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Post by I Love Melvin on Mar 26, 2023 23:00:31 GMT
Overall, I'm not a big Shirley Temple fan, but I really love this song from Stowaway (1936). Interestingly, the song was used under the title sequence in Myra Breckinridge (1970). M. B. was done by Twentieth Century-Fox and they must have given the director free access to the archives because there are clips from Twentieth movies sprinkled throughout.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Mar 26, 2023 23:17:21 GMT
This one from Footlight Serenade (1942) is amazingly intimate but John Payne and Betty Grable do a great job of keeping it clean. John finished out his career in dramas and westerns, but he had solid musical roots and was a real charmer. "Still Crazy for You".
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Post by I Love Melvin on Mar 26, 2023 23:33:18 GMT
Generally I don't like to post numbers which have already appeared in the That's Entertainment films, but I was blown away by this restoration of the "Shine on Your Shoes" number from The Band Wagon (1953). and wanted to share it.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Mar 27, 2023 14:55:47 GMT
As far as I know Greer Garson didn't have any background in musical theater but she acquitted herself very well in this number from Random Harvest (1942). MGM wanted its contract stars to be well-rounded so they got in-house training in all sorts of things.
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Post by Fading Fast on Mar 27, 2023 20:38:22 GMT
As far as I know Greer Garson didn't have any background in musical theater but she acquitted herself very well in this number from Random Harvest (1942). MGM wanted its contract stars to be well-rounded so they got in-house training in all sorts of things. You are right about MGM, in general, and after Garson's success in "Mrs. Miniver," MGM put its resources behind "Random Harvest" hoping to capitalize on her new stardom. In particular, and this dance number was part of MGM's effort, they wanted to "sex up" her image.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Mar 28, 2023 14:15:03 GMT
Marlene Dietrich was an unlikely musical star but from The Blue Angel on she had that aura about her, even though her actual musical talent was debatable. But, like Judy Garland, she was able to maintain an international concert career after her work in films ended. One of my most memorable experiences in a movie theater was seeing Blonde Venus (1932) in a local revival house, when all the local night shift workers gathered after hours to unwind with a movie. When the gorilla was led onstage in the "Hot Voodoo" number and a white bejewelled hand appeared from out of the ape suit, the place erupted in the kind of spontaneous collective joy I've rarely experienced. It's not on YouTube but here's a link: prod-www.tcm.com/video/919642/blonde-venus-1932-movie-clip-hot-voodooMarlene never made an actual musical, but opportunities to sing were often found for her in dramatic films like Destry Rides Again (1939) and Billy Wilder's A Foreign Affair (1948). (And a bizarre dance sequence in Kismet (1942). In Stage Fright (1950) Alfred Hitchcock incorporated a musical number as backstage shots show the principal characters all converging toward a resolution of the plot. "The Laziest Gal in Town". One of her last films and one of my favorites is The Monte Carlo Story (1956), featuring stunning location photography. It's a mature romance co-starring Dietrich and Vittorio De Sica as two down-on-their-luck sophisticates, each hoping the other will be their ticket out of financial troubles, but finally having to look elsewhere. She settles on an American businessman (Arthur O'Connell) and woos him with a languid, seductive number, "Les Jeux Sont Faits", which brings back memories of her truer love. And this brief, wistful appeal to his American roots.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Mar 28, 2023 21:25:36 GMT
Marge and Gower Champion were fairly familiar to movie audiences and were value added to any film they were in, but they starred in only one, Everything I Have is Yours (1952). It's a show biz tale about a married couple whose ways begin to part when she becomes pregnant and has to drop out of their new show. To be honest, they weren't as charismatic as actors as they were as dancers, but as dancers they certainly made their mark on the movie musical.
And here they are the next year in Give a Girl a Break (1953).
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Post by I Love Melvin on Mar 30, 2023 20:51:54 GMT
TCM showed Hollywood Canteen (1944) today, but the one I'm waiting for is Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943), which I'm hoping will show up during the month-long tribute to Warner Brothers. Bette Davis, Olivia DeHavilland, Errol Flynn, John Garfield, Hattie McDaniel, Ann Sheridan and others all taking a shot at musical performances. Fingers crossed. Again, I'm thankful to Warner Archive for making these and others available to YouTube.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Apr 3, 2023 20:59:23 GMT
Another "jukebox" musical movie was Ziegfeld Follies (1945), consisting of a program of unrelated numbers, each of which could stand alone. I especially like this clever number written by Kay Thompson and Roger Edens and directed by Vincente Minnelli, "The Great Lady Has an Interview". The subject is a dramatic actress whose current project is a biography of the inventor of the safety pin and it was originally offered to Greer Garson, who may have (or to be fair may not have) felt it came too close to self parody. Judy Garland was known to have a great sense of humor and it's on full display.
For anyone interested, YouTube has a couple of other versions of the number, one a "featurette" with Lana Turner, which TCM has shown between films a few times. The other is a great 1958 TV version with Ann Miller, done in one take apparently.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Apr 4, 2023 22:58:49 GMT
Gotta do it. It's that time of year. Holiday Inn (1942) usually gets relegated to Christmas showings but it showcases other big holidays too.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Apr 5, 2023 23:08:28 GMT
Something else to fit the season, from State Fair (1945). Wiki sez Louanne Hogan is dubbing Jeanne Crain.
And this classic from Pat Boone, the theme from April Love (1957).
And a quickie from Doris Day, from April in Paris (1952).
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Post by I Love Melvin on Apr 6, 2023 14:40:28 GMT
Dancer Tommy Rall had a string of fairly high-profile movies in the mid-1950's, including Kiss Me Kate (1953), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), My Sister Eileen (1955), the so-so Seven Brides wannabe do-over The Second Greatest Sex (1955) and Invitation to the Dance (1956). Choreographers loved him and he was front and center in most of the big numbers. Bob Fosse choreographed My Sister Eileen and partnered with Rall for this terrific dance number.
He and Fosse also partnered Betty Garrett and Janet Leigh for "Give Me a Band and My Baby". Lots of early "Fosse-isms".
As musicals faded so did Rall's opportunities for movie work, but he had some success on Broadway, including Milk and Honey (1961). There was also this basically uncredited 1968 film appearance with a very recognizable dance partner.
And an even later appearance with an amazingly adept Steve Martin in Pennies from Heaven (1981).
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Post by dianedebuda on Apr 7, 2023 11:05:44 GMT
Great skills match between Fosse & Rall in the My Sister Eileen duet with very few shot cuts. I too was surprised at how well Martin danced in Pennies - even did a pretty darn good wings dance move.
Good additions to the jukebox.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Apr 7, 2023 23:15:00 GMT
I'm going to change my mind about including Tommy Rall's work in The Second Greatest Sex (1955), Universal's "answer" to MGM's Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954). Instead of the rape of the Sabine women, they used Lysistrata as a source, where the women deny their lovin' to bring the men around to paying more attention. It's set in the old west and the big set piece is a barn dance...Sound familiar? It's a cropped print but there's some good, if derivative, dancing and Tommy does some of his fantastic signature spins near the end of the number.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Apr 9, 2023 12:47:08 GMT
"Here's a lid for mi'lady's dome, Happy Easter."
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