, wouldn't have got it.
You hate to see a good thing end, and for those of us who thirsted for another "Singin' in the Rain" dance, the roller skating number more than satisfies. Dramatically, it's different in that it's not just a dance of happiness: it's performed in front of onlookers, by a guy who wants to show others what he thinks of himself.
And Cyd Charisse: Is there a more exciting dance moment than when two prizefighters lift her off the floor and she sails right up over the ropes and into the ring? Man, are those legs long!