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- #61
It seems strange watching Brando who has a rather weak singing voice singing what will be one of Sinatra's signature songs.
What's Your Favorite Musical?
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It seems strange watching Brando who has a rather weak singing voice singing what will be one of Sinatra's signature songs.
- Mar 3, 2013
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Brando was a terrible singer.
From IMDB: Guys and Dolls (1955) - IMDb
"Although he worked very hard at the musical aspects, constantly working with voice coaches and choreographer Michael Kidd, Marlon Brando thought his voice sounded like "the mating call of a yak." He had to spend many hours in the sound studio recording his numbers over and over again. In the end, his songs were patched together from countless retakes for playback during shooting. Years later, he wrote in his autobiography, "They sewed my words together on one song so tightly that when I mouthed it in front of the camera, I nearly asphyxiated myself because I couldn't breathe while trying to synchronize my lips."
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- #63
It's true Kelly was a perfectionist which is one of the reasons Singing racked up a cost of 2.5 million when the budget was 625,000. In his 58 years making movies, he has done only 47 films, less one a year. However, in my opinion Gene Kelly is one of most talented stars in the history of the movies. He was good at just everything he did, dancing, singing, choreography, song writing, screen writing, acting, directing, and producing.Singing in the Rain is one of the few hit movie musicals that never made it to Broadway. I saw it with my parents and as I recall no one thought it was very remarkable. Many years later I read that it was only moderately successful when it was released. It made money at the box office but was certainly not a blockbuster. Critics generally gave it good but not rave reviews. Only with time would it become one of the most loved movie musicals of all time.
The director's cut of the movie was 2 hours and 12 mins but due to studio demands to shorten the movie and controversy over several scenes, the film was cut to 1:43. The cut footage was lost and thus we will probably never see the movie directors Donen and Kelly created.
Just about everything that could go wrong in a movie did go wrong, casting problems arguments between the directors, Flu striking the Kelly and O'Conner, contract disputes, many retakes of the dance scenes. After the last scene was shot, Louis B. Mayer discussed shelving the movie. However, after screening it, he said, "I think we have something we can release and hopefully break even."
One of the most remarkable things about the movie was the studio picked 18 year-old Debbie Reynolds to star in a musical with difficult dance numbers when she had no experience dancing and didn't have a strong enough voice for some of her songs. Kelly wanted a more experience dancer such Ann Miller or Judy Garland but was convince he could train her.
Kelly proved a brutal taskmaster. "Every so often he would yell at me and make me cry," Reynolds recalled. "But it took a lot of patience for him to work with someone who had never danced before. It's amazing that I could keep up with him and Donald O'Connor." One day, Fred Astaire found Reynolds crying under a piano and consoled her by offering to coach her himself. Years later, Reynolds would famously say that "Singin' in the Rain" and childbirth were the hardest experiences of her life.
Reynolds bloodied her feet tap dancing for 15 hours to film the 5 min. "Good Morning" number and had to be carried off the set. Even after it was filmed to Kelly's satisfaction, he felt the tap sounds were insufficient, so he danced the number again in a dubbing room, both his own part and Reynolds'.
Things You Didn't Know About 'Singin' in the Rain'
It took only a casual gesture -- Ryan Gosling twirling around a lamppost in 2016's Oscar-winning musical La La Land -- to remind moviegoers how larg...www.moviefone.com
Apparently, Kelly was such a tyrannical perfectionist, neither Reynolds or O'Conner worked with him again.
One of the weirdest things about the move is the "Would You?" number is supposed to show how Lina lip-synchs while Kathy's voice is dubbed for hers. Yet it was Reynolds who was lip-synching. Her singing was dubbed by Betty Noyes, while her spoken dialog was actually uttered by Hagen. So you're watching Hagen dub Reynolds dubbing Hagen.
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hjmick
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Based on a true story.
The Dom DeLuise character was based on Marvin Zindler who worked for ABC 13 in Houston...
Zindler brought down the real Chicken Ranch. The incident where the Burt Reynolds' Sheriff snatches the wig off Dom Deluise's Thorpe's head and holds it high, really happened between the Fayette County Sheriff and Zindler.
hjmick
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- #66
Unlike a vocalist giving a concert, an actor in a musical must generally sing, dance and act. We judge his work based on the his total performance. Thus we tend to ignore the fact that Fred Astaire is not much of a singer, Barbara Streisand has two left feet, Elvis Presley is at best a poor actor. Johnny Depp's performance in Sweeny Todd is great and his singing was terrible.
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- #68
1776 was good movie. Never saw the play.
Blue Brothers was a pretty good movie. I was not fond of the music.
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- #69
I love the way Cagney does that straight leg dancing.
How about other great musicals of the 40's such as Oklahoma!, On the Town, Annie Get Your Gun, Brigadoon, and South Pacific
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- #70
Based on a true story.
The Dom DeLuise character was based on Marvin Zindler who worked for ABC 13 in Houston...
Zindler brought down the real Chicken Ranch. The incident where the Burt Reynolds' Sheriff snatches the wig off Dom Deluise's Thorpe's head and holds it high, really happened between the Fayette County Sheriff and Zindler.
It's strong point was the comedy, not the music. I liked it but I don't consider it a great musical.
Jimmy_Chitwood
Platinum Member
Music man
Oklahoma
Oklahoma
hjmick
Diamond Member
- Mar 28, 2007
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Based on a true story.
The Dom DeLuise character was based on Marvin Zindler who worked for ABC 13 in Houston...
Zindler brought down the real Chicken Ranch. The incident where the Burt Reynolds' Sheriff snatches the wig off Dom Deluise's Thorpe's head and holds it high, really happened between the Fayette County Sheriff and Zindler.
It's strong point was the comedy, not the music. I liked it but I don't consider it a great musical.
I agree, when thinking musicals, it's not even on my radar...
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- #73
I find it strange that no one besides myself has mention My Fair Lady. It was the longest running musical in Broadway history, has been revived on Broadway twice ,has had 4 roadshow tours, 2 productions on the London stage, has toured in 15 countries, and was made into a major motion picture. The motion picture won 7 academy awards and original Broadway production won 7 Tonys. Later productions have won over 35 major awards.
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- #74
The Music Man in my opinion is one of the most fun musicals every and the 76 Trombones number just sends chills up my spine. Although Shirley Jones was pregnant during the whole filming she did a great job. I really liked the love scene with her and Robert Person singing Till There Was You. Preston said as he took her in his arms, she said, "Oh No" and threw up on him. The director laughing said, "We'll try again tomorrow."
Shirley Jone's first appear in a movie was Oklahoma when she was 18.
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- #77
Great musicals in 1930s America! The best in the whole wide world!
From the movie "42nd Street "(1933)
Anything Goes and Porgy and Bess (Actually it's opera by Gershwin)
whitehall
Diamond Member
Ray Walston with a tattoo of a sailing ship beats the hell out of Travolta in drag. "There ain't nothin like a dame".
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- #80
If Lena Horne was alive and in her 20's she would be recognized as one of the best regardless of her skin color. Unfortunately, like a lot of blacks in the entertainment business, she was born in the wrong century.
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