The Sound of Music (1965), 9-

A woman leaves an Austrian convent to become a governess to the children of a Naval officer widower.
2h 52min | | 2 March 1965 | Color, ws
Director: Robert Wise
Stars: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker, Richard Haydn.
Marc Breaux ... choreographer
Dee Dee Wood ... choreographer

Genres: Biography | Drama | Family | Musical | Romance
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059742/

Previously rated 9 on 2006-11-14. I'll add a minus today, but my fresh rating might be 8 instead.

This is too long, and I'd cut some of the Nazi-related scenes, and maybe a song or two.

Per IMDb, this was filmed 3'64-9'64. CP (b. '29) looks (and really is) too young to have a 16 y.o. daughter. He does act the part well, both stern and in love.

16 songs in the Soundtracks, including:

• The Sound of Music 
• Do-Re-Mi 
• My Favorite Things 
• I Have Confidence 
• Maria 
• Sixteen Going on Seventeen 
• The Lonely Goatherd
• Edelweiss 
• So Long, Farewell 
• Climb Ev'ry Mountain 

I didn't make it through either c.track, but the one with JA et al has many clips from the My Favorite Things doc'y on disc 2, so just watch that instead. Of 6 extra featurettes on the disc, I added 2 to IMDb today.

distr. Fox, dir. Wise; 9-

Beach Blanket Bingo (1965), 5

In the fourth of the highly successful Frankie and Annette beach party movies, a motorcycle gang led by Eric Von Zipper kidnaps singing star Sugar Kane managed by Bullets, who hires ... 
1h 38min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 14 April 1965 | Color, ws
Director: William Asher
Stars: Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Deborah Walley, Harvey Lembeck, Linda Evans, Timothy Carey, Don Rickles, Paul Lynde, Michael Nader, Buster Keaton.
Jack Baker ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058953/

Watched online, ok print.

9 songs in the Soundtracks.

LE plays new singer ("star" in synopsis; her singing is dubbed) pulls publicity stunt to get noticed: DW skydives for her and they switch in the water, then the surfers "save" her. PL is her manager/press agent.

HL spies LE from afar, and names her is idol (he is his own ideal), and sort of pursues her (it takes a long time for him to get there).

FA & AF decide they want to learn to skydive. FA objects to AF's diving, but she asserts her rights, and since DW is an instructor, she has support. DR runs the skydiving operation, and finally gives a taste of his stand-up style when he MC's some party.

We get less surfing footage than usual, but multiple people need ocean rescues, so we meet Lorelei the mermaid. She only reveals herself to the Jody McCrea character, and manages to grow legs for a night so he can take her to meet his friends.

TC is a pool hustler (I think he was in a prior Beach or Pajama film), and when HL kidnaps LE, TC is at the hideout. After a while of playing pool, TC decides to take LE to his abandoned sawmill, where he wants to play Perils of Pauline with her, tying her to a log and feeding the log to a saw. When FA and crew raid HL's hideout, HL reveals TC's sawmill, and the gang completes the rescue of LE.

Buster Keaton is on hand again, but I didn't catch why. He's partnered with the blonde bombshell from his last appearance, who appears to have learned some English, but wears the same fur-trimmed bikini. (I didn't check if it was the same actress.) Conspicuously absent, especially from the long end credits sequence, is fringe-costumed Candy Johnson. Neither she nor the fringes are there.

Unfortunately, these movies were released on dvd a while back, so I can probably expect to find all of them online. Ghh.

AIP, dir. Asher; 5

Girl Happy (1965), 6-

A Chicago mobster hires a rock and roll singer and his band to keep an eye on his daughter during Spring Break in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
1h 36min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 14 April 1965 | Color, ws
Director: Boris Sagal
Stars: Elvis Presley, Shelley Fabares, Harold J. Stone, Gary Crosby, Joby Baker, Nita Talbot, Mary Ann Mobley.
David Winters ... choreographer (uncredited)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059224/
Watched online, ok print.

12 songs in the Soundtracks.

Routine stuff. EP (b. '35), GC, JB, +1 are the band hired to watch SF in FL. MM (b. '37) is the shapely distraction that EP wants to pair with, but SF is wooed by an Italian guy, so he needs to get active in his "watching" (protecting) SF. He ends up falling for her instead.

Can't give EP much credit for having a strong sense of responsibility toward SF. Her father HS is a mobster owner of the club where his band just played, and HS will do them bodily harm if anything bad happens to SF.

All 4 bandmates can't get involved with girls, even when EP takes the burden of SF protection completely on his own shoulders (at the point he decides he's attracted to her), because they feel guilty for abandoning him (little do they know).

Best sight gag is when the boys manage to drive the boat (on a trailer) in which the Italian is wooing SF on a wild ride culminating in the swimming pool of the motel where SF & the boys are staying.

Other than that, meh. Saved from being a 5 from having SF there, if only as a curiosity. 9th of 15 films for SF (b. '44), whose 1st film was in '55.

distr. MGM, dir. Sagal; 6-

Cinderella (1965), 6 color, fs (tv)

Although mistreated by her cruel stepmother and stepsisters, Cinderella is able to attend the royal ball through the help of a fairy godmother.
1h 24min | Musical, Fantasy, Romance | TV Movie 22 February 1965 | Color, fs
Director: Charles S. Dubin
Stars: Ginger Rogers, Walter Pidgeon, Celeste Holm, Jo Van Fleet, Stuart Damon, Pat Carroll, Barbara Ruick, Lesley Ann Warren.
Eugene Loring ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057950/

Watched on AmazonPrime.

18 songs in the Soundtracks.

I think of LW as a dancer, and she did a solo turn after the waltz with SD at the ball, but it was unimpressive to say the least.

Interesting to have TV-style lighting and sparkled effects, but seamless transitions for the magic. Technology has already advanced a lot by '65. The end credits does say it was pre-recorded.

This is another case where I'd like to merge the cast of the '57 original and this, namely Julie Andrews with SD. Of course, he has a tremendous advantage that they pre-taped the program; most of my objection to the '57 prince was the errors.

I'm surprised that I don't like CH better as the fairy godmother. Somehow I'm wanting a bit more whimsy in her performance and more lilt in her voice. She looks great.

PC (b. '27) as one of the stepsisters has visible creases in her skin; she'd have made a credible stepmother. But JV is well cast, with her pinched features, she's easily cruel.

The music still doesn't grab me, and most songs felt unfamiliar. I didn't check the soundtracks against '57 to see if the songs were the same, but I did recognize the "do I love you because you're wonderful, or are you wonderful because I love you" song.

CBS, dir. Dubin; 6

The Pleasure Seekers (1964), 5

Three American lovelies room together in Madrid and all manage to get themselves into seemingly unhappy relationships with fellows.
1h 47min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 25 December 1964 | Color, ws
Director: Jean Negulesco
Stars: Ann-Margret, Anthony Franciosa, Carol Lynley, Pamela Tiffin, Gene Tierney, Brian Keith.
Antonio Gades ... choreographer
Robert Sidney ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058479/

Watched online, good print.

