Archive
REVIEW: Stormy Weather
Directed by: Andrew L. Stone
Produced by: William LeBaron
Screenplay by: H.S. Kraft
Story by: Jerry Horwin, Seymore B. Robinson
Edited by: James B. Clark
Cinematography by: Leon Shamroy
Music by: Harold Arlen
Starring: Lena Horne, Bill Robinson, Cab Calloway, Katherine Dunham, Fats Waller, Fayard Nicholas, Harold Nicholas, Ada Brown, Dooley Wilson
Year: 1943
I’d largely forgotten this film’s existence until I saw that Screen Archives had done a limited release of the film on Blu-Ray (Thanks, Blu-Ray.com!). The name immediately stuck out, and so I alerted my mom, an avid fan of old musicals, to the film, knowing about its historical significance as one of the earliest major studio films to feature an all-black cast, but having admittedly very little knowledge of what it was actually about – apart from the fact that it was a musical, and I had seen Lena Horne’s performance of the title song somewhere, probably in one of those musical documentaries that always aired on TCM or AMC. After purchasing it (and accidentally shipping it to myself instead of my mom), I did watch it, though, and realized something fairly interesting about the film, divorced from the racial significance: It’s actually kind of boring if you’re not that invested in the characters or their story, and I wasn’t. Read more…
Review: “White Christmas”
Directed by: Michael Curtiz
Produced by: Robert Emmett Dolan
Written by: Norman Krasna, Norman Panama, Melvin Frank
Cinematography by: Loyal Griggs
Editing by: Frank Bracht
Music by: Irving Berlin
Starring: Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Vera-Ellen, Dean Jagger, Mary Wickes, John Brascia, Anne Whitfield
Year: 1954
You would think that a film called White Christmas would have Christmas as a more prominent subject. Though I’d recognized several sequences, having likely seen the film with my mom when I was much younger, it had been so long since the last time I really sat down to watch it, this time was like my first all over again. Needless to say, the lack of prominence of Christmas as the primary subject in the film was surprising. (It may also surprise some to know that White Christmas wasn’t the first appearance of the titular Irving Berlin song, either — the song was originally released as a single before appearing in another Bing Crosby Christmas film, Holiday Inn.) But that’s not to say that the old proverbial Christmas spirit isn’t present in the film — by the film’s big final musical number, the meaning behind the film’s title becomes immediately clear. Read more…
Great Scenes: “Singin’ in the Rain” – Moses Supposes Tap Dance
Just a quick update today. I’ve been pretty tired with work and other related stuff, and today is my day off and I’m having a friend over whom I haven’t seen in a while, but I wanted to post something since it’s been a while!
So, today, I’m bringing you a video from a movie that made it to my favorites list, Singin’ in the Rain. Now, almost everybody knows the famous song and dance number to the song that gives the film its name, but how many modern movie audiences know some of the other, just as amazing musical numbers in the film?
Today’s video, which I sadly cannot find in an embeddable format, so please follow the deceptive link, shows just how this movie mixes humor, story, and musical numbers all in one. The background of the scene involves silent film star Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) taking elocution lessons. Thanks to the release of The Jazz Singer, talkies are now all the rage, and the film Don was starring in has suddenly been put on hold to be reworked into a talkie itself. Don’s colleague and best friend Cosmo Brown (Donald O’Connor) comes in to speak to Don mid-lesson, and overhears the ridiculous tongue twisters Don’s being put through. It isn’t long before the two begin goofing off and teasing the instructor. It all culminates into a fantastic tap dance number that basically puts all other methods of procrastination to shame.
I loved this scene as a kid, primarily because of living Looney Tune Donald O’Connor’s hilarious faces, and as an adult, it’s still pretty frickin’ hilarious, with excellent timing on O’Connor’s part (ruined a bit by a bad editing gaffe causing the instructor to react twice to the same face, unfortunately). Then the musical number begins, and while it’s not the best song in the film, it suits the scene just fine. The real highlight is the dancing, however, with Kelly and O’Connor perfectly in tune with each other and really putting out a lot of energy. There’s a mixture of singing, dancing, and goofing around as they begin using every surface and prop in the room, including the poor instructor, who doesn’t quite know what to do with the two clowns.
You also have to appreciate a movie that basically acknowledges, “Yeah, we’re doing a musical.” This is one of the many songs that the characters sing that builds up into their decision to yet again convert their film, The Dancing Cavalier, into a musical called The Dancing Cavalier, and this scene is essentially just foreshadowing on the obvious — when you have actors this talented in song and dance, why not use those talents!?
If you haven’t seen this movie, go do so… NOW!
The Viewer's Commentary 