The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964)
The buoyant Molly Brown has survived the first crisis of her life—a flood. Sixteen years later she sets out to make her way in the world. She assures the Leadville saloon keeper that she can sing and play the piano, and learns quickly. Soon she marries Johnny Brown, who in a few years will be able to replace the original cigar wrapper wedding ring with a replica in gold and gemstones. The Browns head for Europe and bring a few crowned heads back to Denver for a party that turns into a ballroom brawl. Molly goes to Europe alone, returning on the Titanic. She didn't survive a flood as a baby for the story to end here.
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Very best movie i ever watch
Too much of everything
Simply Perfect
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Fantastic!Debbie Reynolds stars as a tomboy turned saloon girl searching for a man who will show her the world and more. Harve Presnell stars as the bachelor who attempts to sweep her off her feet.The movie musical is a rollicking good time filled with song and dance numbers to keep you entertained.One of Debbie Reynolds signature roles.
This is clearly a film that divides people straight down the line - love/hate.For me two things stand out. The superb orchestrations which probably had something to do with Roger Eden's producing credit. And the two brilliantly staged big musical numbers "Belly up to the bar boys" and "He's my friend". Unlike some of the reviewers here, I think Peter Gennaro was one of the greatest film choreographers and his work here is fantastic. Look how the two dances absolutely suit the characters and situations and how sheer exuberant energy combines with precise footwork so it looks as if the dancers are making it up. And can anyone tell me if a couple of the dancing girls in the bar-room number are actually men in drag? Very witty and clever.
Today is the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic and here I am reading the reviews of "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" and listening to the CD of the Broadway musical, which I saw 14 years ago tonight in NYC. "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" is a movie that I've loved ever since my Mom dragged the whole family to see in 1964 when it came out. My reaction after reading a lot of these reviews is that most of the naysayers should lighten up. It is a musical COMEDY film made right at the end of the studio era in Hollywood. In comedy performers are quite broad. This wasn't a film that was supposed to be sophisticated...remember that one of the biggest TV hits of the time was "The Beverly Hillbillies." In my opinion Debbie Reynolds should have taken home the Oscar for Best Actress as she nails the part in all 3 aspects--singing, dancing, and acting. If you disagree with me about the acting, just re-watch the scene in Europe when she encounters Gladys MacGraw in the fancy restaurant while she's missing Johnny. Julie was wonderful too, but her character of Mary Poppins was rather a one-note one. She won simply because she was denied the role of Eliza Dolittle by Jack Warner, and she was much, much better that year in "The Americanization of Emily" and in 1965 in "The Sound of Music." "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" is one of the last of the old-style Hollywood musicals and rates as the 7th best film of 1964 on my 10 Best List for that year. (Yes, "My Fair Lady," "Dr. Strangelove," and "Mary Poppins" are 1, 2, and 3) And in 1989 I got to see Debbie and Harve repeat their roles from this film LIVE on stage and they were just as wonderful!
The movie musical by this time was already breathing its last. Perhaps all genres go through a life cycle and eventually fade away, or so most observers believe. But I think there was a more fundamental shift at work, a shift in how we see film stories. Musicals demand that we enter a work that wavers between reality (in the story) and a stylized non-reality where a song-and-dance theatrical entertainment is presented. Since the 60s, we've been unwilling to shift realities without one of the explicit conventions that have evolved, some quite sophisticated.They tried something like one of these conventions by having an onstage "band" whenever Christmas and gang appeared.But there are other interesting things about this project. First, that it really is rooted in reality, more so than others of its ilk. At least Molly Brown did live, and her life was roughly as depicted. Second, there was another fold with reality: a celebrity scandal involving the "good" Debbie and the "bad" Liz, with Debbie fighting back (as a pudgy 32 year old).But there's another level that is lost today. The 60's in particular and the decades before as well were periods when the American social conscience was in a "populist" camp. Movies and books reflected this: the rich were either evil, or selfish, or blind or simply stupid while the real wisdom and joy and meaning of America was found in its "ordinary" people.Many were the dramas that reduced things as they are here: genuine but rough, simple people contrasted with the stodgy, sober unimaginative rich. That was before the American scene shifted. Most people now consider themselves middle class and don't mind being a bit pretentious consumption-wise. What was "simple" and "genuine" has been co-opted by their commercial abstractions in various worlds ("country" and "hiphop" for example).The model for "Molly" has now shifted to the explicitly dumb but well-intentioned and pure- hearted as in "Legally Blond."Once again, we have a Technicolor redheaded heroine. She's no Charisse and danced with a loping wide athletic stance that Gene Kelly would famously criticize. Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.