4 songs in the Soundtracks, each sung by AM. She doesn't do much dancing here, which is her better skill.

Shouldn't be tagged Musical, but I won't fight it.

Pushing the envelope farther into smutty territory, here AM is shown in bed after pursuing her love. Nothing definite, but highly unlikely to be innocent. CL & PT remain "pure", and each gets a man by the closing credits, although CL gets a new boss, not yet a love interest (just friends?).

Best dancing was some mediocre flamenco.

My life would have been complete without seeing this.

Fox, dir. Negulesco; 5

Roustabout (1964), 7-

After a singer loses his job at a coffee shop, he finds employment at a struggling carnival, but his attempted romance with a teenager leads to friction with her father.
1h 41min | Drama, Music, Musical | 11 November 1964 | Color, WS
Director: John Rich
Stars: Elvis Presley, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Freeman, Leif Erickson, Sue Ane Langdon, Pat Buttram.

Earl Barton ... stager: musical numbers

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058534/

11 songs in the Soundtracks.

This one has more to it than other EP films, probably because BS takes it seriously.

It wasn't a coffee shop where EP was singing, it was a "tea house" that served booze to underage kids.

JF is no match for EP; she's too sweet here. I suppose that's what he "needs" to tame him, and he had no family to make him want to avoid domesticity.

The plot makes sense. EP is traveling to his next destination when cranky LE runs him off the road, destroying his guitar and badly damaging his bike. Repairs take a week, long enough for EP to get attached to the carnival owned by BS where LE works. But LE, who is JF's protective father, keeps harassing EP, so he quits to go to a bigger carnival. He makes a bunch of cash there, and comes back to help BS bail out her financial troubles (caused by a prior incident of LE's drunken carelessness). (There's more, but that's the gist.)

Unfortunately EP plays sullen again, but not downtrodden. He knows he's got enough talent to get a job wherever he wants to go, and he can fight well enough to take care of himself. He doesn't start fights just because someone looks at him funny, but he does come to the defense of someone in distress. 

Favorite song: Little Egypt.

I'm mystified by EP going back and forth between Hal Wallis/Paramount and MGM. I wonder if he had a non-exclusive contract, or was loaned out.

Wallis-Hazen, distr. Paramount, dir. Rich; 7-

My Fair Lady (1964), 7

A snobbish phonetics professor agrees to a wager that he can take a flower girl and make her presentable in high society.
2h 50min | Drama, Family, Musical | 21 October 1964 | Color, WS
Director: George Cukor
Stars: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Gladys Cooper, Jeremy Brett.

Hermes Pan ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058385/

~23 songs in the Soundtracks.

Much, much too long. I'm surprised Warner let Cukor do that again, referring to A Star is Born ('54).

I don't like RH, and Higgins is not likeable either. So I really don't understand and don't like that she returns to him, and especially not his reaction to her arrival.

I do like some of the songs, and the fancy gowns and hats, despite their lack of color. I liked the dubbed singing voice of JB (b. '33), and the way he was made gangly by some physical obstacles he had. He looks amazingly young here.

WH is always welcome, and plays the more civilized of the 2 barbarians experimenting on a human. By the way, Higgins teaching technique seemed very poor. He rarely broke things down for her to avoid doing her normal pronunciations, and often had her endlessly repeating what she already did "wrong."

GC has been playing these matrons for a couple of decades+ now, and plays Higgins's mother, who doesn't like him much. I liked her for that.

I couldn't get through the c.track with the restoration team, Marnie Nixon, and the film's art director. In fact, I fell asleep and it made me dream of a situation where I couldn't get people to shut up. When I woke up, I heard the film's dialog was almost as loud as the commentators.

Warner, dir. Cukor; 7

Blonde Inspiration (1941), 5+ {nm}

Unknown writer Jonathan Briggs is tricked into buying in to a struggling western magazine only to find that all is not as it appears. In the meantime, he falls for the publisher's assistant and complications arise.
1h 12min | Comedy, Drama, Romance | 7 February 1941 | b/w
Director: Busby Berkeley
Stars: John Shelton, Virginia Grey, Albert Dekker, Charles Butterworth, Donald Meek, Reginald Owen.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033400/
Watched online, ok print.

This followed the prior film online, and I was halfway through by the time I finished writing up the prior. Seeing the director, and reading a review that said it has a surprise ending, I decided to finish this.

Well, I'm not sure what the surprise was supposed to be. The unknown writer JS decides to take a job as pulp fiction writer after receiving feedback that the novel he thought was his best was pulp, and after reading it that night (after many years), agreed that it was pulp.

Also, he marries VG, but that was completely predictable. What surprised me throughout was the character she played. I'm used to seeing VG as the bitter semi-star of a tableau/revue show. Here she was a derivative of Jean Arthur, competent gal friday that keeps the company running without getting the rewards of ownership, plus she fell for the author, so she showed a warm side.

Perhaps the surprise was the fact that DM, who would run the edge of the penthouse roof to get to the turkish bath nearby, finally lost his footing. Or more so, that the towel wrapped around him was sufficient to hold him on some hook outside the building.

CB did not play his usual persona, and was not at all amusing. He was a generic sidekick to AD, who was playing a derivative of Edward Arnold/Pat O'Brien bossman/swindler.

I have to give this a 5 to prevent me from watching it again. Although JS is competent, he lacks charisma, so I don't really care what happens to him. He spent 22 of his 39 films in uncredited roles, and I don't recognize the films where he gets screen credit, and only in 8 does his name appear in the "stars" section of the IMDb filmosearch tool (only 4 names per film).

It was good to visit pre-war America again.

MGM, dir. Berkeley; 5+

Pajama Party (1964), 5+

Gogo, a Martian teenager, is sent to Earth to prepare the way for an invasion. The first Earthling he meets, one Aunt Wendy, is a rich widow who runs a dress shop catering to teenagers. 
1h 22min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 11 November 1964 | Color, WS
Director: Don Weis
Stars: Tommy Kirk, Annette Funicello, Elsa Lanchester, Harvey Lembeck, Jesse White, Buster Keaton.

David Winters ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058440/
Watched online, ok print.

7 songs in the Soundtracks.

Although it's not one of the Beach movies, many of the cast (and their characters) overlap with those 1st 3. Frankie Avalon and Don Rickles appear in as the administrators on Mars, although FA's identity isn't revealed until the end. We also get Dorothy Lamour singing a song at the fashion show as its host. We even get Candy Johnson doing her dance, but apparently the fringe costumes belong to the Beach producers.

EL and BK add plenty of their personas to the film, which is how this gets a plus.

