Those Redheads from Seattle (1953)

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

From the first time I saw it on t.b.s in black and white to later the flat technicolor print,what did I think of the 3D version? gorgeous.The re-creation of the stereo sound was good.The quality of it was a good as the white Christmas stereo sound track.There are different recording styles.The original three soundtrack of the 3D Kiss Me Kate,the dialog went to the left ,right and center along with the sound effects and music,but,this is the original sound track ,not simulation.In this stereo re-creation,I don't know how they were able to re-create it if the multi sound track was missing,the dialog mostly stayed in the center,while the music and special effects,went left to right right to left.Occasionally the dialog would go on the left side ,when Jean Parker, off Camera. lets Gene know about the death of Frank Wilcox,playing Mr.Edmond,that reminds Gene he has to tell Rhonda Fleming and the rest of the family of the old mans death.Another scene where the dialog of Gene Barry voice goes on the left as he enter to another room,where he trying to look for John Kellogg,who killed Rhonda's fathers,then another scene when some of the dogs barking goes on to the left of center but most of the dialog stays in the center.This is probably the way it was recorded.That news paper going straight to the cameras,one of the Strothers sisters,in there song number on the boat,where she coaxes the a passenger to do this,still looks silly.The boat scene where it's floating down the right.The water is inward and the boat is outward ,but, that might have been cause by a technical problem in the camera,at the time.This last a few seconds.The scene in which Agnes Moorehead and her family just arrived in Yukon.When some one shoots a bullet into a wine barrel and the wine come out of the screen,that's effective.When the Yukon dogs pulling the sled goes out to the camera.The scene when the sled was taking the family to Dodson,it looks like the back ground,behind the sled, was a rear screen projector with a flat film for a back ground making the scene less 3d.There was a lot of cheese cake sexiness in this.Teresa Brewer rehearsal for the number,"Baby ,in 3d she looked sexy,but the actual number in 3d ,it was wonderful.That is my favorite number in the film .The acting from Teresa and Guy was good ,since this was there first film.For a low budget film it was pretty good.Barry Nelson was a leading man contract player for paramount,in that period played a bad guy who was not so bad, Johnny Kisco, is good.Although Rhonda Fleming was frustrated that she did not have a music number,her role as the eldest daughter was genuine.That Agnes Moor head who played the prudish mother ,who tries to over protect one of the younger Strothers sisters,is good. In the restoration of the movie ,in the menu,it showed the optical print had become bad where the color would become green tint to orange tint to purple.I thought Technicolor had stable metallic dies,unless this was Eastman color print.Worth collecting and if it available for rent in 3D Blu-ray.com, I think that what the name is ,worth renting. 05/23/17

With Easter coming up I started looking round for films to watch with my dad over the holiday season.Taking a look at a DVD seller page,I spotted the first ever 3D Musical Western (!) ,which led to me getting ready to meet the redheads of Seattle.The plot:Running a campaign in his newspaper to get Johnny Kisco's salon shutdown, Vance Edmonds newspaper business gets burnt to the ground by Kisco's henchmen.Thanks to their being a gold rush in the area,Edmounds writes a letter to his family telling them to come down.Shortly after sending the letter,Vance is killed by Kisco's handyman (who have not been ordered by Kisco to burn the building,or kill Vance.) Getting the letter, Mrs. Edmonds gathers her daughters and sets off to the city to be reunited with her husband. Arriving in the city completely unaware,the Edmonds soon receive some bad news. View on the film:Whilst the transfer from 3D to 2D, (the 3D version was shown at the premiere,then never shown again,talk about value for money!)does slightly mute the colours,co-writer/(along with Daniel Mainwaring & George Worthing Yates) director Lewis R. Foster and cinematographer Lionel Lindon are able to find glitz in the redheads.Foster greets the girls in rosy blues and greens,whilst Lindon offers a glimpse to the 3D take with a depth of field which give the salons a touch of glamour,and the great snow covered mountain final a frosty atmosphere.Joined by sweet songs from Sidney Cutner and Leo Shuken,the screenplay by Foster/Mainwaring and Yates neatly blends the light Musical glaze with sawn-off shots from the Western.Entering the town all elegant,the writers rub the Musical girls against the outlaw,double-dealing world of the west,by wonderfully throwing their limelight dreams into the seedy smoke of the salons.Keeping the family in line, Agnes Moorehead gives a very good performance as the level-headed Mrs. Edmonds,whilst Gene Barry terrifically reveals Kisco trying to keep his outlaw life hidden,as Kisco's head is turned by the girls from Seattle.

In 1953, while so many good musicals, and not just at MGM, are integrating their scores, plots, and production designs, this Paramount oddity is a real throwback. All the songs, by a variety of hands, are "diegetic," i.e., stage-presentation numbers that have nothing to do with plot. Which may be just as well, since the plot is such a schizophrenic affair. It's about mom Agnes Moorehead (in an uncharacteristically humorless, uninteresting performance) squiring her four daughters to the Yukon in 1898, not aware that their dad has been murdered, and their falsely blaming saloon owner Gene Barry for it. The motivations are as scattershot as the intended 3D effects; when prettiest daughter Rhonda Fleming ends up with Barry, Moorehead glows with delight, even though she's hated him for most of the movie, because, well, it's time for fadeout and we need a happy ending. Teresa Brewer, with the best songs, is spunky and appealing, and Guy Mitchell, with a lovely voice, is more effective than he was the following year in another odd Paramount musical, "Red Garters." The tone's now-somber, now-boisterous, and the western and musical motifs do not blend well.

The attractive thing about this movie is the presence of Teresa Brewer, in her only film. So if you're a fan this is a must see. Secondly, how often do you judge a musical as a great movie in itself? The plot is usually there to support the music and the stars. That's the way I look at it, so I'm not hard on it. I know there are fans of Rhonda Fleming too, and the other stars. They appear attractive in color and the music is fine, especially when Teresa is on stage as a showgirl singing Baby Baby Baby. That was a hit for her that year. The Bell Sisters sing one, and so does Guy Mitchell. Teresa also sings Mr Banjo Man and a duet with Guy of It Must Have Been You All The Time. This film has recently been prepared for a 3-D video release that has not occurred, and there have been a couple of limited theatrical preview showings recently. Never been on video. Can be seen online in some places or as a TV recording. As of 2017 there is a DVD and Bluray 3D release. Better get yours before they are out of stock.