As a musical-comedy, The Unsinkable Molly Brown is easy on the eyes thanks to location filming and Daniel Flapp's Oscar nominated cinematography, but it's hard on the ears; not because of the score, but rather Reynolds' non-stop bellowing. The scene of Reynolds barking out orders at the other women on the Titanic lifeboat feels like an SNL skit. The film is a corny piece of Americana that's more busy than entertaining. Harve Persnell has a powerful voice, but is largely wooden and adrift, and he and Reynolds are not well-matched. The scenes depicting the sinking of the Titanic and its aftermath are rushed, and the ending is anti-climatic. Like many movie musicals, it has a few decent musical numbers, I particularly liked He's My Friend, but little else is memorable. Molly Brown's story is so much more interesting than what is presented here.
Review of The Unsinkable Molly Brown