Otherwise we have the usual plot ingredients: AF seeks romance, JW with BK, another man and a European blonde want EL's cash stored in her house, the Martians are coming, HL wants the teens gone because their footprints mess up his beach. The pajama party is JW's method for getting EL out of her house with lots of teens to chaperone, but the park her on the roof and brawl anyway. I think some of the brawler were Martians, but I didn't pay very close attention. (Martians look like earthlings.)

It's no wonder that no one wanted to attend musical films, given the films like Elvis's bad stuff, and this vein.

distr. AIP, dir. Weis; 5+

Send Me No Flowers (1964), 7+

A hypochondriac believes he is dying, and makes plans for his wife which she discovers and misunderstands.
1h 40min | Comedy, Drama, Romance | 14 October 1964 | Color, WS
Director: Norman Jewison
Stars: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall, Clint Walker.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058571/

This is better than I remembered.

Because they're already married, we don't get the fun of the chase. But the misunderstandings mount up, and it is funny to have RH as a hypochondriac.

If we got a number of years they've been married, I missed it. They live in the suburbs, and make it sound like they've been there since before their 1st anniversary. Children aren't mentioned, nor any fertility issues/concerns. Seems like a strange place to live if you're not planning on kids.

Hard to imagine TR having wife and children, but they're away for vacation during this film.

Paul Lynde as the cemetery salesman is a plus.

Weird to have Edward Andrews as RH's doctor, since he played the expectant father in The Thrill of It All ('63).

Universal, dir. Jewison; 7+

Kisses for My President (1964), 6 b/w, ws {nm}

When the women of America join together on election day and elect a Leslie McCloud as the US President, things get a little awkward. Especially for her husband Thad NcCloud. 
1h 53min | Comedy | 21 August 1964 | b/w, ws
Director: Curtis Bernhardt
Stars: Fred MacMurray, Polly Bergen, Arlene Dahl.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058266/
Watched online, mediocre copy.

FM only dons the poster hat in his imagination, as he's viewing the First Lady portraits in his office in the West Wing.

This does a decent job of highlighting some of the adjustments that would need to be made by a family where the First Spouse has to give up a career, and the 2 children go to public school (did any First Children ever attend public school?)

The spouse doesn't have enough to do, and doesn't even attempt to fill traditional First Lady duties. The teenage daughter goes joy riding with her boyfriend, and her Secret Service detail intervenes when the police attempt to enforce the law. The primary school son turns into a bully, attacking peers and teachers, then calling in his Secret Service agents to protect him.

On the other hand, PB as President is taken seriously. We see her deal with the senator who was her election opponent, and she is smart about it. We see her deal with the dictator of a small country to who's been pocketing the financial aid intended for his citizens. Her only misstep is pawning hin off on her husband to entertain without any State Dept. assistance. But she squashes him in the end.

To ease the minds of '64 audiences, the President becomes pregnant and must choose between the pregnancy and continuing the job, so she resigns. End of film.

This is sufficiently interesting for occasional viewing, but it's not something to put on a Favorites list.

Warner, dir. Bernhardt; 6

Looking for Love (1964), 6-

Libby has spent a whole month trying to get into show business with her singing, and has not made it. Therefore she decides to retire and get a job where she can meet the right man and get ... 
1h 25min | Musical | 5 August 1964 | Color, WS
Director: Don Weis
Stars: Connie Francis, Jim Hutton, Susan Oliver.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059398/
Watched online: part 1, part 2; ok print.

7 songs in the Soundtracks, no performers.

This is very (singly-)marriage-minded, and the woman who hates the man gets him, and the woman who ignores the man gets him. I don't like CF's character, the focus on marriage, nor either man targeted.

Very strange plot device: to promote CF's invention of The Lady Valet, the first thing JH manages to set up is a spot on Johnny Carson.

CF does some good singing, especially when she torches.

We get some good cameos:

• Johnny Carson on what looks like The Tonight Show ('62+) set; weird that it looks familiar even that long ago.
• Danny Thomas hosting a variety show and singing with her.
• George Hamilton doing a screen test with her.

But the sum is not fun or worthwhile.

distr. MGM, dir. Weis; 6-

Bikini Beach (1964), 5

A millionaire sets out to prove his theory that his pet chimpanzee is as intelligent as the teenagers who hang out on the local beach, where he is intending to build a retirement home.
1h 39min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 22 July 1964 | Color, WS
Director: William Asher
Stars: Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Martha Hyer, Don Rickles, Harvey Lembeck, Keenan Wynn.
Tom Mahoney ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057887/

Watched online, ok print.

10 songs in the Soundtracks.

The plot is the problem: too much breadth, not enough depth. The characters who are repeated from the prior 2 movies are the same, and don't change at all. AF still wants FA to settle down, both in terms of his own lifestyle, and to marry her. Instead, he picks up another dangerous sport: drag racing.

Drag racing is introduced by way of the British mop-top singer Potato Bug, also played by FA in a dark blonde wig.

DR returns as the same person with a new name and new job: proprietor of the drag race strip (on the beach??? An unlikely use of real estate.) But he admits to being the body building proprietor we met before.

Then we also get KW as the millionaire who's trying to get rid of the surfers, and has invested time in teaching a "chimp" (man in chimp suit) to drive a car and surf, just to prove how low the teen culture has become, and therefore they should be institutionalized, or something. MH is a school teacher who tries to defend the teens, but just heckles KW.

And HL is back as Eric von Zipper, repeatedly giving himself "the finger" (the Himalayan zen suspension of motion and thought introduced by Bob Cummings in the first film), and bringing along his gang so the surfers would have someone to brawl with.

There's little to make sense of here, and that makes it tedious.

The big innovation is the skimpiness of the bikini bottoms: they're MUCH smaller than in the last film. Didn't notice the cleavage being more ample, though.

We got another song from (Little) Stevie Wonder, but the lengthy end credits featured some other song, again with Candy Johnson shaking her fringes. (The irony of her "power" to knock over men by aiming her hip-swing at them is that she has the most covered costumes of any young female in the film. No bikinis for her; not enough space for the fringe. And her costumes look identical to the past 2 films, both in design and color.)

AIP, dir. Asher; 5

Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964), 6

In Chicago, during the Prohibition, two rival gangs compete for control of the city's rackets.
2h 3min | Comedy, Crime, Musical | 24 June 1964 | Color, WS
Director: Gordon Douglas
Stars: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Bing Crosby, Peter Falk, Barbara Rush.

Jack Baker ... musical numbers staged by

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058529/

Watched online, good print.

7 songs in the Soundtracks. Each of the musical talents here perform as you would expect, and can see in the Soundtracks. Although they're not terrific songs (except My Kind of Town), the musical numbers are the highlight of the show. But I don't like gangster stuff.

The 2 rival gangs are headed by FS and PF. Corrupt law enforcement officials side with PF. BC is first affiliated with a charity that receives cash FS doesn't want from BR, then with FS's gang, then with BR.

