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Broadway's Leftovers
The souvenir book for the film version of
My Fair Lady (1964) – an outstanding example of the multi-image
logos that were very popular with 60s screen musicals.
Without the old studio system to help generate original
projects, Broadway became Hollywood's main source of musical projects.
With a typical corporate belief that large budgets could compensate for
a lack of imagination, filmmakers often went overboard in adapting stage
musicals for the big screen. Some of the resulting films, although
uneven, still had their virtues. In many cases, the presence of a
project's original stage star made the difference –
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Bells Are Ringing (1960) was the last
screen musical produced by MGM veteran Arthur Freed. With his
production unit disbanded, Freed found it challenging to adapt this
Broadway hit. Although the film was less than satisfying, it
preserved Judy Holliday's inspired performance as an
answering service operator who finds love and adventure in
Manhattan.
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The Music Man (1962) was over twenty
minutes longer on screen than on stage, but stellar performances by Robert
Preston and Shirley Jones and a picture-perfect physical
production made it all irresistible.
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My Fair Lady (1964) also ran on the
long side, but Rex Harrison
recreated his definitive stage
performance as Henry Higgins, and Cecil Beaton's costumes were even
more breathtaking than they had been on Broadway. And although Audrey
Hepburn's singing was dubbed, her luminous performance has
proved a timeless delight. Few were surprised when My Fair Lady
received the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Harrison was named
Best Actor.
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A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
(1967) preserved the hilarious stage performances of Zero
Mostel and Jack Gilford – director Richard Lester stressed the
comedy over the music, with amusing results.
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Hello Dolly (1969) had
Gene Kelly directing and a team of MGM musical
veterans behind the scenes. It offered Barbra
Streisand in the title role and included tons of solid entertainment,
including Streisand joining forces with Louis Armstrong for a
memorable duet. But the late 1960s saw so many lousy screen musicals
that critics were not in the mood to give this film its due. Many complained that
Streisand was too young to play the title role, and the $15
million film failed to pay for itself. But fans developed
an affection for this period spectacle, making it a ratings winner
on television reruns. When home video was introduced in the 1980s, Hello
Dolly earned a long overdue profit as one of the first best
sellers on VHS.
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Sweet Charity (1969) is an underrated
gem, thanks to the vision of director/choreographer
Bob Fosse and an endearing
title role performance by Shirley MacLaine. Like the screen
version of Hello Dolly, it had the misfortune of opening at a
time when critics and audiences were turned off by a surfeit of bad
movie musicals.
Big Winners
An ad for the soundtrack recording of Oliver!
(1969). It was the last musical film of the 20th Century to win the Academy Award
for Best Picture. In fact, no other musical took the coveted prize until Chicago
won in 2003.
On at least four occasions, filmmakers adapted a stage
musical with real imagination, creating musical films that were arguably
stronger than the Broadway originals –
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West Side Story (1961) had Jerome
Robbins on hand to adapt his stage choreography for the camera –
producer/director Robert Wise did the rest. The results garnered ten
Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Director.
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The Sound of Music (1965) became one
of the highest grossing films of all time. It combined sweeping
visuals with shrewd casting to
counteract the sweeter aspects of the story. Directed by Robert
Wise, it received five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and
Director.
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Funny Girl (1968) had veteran director
William Wyler on hand to help Barbra Stresiand reshape her stage
performance as Fanny Brice in vibrant cinematic terms. The
"Don't Rain on My Parade" sequence, beginning in a
Baltimore train station and ending on a tugboat steaming through New
York harbor, was pure big screen magic. Streisand's impressive
screen debut brought her an Academy Award for Best Actress.
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Oliver! (1968) was as magical as any musical film
could hope to be. It dazzled in all departments, with unforgettable performances
by Ron Moody as Fagin and young
Jack Wild as the precocious Artful Dodger. British director
Carol Reed and American choreographer
Onna White fashioned a lasting triumph.
The film received six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Director.
Oliver was the fourth musical in ten years to win
Best Picture – no previous decade had seen more than two musicals cop
the top prize. It would be thirty four years before the Academy Award went to
another musical.
Big Losers
The smashing success of these films led others to attempt
big musical films, but the trend soon petered out. Why? For one thing, rock
had become the predominant sound in
popular music, but the key issue was the poor quality of the musicals in
question. Again, money was poured into the creative breach, resulting in
bloated, boring musical films –
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Half a Sixpence (1967) still had the
energetic British stage star Tommy Steele in the lead, but even he
could not kick his way through an overblown physical
production.
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Camelot (1967) had possibilities, but
director Joshua Logan squelched them all. Despite having a score by
Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe He cast leads who could not
sing, and took such a muddled approach that he was relieved of his
duties before the film could be completed. No wonder the final
product wanders into incoherency.
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Paint Your Wagon (1969)
saw Logan directing yet another Lerner & Loewe project, with
even more ghastly results. The leads can't sing and the
film descends into chaos. Harve Presnell's thrilling rendition of
"Mariah" seems like it wandered in from another movie.
Believe it or not, the worst was yet to
come. The decade ahead would bring some of the most appalling screen musicals
ever seen – and a new record-setting hit.
Next: Film 1970s
