Reviews

Despite all of the critical bashing of Brigadoon, I thought it was very nicely presented. Before I go any further, be forwarned that I have never seen Brigadoon on stage - only on screen - so I can't make comparisons. IMHO, MGM couldn't have casted a better Tommy; Gene Kelly is perfect and (although I agree that he may not be the best singer ever) I didn't doubt his ability to play the part a bit. Van Johnson steals the show as well. As well, Cyd Charisse was wonderful as Fiona, she made the character seem so believeable and was perfect for the part.

Granted, Brigadoon would have been much better had it been filmed on location in Scotland, but due to budget cuts MGM was forced to film it in beautiful, sunny Culver City. The painted backgrounds are obvious (the same injustice was done to "7 Brides" which, like Brigadoon, was to be done on location but was ultimately filmed at the studio) but the backdrops are not meant to be the centerpiece of the show; why are we placing so much fault on these? I agree that the dance sequences got to be a bit long, but with Gene Kelly, who cares?

We can, however, be thankful that MGM didn't cast Howard Keel or Kathryn Grayson in Brigadoon. As much as I love Keel's work in his other MGM endeavours (such as Show Boat and 7 Brides), he would have been totally wrong in Brigadoon and Grayson's operatic singing would have done Fiona a terrible injustice.

Overall I thought Brigadoon to be a wonderful screen interpretation of one of Broadway's crown jewels. It will definately be getting a second viewing here!. Rate 8/10

If you're a fan of musicals, the old show-stopping stars, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, or all 3, this movie is a MUST SEE. It features segments of all those grand and glorious technicolor musical wonders (and some B&W's) from the brith of the movie musical through more recent productions of the 1950s and 1960s. The movie is hosted by of old stars that will make you want to get up out of your chair and dance, as they walk through a despairing and deteriorating (in 1974) M-G-M studio lot. If you haven't seen it, what are you waiting for?

For those who have seen BILL COSBY: HIMSELF, this production is done basically on the same principal. Bill is taped doing his great stand up comedy in front of a live audience. Very funny, worth the watch, but HIMSELF is better.

***** out of *****

This movie is a made for TV remake of the 1960 Walt Disney movie "Pollyanna" starring Hayley Mills. This movie was wonderfully adapted to the South in the 1950s, in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, and it's evident here in the movie. Good acting, good sets, pretty good all around. But, as in most cases, remakes can't hold a candle to the original - and this is no exception. A plus for this production, however, is that it has a sequel, and so we know what happens to Polly(anna).

****/*****

I had seen White Christmas several times on TV and later on VHS. This movie is at THE TOP of my list of "Must Watch" Christmas movies/specials. Having never seen Holiday Inn, so I cannot make any comparisons and do not wish to. The four leads in the movie are acted beautifully and the music is wonderful.

10/10

Rented this one once and would not do it again. Brandy is ok at the part, but she can't act. Her singing is more suited to pop, not Rodgers and Hammerstein. Hate the way this production murdered the wonderful R & H songs to give them more of a "pop" flavor. The 3 additional songs that were not in the 1965 production were totally unnecessary (and whatever happened to Lonliness of Evening???) If I recall, Lorenz Hart (who co wrote at least one of these additional songs and who was Richard Rodgers' partner before Oscar Hammerstein was) had NOTHING to do with R & H's Cinderella, be it 1957 (Andrews) or 1965 (Warren), and therefore his music should not have made it into this production.

Bernadette Peters was OK as the stepmother, but she looks WAY too young. The first time I saw this production (on the Disney Channel), I thought that Peters' character was one of the stepsisters, not the stepmother. The costumes and scenes were way overdone and were just plain tacky and ridiculous. The stepmother (Jo Van Fleet) and stepsisters (Pat Carroll and Barbara Rurick) in the 1965 production were just hilarious and they didn't even have to try hard. I just LOVED the "faults" that their mother and the Prince found in them (batting eyes and creeking knees). On the other hand, their counterparts in the 1997 show tried too hard to be mean and funny, and they didn't succeed at all.

The multi racial cast in this production is a nice idea to appeal to a new generation and to appeal to people of all backgrounds, but they could have found better actors and screenplay adapters than this.

If you want something that appeals to all people, go with this version. If you want good acting and good music with real meaning, go with Lesley Ann Warren in the 1965 production.

If an edition of Cinderella ever made it into the Rodgers and Hammerstein boxed set (which also contains Carousel, State Fair, Oklahoma, South Pacific, the King and I, and the Sound of Music), let's hope it's the '65 version.

I'm kinda shocked to see that no one has yet compared Glenn Close's performance to that of Mary Martin on stage in 1949. Who's to say that older actresses can't successfully play the parts of younger people? Mary Martin was coming close to pushing 40 in South Pacific, 42 when she played in the first production of Peter Pan in 1955, 47 when it was reproduced in 1960, and about the same age when she played a 20-something governess in The Sound of Music in 1959.

This production is as equally impressive (if not possibly more so) as all other renditions of South Pacific that I've seen.

I've always greatly enjoyed this Snow White rendition. Casting, acting, and scenes are beautifully done. The dubbed-in English is a bit poor, as is Tripp's introduction in the US version. The tale does move a bit slow, but this is a fairy tale, not a suspense film. I also love how this version is more faithful to the original tale than is Disney's version (that's Disney's biggest weakness). The music is nice; not overdone, although I like the background music better than the sung pieces. If you can get past this, though, it's a great movie. Would love to see the original German version, but I'll have to settle with the US one for now.