The plot shifts a lot, as exemplified by BC's shifting loyalties. It's challenging to keep up with the changes and what specifically motivated each one. And I'm not really sure how the film ends. I know what happened to PF, but not his organization. I certainly don't understand why FS, DM and SD are in Santa suits, nor what BR & BC are doing (for work) together. I watched the ending twice, and the only thing that was clarified was that it wasn't my concentration that was at fault. I think the film leaves a lot of loose ends. Blech.

Warner, dir. Douglas; 6

All Night Long (1962), 9 b/w, ws

The film, based on Othello, is neatly positioned as a vehicle to showcase some of the best jazz musicians of the period - including Dave Brubeck and Charles Mingus.
1h 31min | Drama, Music* | 6 February 1962 | b/w, ws
Director: Basil Dearden
Stars: Patrick McGoohan, Keith Michell, Betsy Blair, Paul Harris, Marti Stevens, Richard Attenborough.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054614/
(watched out of sequence because disc just arrived today)

~23 songs in the Soundtracks.

The cast list above represents the following characters Iago (Johnny Cousins), Cassio (Cass), Emilia (Iago's wife, Emily), Othello (Rex), Desdemona (Delia), Rodrigo (Rod).

The fact that the jazz musicians are there onscreen makes it more plausible for the soundtrack to be so strongly present, as contrasted with a film like Anatomy of a Murder ('59), where we don't see the band providing the driving jazz music. But the fact that they're playing such edgy music, not mellow jazz, is very appropriate to the tale being told.

Rated 7 on 2015-05-06, I'm bumping it far up today. That's because I've studied Otello the opera and subsequently watched a completist production of Othello, so I've thought about the story upon which this is based. And I had the good fortune of wanting to pay close attention today, and being awake enough to do so.

The things I liked so much:

• Rex shares a (recurring?) nightmare with Delia that she has left him, and he wants her always by his side to reassure him. He hasn't been quite so controlling in reality, since she's played tourist while he worked.
• Johnny wants to break up the Rex/Delia marriage to bring her into the band he's trying to form. While married to Rex, she hasn't wanted to work.
• Instead of a handkerchief, the treasured token is a cigarette case, which Johnny lifts from where it was casually left, and stashes some weed in there. Then he gets Cass to partake, and to temporarily take custody of the case.
• Cass's girlfriend is the subject of discussion, which can be misinterpreted as Cass discussing Delia.
• Johnny records some remarks that he edits into "evidence" of the lies he's been feeding to Rex.
• Rex doesn't kill Delia, but comes close. He also almost kills Cass, and also physically attacks Johnny.
• Here's 1 negative: Johnny seems to go free, except that no one present will likely work with him.

So, I love the writing, the use of the Othello material, the music, the performances, the direction.

The Rank Org., dir. Dearden; 9

Murphy: Belongings (2017), 7

Two sets of child refugees express their frustrations and sorrows. One set are London evacuees during WWII, the other set are from modern times.
53min | Music | 11 Nov 2017 | Color, WS

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8879920/
Watched online:
https://www.glyndebourne.com/tickets-and-whats-on/events/2018/watch-belongings/

Initial performance 2017.

Composer Lewis Murphy
Conductor Lee Reynolds
Director Lucy Bradley
Designer Ellan Parry

Cast
Cast includes young performers from Glyndebourne Youth Opera supported by three professional singers and chamber ensemble.

Ted/Theo Rodney Earl Clarke
Helen/Hallamah Leslie Davis
Maggie/Marjana Nardus Williams

Very effective comparison of the 2 situations, and they are different, yet similar.

The music is just scaffolding for the storytelling, and an excuse to have repetitive words. The narrative is very oblique; we don't learn much about anyone in the story, but nonetheless get to understand their plight.

Glyndebourne Opera, cond. Reynolds; 7

The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), 7

A poor, uneducated mountain girl leaves her cabin in search of respect, a wealthy husband, and a better life in this fictionalized biopic of Margaret "Molly" Brown, who survived the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic.
2h 8min | Biography, Comedy, Musical | 11 June 1964 | Color, WS
Director: Charles Walters
Stars: Debbie Reynolds, Harve Presnell, Ed Begley.
Peter Gennaro ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058708/

6 songs (by Meredith Willson) in the Soundtracks.

Previously rated 5 on 2015-03-05, I can only guess why I was so negative. The music and characters are quite brash, as is The Music Man. But it has some depth. In fact, I'd call it as much drama as comedy.

DR plays the poor, uneducated tomboy well. Even when she's in the money, newly settled in her mansion in Denver, she walks and carries her head like a hick.

HP has a strange face, teetering between handsome and homely, perhaps depending on the angle/lighting. And sometimes he slouches noticeably, not always when he's supposed to be down emotionally. 1st of 23 film credits for him; only 3 are musicals.

Maybe, like my reaction to HP's face, my reaction to this film depends on my mood. Today I was happy to see an "old fashioned" H'wood musical, even though the music is unfamiliar, and seeing DR's face pushed into the dirt was really unpleasant.

MGM, dir. Walters; 7

What a Way to Go! (1964), 7+ {nm}

A four-time widow discusses her four marriages, in which all of her husbands became incredibly rich and died prematurely because of their drive to be rich.
1h 51min | Comedy, Romance | 13 May 1964 | Color, WS
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Stars: Shirley MacLaine, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly, Robert Cummings, Dick Van Dyke, Margaret Dumont.
Gene Kelly ... choreographer
Richard Humphrey ... choreographer (uncredited)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058743/

2 songs performed by Jule Styne, Comden & Green; 2 more instrumentals for the painting segment.

A long-time favorite of mine. The 4th husband is GK, and GK, SM and an ensemble do a number listed as "Musical Extravaganza" in the Soundtracks, plus GK dances twice alone to the "Get Acquainted" music (and sings it), so this is a borderline musical. But the numbers are concentrated in a segment of the film, not scattered throughout, so I won't argue the point.

Seeing that the screenplay credit goes to Comden & Green, my adoration of this film is much more understandable. But everyone executes it really well, too. I love their biting the hand that feeds them with RM, where everything is credited to Lush Budgett during the segment.

The painting segment with PN is also brilliant, and since I've seen a couple of films recently with PN in Paris, this is yet another inside joke to cast him for the American-Parisian husband.

I don't mean to diminish any of the other segments; they all cohere to create this fluffy souffle of a comedy. And that's a great accomplishment.

distr. Fox, dir. Thompson; 7+

Muscle Beach Party (1964), 5+

Local beach-goers find that their beach has been taken over by a businessman training a stable of body builders.
1h 35min | Comedy, Musical | 25 March 1964 | Color, WS
Director: William Asher
Stars: Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Luciana Paluzzi, Don Rickles, Peter Lupus (as Rock Stevens), Buddy Hackett.
John Monte ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058384/
Watched online, mediocre print.

