My granddaughter adored this movie when she was ages 3-8. She watched our DVD non stop. She is also a big Star Wars fan, thanks to her dad. She was more devastated when Debbie Reynolds passed away than she was when Carrie Fisher, Debbie's daughter by Eddie Fisher, passed. Our household was in mourning for a very long time.
The purpose of this movie was to make a musical. Allen Freed wrote songs for movies in the 1930s. By the 50s he was a producer. He made the Gene Kelly movie An American in Paris the year before. That movie was made to feature the music of George Gershwin. They wrote a story arounf many of Gershwin's songs. Freed decided to do the same thing with his catalog of music. The story was written to incorporate as many of his songs as possible.
There is very little original music in the movie. Most songs were written by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed for earlier MGM movies in the 1930's. Some, including the title song, were used in multiple movies over the years, and 50's audiences would have been familiar with them. Freed also produced Singing in the Rain and was head of the "Freed Unit" that created the lavish musical films MGM was known for in the 40s and 50s.
All good info. I think the only original songs here are "Make 'Em Laugh" and "Moses Supposes." The DVD set, as a cool extra, includes the scenes from earlier movies in which the songs were introduced.
Debbie Reynolds was Carrie Fisher's mom [who played Princess Leia in the first two Star Wars movies. They both died within in a day of each other in Dec of 2017.
0:47 The reporter at the microphone is played by Madge Blake, who was a nuclear energy technician before she went into acting. She & her husband built the triggers for the first 3 atomic bombs in their kitchen in 1945.
I get your point about pacing, but you also have to consider the time this came out. Movies, especially musicals, were big events that you planned your night around. They make it long and have as many numbers in it as possible, so you feel like you're getting your money's worth. They still do that with Indian films today, even the intermission in the middle.
Having the camera all the way to one side makes the furthest person away look like they’re about to fall asleep and I mostly see the whites of the eyes
There is indeed a delicious additional layer to the dubbing. The "ghost voices" for Lina in The Dancing Cavalier are (1) for the speaking , Jean Hagen (Lina) herself, using her true speaking voice rather than her special screechy Lina voice; and (2) for singing "Would You?", Betty Noyes (Debbie Reynolds had a good pop voice, but not the creamy cultivated tone called for here).
Jean Hagen was a dramatic actress, whose voice was, of course, much different from Lina's. There is a snippet of an interview with Donald O'Connor I've seen on TC< where he discusses the genius of casting Hagen instead of a purely comic actress - Hagen gives Lina a drive and a serious attitude toward her profession. She is not a talented actress, but she is a serious one: she takes her voice lessons seriously; she knows her lines and her marks; she doesn't quite get it about the microphone but understands it's important to follow directions here. And she knows at the end that her livelihood is in jeopardy, and she knows the steps to take to protect it .... until overconfidence and pride goeth before the fall.
At this time, you were not going to have Gene Kelly in a movie and not have it be a musical. As it was clearly intended to be a musical, it's hard for it to be conceived as not a musical. You are asking for a completely different animal. So I'm not understanding your deducting points for it being the animal it's intended to be.
I’ve never been a big musical fan, but this is one of my all time favorite movies.
My granddaughter adored this movie when she was ages 3-8. She watched our DVD non stop. She is also a big Star Wars fan, thanks to her dad. She was more devastated when Debbie Reynolds passed away than she was when Carrie Fisher, Debbie's daughter by Eddie Fisher, passed. Our household was in mourning for a very long time.
The purpose of this movie was to make a musical. Allen Freed wrote songs for movies in the 1930s. By the 50s he was a producer. He made the Gene Kelly movie An American in Paris the year before. That movie was made to feature the music of George Gershwin. They wrote a story arounf many of Gershwin's songs. Freed decided to do the same thing with his catalog of music. The story was written to incorporate as many of his songs as possible.
There is very little original music in the movie. Most songs were written by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed for earlier MGM movies in the 1930's. Some, including the title song, were used in multiple movies over the years, and 50's audiences would have been familiar with them. Freed also produced Singing in the Rain and was head of the "Freed Unit" that created the lavish musical films MGM was known for in the 40s and 50s.
All good info. I think the only original songs here are "Make 'Em Laugh" and "Moses Supposes." The DVD set, as a cool extra, includes the scenes from earlier movies in which the songs were introduced.
@@DelGuy03The music for Make ‘em Laugh was actually used in an earlier Gene Kelly movie. The songs title then was Be A Clown.
Debbie Reynolds was Carrie Fisher's mom [who played Princess Leia in the first two Star Wars movies. They both died within in a day of each other in Dec of 2017.
0:47 The reporter at the microphone is played by Madge Blake, who was a nuclear energy technician before she went into acting. She & her husband built the triggers for the first 3 atomic bombs in their kitchen in 1945.
She's not being snobbish. She's getting back at him because he's trying to the moves on her
He was trying to make a pass. So she humbled him
I get your point about pacing, but you also have to consider the time this came out. Movies, especially musicals, were big events that you planned your night around. They make it long and have as many numbers in it as possible, so you feel like you're getting your money's worth. They still do that with Indian films today, even the intermission in the middle.
Having the camera all the way to one side makes the furthest person away look like they’re about to fall asleep and I mostly see the whites of the eyes
There is indeed a delicious additional layer to the dubbing. The "ghost voices" for Lina in The Dancing Cavalier are (1) for the speaking , Jean Hagen (Lina) herself, using her true speaking voice rather than her special screechy Lina voice; and (2) for singing "Would You?", Betty Noyes (Debbie Reynolds had a good pop voice, but not the creamy cultivated tone called for here).
Jean Hagen was a dramatic actress, whose voice was, of course, much different from Lina's. There is a snippet of an interview with Donald O'Connor I've seen on TC< where he discusses the genius of casting Hagen instead of a purely comic actress - Hagen gives Lina a drive and a serious attitude toward her profession. She is not a talented actress, but she is a serious one: she takes her voice lessons seriously; she knows her lines and her marks; she doesn't quite get it about the microphone but understands it's important to follow directions here. And she knows at the end that her livelihood is in jeopardy, and she knows the steps to take to protect it .... until overconfidence and pride goeth before the fall.
At this time, you were not going to have Gene Kelly in a movie and not have it be a musical. As it was clearly intended to be a musical, it's hard for it to be conceived as not a musical. You are asking for a completely different animal. So I'm not understanding your deducting points for it being the animal it's intended to be.
You should follow up this with Kubrick's Clockwork Orange. I won't spoil it by explaining...
Turn, kick, turn
The man with the 'phone isn't very happy is he?
Jean Hagen: ua-cam.com/video/KpVkTZg1Cgo/v-deo.html