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litlover12Yes, my two favorite movies are musicals. I don't know, there's just something about people randomly breaking into song and dance (accompanied by full orchestra out of nowhere) that's really special for me!
2. My Fair Lady (1964; dir. George Cukor; starring Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway)
My mom bought this movie for me when I was about eleven, because she had always loved it and thought that I would love it too. Boy, was she right. There was a time when, as preteens and teenagers will do, I ate, slept, and breathed this movie. I wanted Eliza's dresses and Higgins's house, with its endless floors overflowing with books. I knew the songs by heart -- yes, even Higgins's long and complicated songs -- with their lovely melodies and brilliant lyrics. I could even recite some of the scenes . . . and now that I mention it, I think I still could. ("Well, you've had a bit of your own back, as you call it" -- okay, never mind, I'll spare you.) More than anything, I think, the movie fed my love of words, a love that was awakened when I was still pretty young and has never stopped growing. Eliza may get sick of "words, words, words," but to me, they were -- and are -- meat and drink.
When life in junior high was just too much, My Fair Lady was the place my imagination escaped to. But unlike some of our teen obsessions, this one only gets better with time.
I hesitated over posting this clip, because as someone on YouTube remarked, it may be difficult to understand if you don't know the movie. But I love it, so I'm going ahead with it. All you really need to know is that after a long hard struggle, Eliza has finally mastered proper pronunciation, and fallen in love with her teacher. (And I don't blame her, as Harrison pulls off the difficult feat of making a blustering, domineering man utterly charming!)
1. Singin' in the Rain (1952; dir. Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen; starring Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor)
Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, about this movie works. Even the things that don't quite work, like Reynolds being so young and having hardly any dance experience -- somehow even those things work.
(And if you ever think you have a tough job, read sometime about how she was prostrated with exhaustion from Kelly's relentless dance training! Or if that doesn't do the trick, read about how O'Connor had to be hospitalized -- twice -- after filming "Make 'Em Laugh," or how Kelly himself danced the title number with a 103-degree fever. They made 'em tough in those days.)
In the documentary That's Entertainment! Frank Sinatra says that musicals are based on a simple formula: Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy sings a song and gets girl. But this movie is so much more than that. It's not just a romance, though the romance in it is lovely and funny and touching; it's also a story of friendship and creativity and hard work and fun. It simultaneously embraces Hollywood's creative types -- like the very types who were making it -- and pokes gentle fun at them. Kelly and the people around him poured all their years of experience into this, and more than that, their passion and joy. These were people who loved what they did and were bursting with ideas and energy and couldn't wait to try new things. And that energy and joy are so contagious that they come right out of the screen and grab you. The first time I saw it, I walked around afterward in what I can only describe as a kind of joyous haze. (Seriously, I was floating on air as I went to take the trash out for my mother!)
There were great film musicals before this and, as you've seen on this list, there have been great ones since, but with this musical, Kelly took the form as far as it could go. Sophisticated, simple, satirical, and sweet all in one, Singin' in the Rain broke the mold.
And there is only one scene I can possibly post from it . . . my favorite of all movie scenes.
And that's a wrap! I hope you've all had as much fun with this as I have. Thank you for the feedback and discussions that have helped make it all the more fun. Hope you've gotten some good Netflix fodder from it, and I hope to get suggestions from some of you too.
(And sorry I haven't fixed that Charade post yet -- I'll get on that as soon as I can!)
2. My Fair Lady (1964; dir. George Cukor; starring Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway)
My mom bought this movie for me when I was about eleven, because she had always loved it and thought that I would love it too. Boy, was she right. There was a time when, as preteens and teenagers will do, I ate, slept, and breathed this movie. I wanted Eliza's dresses and Higgins's house, with its endless floors overflowing with books. I knew the songs by heart -- yes, even Higgins's long and complicated songs -- with their lovely melodies and brilliant lyrics. I could even recite some of the scenes . . . and now that I mention it, I think I still could. ("Well, you've had a bit of your own back, as you call it" -- okay, never mind, I'll spare you.) More than anything, I think, the movie fed my love of words, a love that was awakened when I was still pretty young and has never stopped growing. Eliza may get sick of "words, words, words," but to me, they were -- and are -- meat and drink.
When life in junior high was just too much, My Fair Lady was the place my imagination escaped to. But unlike some of our teen obsessions, this one only gets better with time.
I hesitated over posting this clip, because as someone on YouTube remarked, it may be difficult to understand if you don't know the movie. But I love it, so I'm going ahead with it. All you really need to know is that after a long hard struggle, Eliza has finally mastered proper pronunciation, and fallen in love with her teacher. (And I don't blame her, as Harrison pulls off the difficult feat of making a blustering, domineering man utterly charming!)
1. Singin' in the Rain (1952; dir. Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen; starring Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor)
Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, about this movie works. Even the things that don't quite work, like Reynolds being so young and having hardly any dance experience -- somehow even those things work.
(And if you ever think you have a tough job, read sometime about how she was prostrated with exhaustion from Kelly's relentless dance training! Or if that doesn't do the trick, read about how O'Connor had to be hospitalized -- twice -- after filming "Make 'Em Laugh," or how Kelly himself danced the title number with a 103-degree fever. They made 'em tough in those days.)
In the documentary That's Entertainment! Frank Sinatra says that musicals are based on a simple formula: Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy sings a song and gets girl. But this movie is so much more than that. It's not just a romance, though the romance in it is lovely and funny and touching; it's also a story of friendship and creativity and hard work and fun. It simultaneously embraces Hollywood's creative types -- like the very types who were making it -- and pokes gentle fun at them. Kelly and the people around him poured all their years of experience into this, and more than that, their passion and joy. These were people who loved what they did and were bursting with ideas and energy and couldn't wait to try new things. And that energy and joy are so contagious that they come right out of the screen and grab you. The first time I saw it, I walked around afterward in what I can only describe as a kind of joyous haze. (Seriously, I was floating on air as I went to take the trash out for my mother!)
There were great film musicals before this and, as you've seen on this list, there have been great ones since, but with this musical, Kelly took the form as far as it could go. Sophisticated, simple, satirical, and sweet all in one, Singin' in the Rain broke the mold.
And there is only one scene I can possibly post from it . . . my favorite of all movie scenes.
And that's a wrap! I hope you've all had as much fun with this as I have. Thank you for the feedback and discussions that have helped make it all the more fun. Hope you've gotten some good Netflix fodder from it, and I hope to get suggestions from some of you too.
(And sorry I haven't fixed that Charade post yet -- I'll get on that as soon as I can!)