9 songs in the Soundtracks. The song by (Little) Stevie Wonder was repeated as the lengthy backdrop to the end credits, with Candy Johnson again dancing in a fringe outfit. This is only the 2nd time I remember long end credits. (I should have noted the other. It was a big roadshow film.) 1st of 4 film (actor/self) credits for SW. 

1st film credit for PL. He has 5 credits as Rock Stevens, 19 total. Strange that his TV credits for the same time period do not show the pseudonym.

I can't tell if I'm just getting used to these dull teen films, or if this was better than the last one. I was tempted to shrug this to a 6.

No Eric von Zipper this time. Instead we get Buddy Hackett as the Italian rich girl's business manager, and Don Rickles as the trainer to the body builders. Peter Lorre is the surprise silent partner of DR, instead of Vincent Price being the surprise cameo in the first film.

I was struck by one of AF's bikini tops, that maybe it was more revealing than usual, with fishnet covering the exposed cleavage.

This is totally skippable. Other than the stock footage of surfing, and the lineup of bodybuilders (wearing either hot pink or dark lavender swim trunks), the music is standard for the time, and the choreography is unimpressive.

BTW, Asher is already married ('63) to E.Montgomery, and Bewitched doesn't start until '64.

AIP, dir. Asher; 5+

Viva Las Vegas (1964), 6+

Race car driver Lucky Jackson goes to Las Vegas to earn money to pay for a new engine for his motor car. Working as a waiter, he still finds the time to court young Rusty Martin.
1h 25min | Comedy, Musical | 20 May 1964 | Color, WS
Director: George Sidney
Stars: Elvis Presley, Ann-Margret, Cesare Danova, William Demarest.
David Winters ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058725/

12 songs in the Soundtracks, 3 do NOT involve EP. 4 more were cut from the film.

Although they had plenty of songs, per the c.track no cast album was released, only an ep and a single.

Arguably AM is the star here. In terms of screen presence, impressive performances, and acting chops, she comes out slightly ahead; in actual screen minutes, EP might be higher. Dir. GS also directed Bye Bye Birdie ('63), which turned her into a star.

This was filmed (and completed) before Kissin' Cousins, but released after. I didn't catch (or the c.track didn't pitch) why.

Teri Garr is easily spotted in the big production number in ch12 of What'd I Say. And she's in the college gymnasium where AM does her first number.

Except for the long racing sequence that finishes the film, this is quite enjoyable. In the race they crash a few cars, including CD's, which would have been fatal if a driver had been in the broadside after a film cut, but CD is visible at the wedding at the end.

The production numbers are quite enjoyable, although no great dancing per se.

MGM, dir. Sidney; 6+

Kissin' Cousins (1964), 6

An Army officer returns to the Smoky Mountains tries to convince his kinfolk to allow the Army to build a missile site on their land. Once he gets there, he discovers he has a lookalike cousin.
1h 36min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 6 March 1964 | Color, WS
Director: Gene Nelson
Stars: Elvis Presley, Arthur O'Connell, Glenda Farrell, Jack Albertson, Pamela Austin, Yvonne Craig.

Harold Belfer ... choreographer 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057227/

Rented on Google Play, good print.

1st pairing of dir. Nelson and EP. GN also has screenplay credit (with another).

9 songs in the Soundtracks: all but 1 sung by EP. 3 additional songs cut from the film.

No exotic location shoot here; this looks like a studio job.

Having EP in a dual role as the army guy and the blonde backwoods cousin is no thrill. And when they both appear in the same shot, we don't get any slick technology making it happen; there's definitely a double involved.

Just another EP film. Unfortunately, another follows immediately.

distr. MGM, dir. Nelson; 6

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), 7+

A young woman separated from her lover by war faces a life-altering decision.
1h 31min | Drama, Musical, Romance | 19 February 1964 | Color, WS
Director: Jacques Demy
Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058450/

This is an opera, without operatic singing. Not a word is spoken, only sung. As such, it's sort of an experiment. I don't think it started any kind of trend.

Demy wrote as well as directed. A lot of credit should go to Michel Legrand for the score. The song that is the primary theme of the film is quite haunting.

The film is intended as a tearjerker. A featurette shows Legrand talking about a hankie being needed in at least 3 places. Demy talks about being influenced by American musicals, but I can't think of any that is so thoroughly sentimental and sad. This has some edge when Guy comes back from the war, but he doesn't spend long wallowing in his ennui.

CD (b. '43) is incredibly beautiful. She's playing 17. At one point her mother says she isn't the prettiest, and that just doesn't ring true at all. This is her 7th film, and she's still active, with over 119 film credits todate.

French cie, dir. Demy; 7+

The Sword in the Stone (1963), 5

A poor boy named Arthur learns the power of love, kindness, knowledge and bravery with the help of a wizard called Merlin in the path to become one of the most beloved kings in English history.
1h 19min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy | 25 December 1963 | Color, WS
Director: Wolfgang Reitherman
Stars: Rickie Sorensen, Sebastian Cabot, Karl Swenson.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057546/
Watched online, good print.

6 songs in the Soundtracks.

Very little time spent on the title concept. The film is mostly a sequence of magic done by Merlin. I guess he's supposed to be teaching young Arthur something by changing Arthur & Merlin into fishes, squirrels and birds, but I don't get it. Then Merlin has a wizard duel with some female sorcerer.

Arthur finally pulls the sword out 5 min before the end of the film, then has to do it again before witnesses. Arthur tries to run away from the job of being king, and Merlin returns from a trip to Bermuda in the 20th century. The End. Boring.

Disney, dir. Reitherman; 5

Move Over, Darling (1963), 8 {nm}

After five years lost at sea, a missing wife thought long dead returns just after her husband remarries.
1h 43min | Comedy, Romance | 25 December 1963 | Color, WS
Director: Michael Gordon
Stars: Doris Day, James Garner, Polly Bergen, Thelma Ritter, Don Knotts, Edgar Buchanan, Chuck Connors.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057329/

Remake of My Favorite Wife ('40), and reboot of Something's Got to Give ('62, unfinished). Cast comparison ('63 order):
Doris Day::Marilyn Monroe::Irene Dunne
James Garner::Dean Martin::Cary Grant
Polly Bergen::Cyd Charisse::Gail Patrick
Don Knotts::Wally Cox::Chester Clute
Chuck Connors::Tom Tryon::Randolph Scott

This really is the best of the 3 productions. Polly Bergen is just the right combination of beauty, elegance and hysteria for the second wife who's being thwarted from consummating her marriage. Then again, when we see PB & JG driving to their honeymoon, I had a moment when I wondered why JG would want this neurotic.

DD is perfect as the beautiful, elegant tomboy who could credibly fend off CC for 5 years, and survive on an otherwise uninhabited island.

And JG is perfect as conflicted husband who'd trying to juggle 2 wives in a terrific farce.

I also noticed how well the music punctuated the comedy.

Anyone for a drive through the carwash with the top down?

This is a Fox release from Jan'07, and the last 2 chapters and none of the special features played today. I was found a cheapish replacement where the vendor claims to have tested it. We'll see.

Fox, dir. Gordon; 8

Fun in Acapulco (1963), 6

Mike works on a boat in Acapulco. When the bratty daughter of the boat owner gets him fired, Mike must find new work. Little boy Rauol helps him get a job as a lifeguard and singer at a ... 
1h 37min | Comedy, Music | 27 November 1963 | Color, WS
Director: Richard Thorpe
Stars: Elvis Presley, Ursula Andress, Elsa Cárdenas, Paul Lukas, Alejandro Rey.

Charles O'Curran ... stager: musical numbers

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057083/

Watched online, ok print.

11 songs in the Soundtracks.

The trivia item that said Col. Parker wanted EP to sing enough songs in his films to fill an album appears to be correct.

EP "only" made 2 films this year, not 3.

Plot elements: woman bullfighter, cliff diving, trapeze act, circus death, French chef, immigration, child acting as agent/factotum, teen brat. Fewer would be better.

EP's voice goes well with mariachi music.

I guess we get pretty scenery too. Nothing here to make me crave this film.

Wallis-Hazen, distr. Paramount, dir. Thorpe; 6

A New Kind of Love (1963), 6 {nm}

The fashion industry and Paris provide the setting for a comedy surrounding the mistaken impression that Joanne Woodward is a high-priced call girl. Paul Newman is the journalist interviewing her for insights on her profession.
1h 50min | Comedy, Romance | 10 October 1963 | Color, WS
Director: Melville Shavelson
Stars: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Thelma Ritter, Eva Gabor, George Tobias, Marvin Kaplan, Robert Clary, Maurice Chevalier.
Miriam Nelson ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057360/

Added 4 songs from opening credits to IMDb, to bring total to 5 on the Soundtracks.

This is pleasant, slightly risque, with the very attractive husband/wife pair playing singles pursuing each other in a very oblique fashion (pun intended).

The scene of partial songs from MC in a medley with patter/narrative was fun, and was "necessary" for the next scene where JW talks with a saint.

The theme of career women who want husbands is not inherently sexist, because we get no mention of the women quitting their careers after marriage.

This is not really a flat 6, but not fun enough for a plus.

Paramount, dir. Shavelson; 6

Hootenanny Hoot (1963), 6- b/w, fs

The marriage of television director Ted Glover and television producer A.G. Bannister has gone on the rocks because she has permitted her career to take precedence over romance.
1h 31min | Music | August 1963 | b/w, fs
Director: Gene Nelson
Stars: Peter Breck, Ruta Lee, Joby Baker, Pamela Austin.
Harold Belfer ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057153/

Watched online, mediocre print.

~13 songs in the Soundtracks. Only 1 by Johnny Cash.

2nd film director credit for GN.  He has at least 10 TV director credits before this, and many after.

Curious: choreographer HB (b. '22) has 44 choreographer credits, but only 11 are for music/als. He's too old to be the primary male dancer with PA. Don't see anyone identified as "dancer" in cast, and I don't think the dancer had a name in the dialog.

Writer: Robert E. Kent (as James B. Gordon)

Don't know who this is, but looking at his filmography, he started using the pseudonym in '55, so was he blacklisted in the HUAC travesty? Nothing in Wikipedia regarding the reason for the pseudonym.

PA dances a bunch with a pretty good male dancer, and both with a big ensemble. Some of it is just modern choreography, the big production number is countrified with lots of elbow action, as you would expect from the banjo-pickin' music we get to endure. This would qualify as a folksploitation film, because there are a lot of folk music/ country music acts, none of whom are integrated into the story.

A lot of screen time is given to the plot, where PB and RL tangle, and JB and PA pair up. RL plays a TV exec, so she gets some (imitation?) Chanel suits. Pretty boring stuff, and none of the 4 are great actors. But the script doesn't give them any depth, so that's ok.

Decided on 6- instead of 5 just for the primary male dancer and the ensemble. But if you watch this again, ffwd to dancing and JC. Skip the rest.

distr. MGM, dir. Nelson; 6-

The Thrill of It All (1963), 8 {nm}

A housewife's sudden rise to fame as a soap spokesperson leads to chaos in her home life.
1h 48min | Comedy, Romance | 17 July 1963 | Color, ws
Director: Norman Jewison
Stars: Doris Day, James Garner, Arlene Francis, Edward Andrews, Reginald Owen, Zasu Pitts, Elliott Reid.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057581/

First of two pairings of DD & JG, both released this year. The other is Move Over Darling. Both are among my all time favorites. Amazing that they didn't do more; they were as good or better than DD & Rock Hudson.

This one is written by Carl Reiner (story and screenplay) and Larry Gelbart (story), and frequently tickles my humor.

This is very sexist, since it advocates for women to be housewives, but find outside interests to prepare them for when the children are gone (ugh). But the situation of being a soap commercial pitchwoman, and the silly programs between the ads, make for a lot of comedy.

It leaves me smiling, and that's worth a lot.

distr. Universal, dir. Jewison; 8

Beach Party (1963), 5

"Beach Party" was the first of of a series of seven related AIP beach party films. The others are Muscle Beach Party, Bikini Beach, Pajama Party, Beach Blanket Bingo, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini and The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini.
1h 41min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 7 August 1963 | Color, ws
Director: William Asher
Stars: Robert Cummings, Dorothy Malone, Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Morey Amsterdam, Harvey Lembeck.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056860/

Watched online, good print.

6 songs in the Soundtracks.

Surfing, jealousy, bikers, meditation, pie fight. Boring. It might be that Harvey Lembeck was the most interesting thing about this, and that is very sad. At least the songs had some melody, but I just want to knock the sand off and move on.

Alta Vista Prod., distr. American International Pictures, dir. Asher; 5

Summer Magic (1963), 6-

A Bostonian widow moves with her kids to the country.
1h 50min | Comedy, Family, Musical | 7 July 1963 | Color, ws
Director: James Neilson
Stars: Hayley Mills, Dorothy McGuire, Burl Ives, Deborah Walley, Una Merkel, Michael J. Pollard, James Stacy.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057542/
Watched online, ok print.

7 performed songs in the Soundtracks. And yet it doesn't feel like a musical. This is one of those singing on the porch or in the parlor kinds of songs.

This is sappy sweet with lots of familiar faces (even more than listed above), and with some mild drama for balance. But it seemed much longer than its runtime, and is not worth the time it took.

Set in the time when automobiles were new.

HM finds a solution to the family trouble (too little $$) by renting a country house, since the rent is waived by overly benevolent rental agent BI. He's also a handyman, and has a dry goods store, so he helps them fix up the home, with wife UM complaining that he's selling supplies under cost. He also sings frequently.

To cause some conflict, snooty cousin DW moves in because she's been booted from her prior residence due to $$ shortage, but she doesn't know that. 

New schoolteacher JS and DW pair up, much to HM's dismay, although she will become his pupil in the fall.

Consolation prize for HM: the young owner of the house they're renting. Except, of course, he's the grand prize, and looks older than JS, but somehow we get the impression they're now a pair.

Film ends with no marriages, just the implication of the pairings being set. Really boring, but not quite bad enough for a 5.

Disney, dir. Neilson; 6-

Bye Bye Birdie (1963), 7+

A rock singer travels to a small Ohio town to make his "farewell" television performance and kiss his biggest fan before he is drafted.
1h 52min | Comedy, Musical | 4 April 1963 | Color, WS
Director: George Sidney
Stars: Dick Van Dyke, Ann-Margret, Janet Leigh, Maureen Stapleton, Bobby Rydell, Jesse Pearson, Paul Lynde.
Gower Champion ... directed & choreographed by: New York play production
Tom Panko ... assistant choreographer
Onna White ... choreographer
Alex Romero ... choreographer (uncredited)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056891/

After Mad Men ('09) used the opening footage of AM singing the title song, that's what I thought of as the number played.

15 songs in the Soundtracks, all by Charles Strouse and Lee Adams, except ballet by Tchaikovsky. Highlights:

• ch1&28. title song by AM on blue background
• ch6. The Telephone Song by ensemble
• ch14. Hymn for a Sunday Evening (aka "The Ed Sullivan Song") by PL 
• ch17. Put on a Happy Face by DV & JL
• ch19. Kids by PL
• ch21. A Lot of Livin' To Do  by AM & ensemble; big dance number

These are some excellent songs, and/or stagings of songs. I forgot that ...Happy Face and ...Livin'... come from this show.

It's weird to watch this in context, in the middle of Elvis' film career. Where did the gold lamé jumpsuit come from? Did EP wear something like it in concert? Because I don't remember it from any film. Then again, it could have been some other rocker. (Boy, how the meaning of that word is going to change.) This actor has impossible shoes to fill. He doesn't really try to imitate EP. But it's definitely suggested by the hair, the hips, and the Southern accent, plus the music and guitar.

Although I like this subset of songs within the film, the plot is tiresome. JL as a Latina is silly, although she might be prettier as a brunette than as a blonde. She doesn't have or need an accent, but it still seems silly. The subplot with DV as momma's boy is part of the wearying aspect. But the AM/BR romance, especially as teens, is also a little grating. However, it adds energy to the big dance number in ch21, since they're fighting via dance.

I wonder how the equivalent of the Telephone Song would look today; would people sing the Tweets?

Columbia, dir. Sidney; 7+

It Happened at the World's Fair (1963), 6+

Mike and Danny fly a crop duster, but because of Danny's gambling debts, a local sheriff seizes it. Trying to earn money, they hitch-hike to the World's Fair in Seattle. 
1h 45min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 3 April 1963 | Color, WS
Director: Norman Taurog
Stars: Elvis Presley, Joan O'Brien, Gary Lockwood.
Jack Baker ... stager: musical numbers

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057191/

Watched online: part 1, part 2;  good print.

10 songs in the Soundtracks, all sung by EP.

EP spends a lot of time at the fair, and especially taking care of a little girl he just met a couple of days earlier. He was so cute with the kid that I looked to see when his own daughter was born ('68).

Because of the child, this was more engaging than most EP films. I may be stretching the point to call this a 6+.

The Seattle World's Fair took place in '62.

MGM, dir. Taurog; 6+

I Could Go on Singing (1963), 7

Jenny Bowman is a successful singer who, while on an engagement at the London Palladium, visits David Donne to see her son Matt again, spending a few glorious days with him while his father... 
1h 40min | Drama, Musical | 7 March 1963 | Color, WS
Director: Ronald Neame
Stars: Judy Garland, Dirk Bogarde, Jack Klugman, Aline MacMahon.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057168/

JG's final film credit, 34 total; she dies in '69.
Penultimate film credit for AM (b. '99), the last is this year. She dies in '91.

This feels like a JG autobiography, but it's not. It's an alternate universe version of her life, where she chose to give up a child to its father without marriage so that she could pursue her concert career. This singer was never a movie star, never a child star, or at least that was never included in the film. But the neediness of the character feels like our impression of JG. As such, it's very difficult yet satisfying to watch.

The way the JG/DB relationship is left at the end of the film confuses me, because I don't understand why it happened.

1 song on the Soundtracks page. Wikipedia lists:

• ch5. I Am the Monarch of the Sea (Judy Garland and Boys) from H.M.S. Pinafore by Gilbert and Sullivan
• ch8. Hello Bluebird, words and music by Cliff Friend
• ch11. It Never Was You, Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson
• ch15. By Myself, Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz
• ch20. I Could Go On Singing, Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg

I don't feel like investing the time to add to IMDb today. I'd have to do too much research to confirm writing credits, etc.

distr. UA, dir. Neame; 7

Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962), 7

A debt-ridden circus is saved by a well-meaning but inept publicity man.
2h 3min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 6 December 1962 | Color, WS
Director: Charles Walters
Stars: Doris Day, Jimmy Durante, Stephen Boyd, Martha Raye, Dean Jagger.
Busby Berkeley ... choreographer (uncredited)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055797/

8 songs in the Soundtracks, all by Richard Rodgers, 7 by Lorenz Hart. Most familiar: This Can't Be Love, My Romance, The Most Beautiful Girl in the World.

DD's last musical. 31st of 40 films.

23rd of 26 films for MR.

38th of 39 films for JD.

Last film for BB other than a cameo in '70.
Only 2 more films for director CW ('64 and '66), both as director.

I'd say this is more drama than comedy. The debt of the circus, the way the rival circus manipulates them, and the rocky romance of DD & SB is all drama. The comedy comes mostly from the circus performances/rehearsals, yet some of that is high drama too.

As noted above, some terrific songs. Dancing is not a highlight of the film, but there is plenty of movement to music, as expected in a circus.

This has Billy Rose's name on it because it began as a play (11'35 - 4'36). JD was in that show.

distr. MGM, dir. Walters; 7

Two Tickets to Paris (1962), 5 b/w, ws

In this musical, fairly light movie, two young people, Joey and Piper are in love. They embark on a cruise to Paris to get married, with the acerbic but kind Aggie as a chaperon. 
1h 30min | Comedy, Musical | 28 November 1962 | b/w, ws
Director: Greg Garrison
Stars: Joey Dee, Gary Crosby, Kay Medford, Jeri Lynn Frazer.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056624/
Watched online, mediocre print. I wonder if this is cropped to appear ws, because there's a closeup scene with chins cut off.

5 songs in the Soundtracks, 2 without performers. Neither seem to be the "teenage vamp" and "baby please come home" songs sung by JLF.

I liked the prior Joey Dee film, Hey, Let's Twist! (1961), 6+, but this one tried my patience. 

Lots of plot, and it's bad. The couple take along a chaperone, so it's 3 tickets, not 2. Aboard ship, a jealous French gal keeps kissing Joey to make her mate jealous, but it makes Joey's girl jealous, of course. I think both couples reconciled before the end. When they depart ship, the movie ends.

Columbia, dir. Garrison; 5

Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962), 6

When he finds out his boss is retiring to Arizona, a sailor has to find a way to buy the Westwind, a boat that he and his father built. He is also caught between two women: insensitive club singer Robin and sweet Laurel.
1h 46min | Comedy, Musical | 21 November 1962 | Color, ws
Director: Norman Taurog
Stars: Elvis Presley, Stella Stevens, Jeremy Slate, Laurel Goodwin, Benson Fong, Robert Strauss.

Charles O'Curran ... stager: music numbers

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056023/

Watched online, mediocre print, only 1h 39min.

14 songs by EP, 3 by SS, 1 more in Soundtracks. Most familiar: Return To Sender.

3rd EP film this year, as it will be until he's done after '69.

Partially set in nightclub, which accounts for many of the songs. EP also sings on the fishing boat.

Other than getting to hear EP sing, and some Hawaiian vistas, this is dull. I don't care about either woman chasing him, nor his living situation/ambitions (see synopsis). Amazing how long 1:39 can seem when it's too much of a similar thing. Unfortunately, I think I had watched the beginning of this recently, so it was actually repetitious.

Hal Wallis Prod., distr. Paramount, dir. Taurog; 6

Wild Guitar (1962), 5- b/w, fs

A young Arch Hall, Jr. is given a shot at the big time by the unscrupulous owner of a small record company played by Arch Hall, Sr. (aka William Watters).
1h 32min | Comedy, Drama, Music | December 1962 | b/w, fs
Director: Ray Dennis Steckler
Stars: Arch Hall Jr., Nancy Czar, Arch Hall Sr.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056693/
Watched on AmazonPrime; also on a megapack.

No songs in the Soundtracks, but plenty in the film, all but 1 performed by AHj. Just a guy with a guitar and studio backup.

This is a very cheaply made film with bad acting and strange camera/lighting. Ex: for a rock tv show, the stage is mostly dark. Too artsy for me.

This is the second film where I've seen a camera tumble for effect. The prior was ws color (Brothers Grimm), which was  impressive. That was down a hillside, this was down some stairs. Cameras must have gotten smaller by now.

The tumble down stairs involved a fight, and I never did gather whether the fallen man was dead or what.

This film is some sort of cautionary tale for wannabe rock stars that come to H'wood: beware the first manager you meet may be out to bilk you for all he can, and maybe even use violence to keep you indentured.

Not annoying enough for a 4, but close.

Fairway International Pictures, dir. Steckler; 5-

Gypsy (1962), 8

Based on the Broadway hit about the life and times of burlesque dancer Gypsy Rose Lee and her aggressive stage mother, Mama Rose.
2h 23min | Biography, Comedy, Drama | 1 November 1962 | Color, WS
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Stars: Rosalind Russell, Natalie Wood, Karl Malden.
Jerome Robbins ... based upon the stage play choreographed by / based upon the stage play directed by
Robert Tucker ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056048/

16 songs in the Soundtracks by Jule Stein and Stephen Sondheim.

I've always loved this film. The songs (both music and lyrics), the acting, the pacing, the story.

Let Me Entertain You seems like one of those songs that must have always been imported from burlesque, but it's written for the show. 

Fascinating that they managed to write "bad" songs to fit the story, yet they're great songs.

Interesting balance between Gypsy and Rose in this film. Is Rose the real star, despite the title?

Also fascinating that Robbins choreographed the stage version. After doing the great athletic West Side Story, how do come down to bad kid acts and strippers? There's not even a big ensemble number here.

I followed Gypsy Rose Lee ever since seeing this on TV whenever that was (60's?). She had a daytime talk show for a while, also in the 60's. I'm not sure which I would have seen first. And while going through this quest I paid extra attention when she was onscreen or behind it (author).

I enjoyed this again today.

Mervyn LeRoy Prod., distr. Warner, dir. LeRoy; 8

Gay Purr-ee (1962), 6-

Mouser Jaune Tom and house cat Mewsette are living in the French countryside, but Mewsette wants to experience the refinement and excitement of the Paris living. But upon arrival she falls ... 
1h 25min | Animation, Comedy, Family | 24 October 1962 | Color, WS
Director: Abe Levitow
Writers: Dorothy Jones, Chuck Jones | 2 more credits
Stars: Judy Garland, Robert Goulet, Red Buttons, Paul Frees, Hermione Gingold.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057093/

Watched online, excellent print.

11 songs in the Soundtracks, all by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg.

With all the people involved that I like (C.Jones, JG, HA+YH), it's amazing that I don't like this.

Somehow the UPA "animation", which includes here of a lot of single cells being panned, and the fact that Jones didn't direct, so the pacing is slow, and the songs are about cats, plus the singing of RG has never been appealing to me: too stiff.

C.Jones' work was always best when Michael Maltese and Maurice Noble were involved, and they are absent here. Interesting that the characters look like Jones' design, when character design is usually the domain of the director, at least in the old days of cartoon shorts.

The most interesting thing is the imitation of Impressionist art, not only in the sequence when Musette sits for various portraits, but throughout.

The film is not quite bad enough to give it a 5, but maybe next time watch it with faster playback (if available on the platform (I've used that setting on YouTube with audio preserved).

UPA, Warner, dir. Levitow; 6-

Almost Angels (1962), 8

Supported avidly by his mother and more reluctantly at first by his father, a working-class Austrian boy joins the Vienna Choirboys, where he proves to be unusually talented. The standard ... 
1h 33min | Family, Comedy, Music | 26 September 1962 | Color, WS
Director: Steve Previn
Stars: Vincent Winter, Sean Scully, Peter Weck.
Norman Earl Thomson ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055740/
Watched online; faded print.

~15 songs in the Soundtracks.

The poster and the advertising ("BOYSterous DOGS and the DOGgondest BOYS ...together they spell FUN! [double bill with re-release of Lady and the Tramp]") are all wet. There was no fight or black eye, nor did dogs play any significant role in the film (I did see 1 dachshund peripherally). Just a lie to tie this in with its double bill. And to make me dread seeing it. Fortunately, it took no effort to find it online.

I don't remember seeing this before. I was completely charmed by it. I love choral music, and high voices, so the Vienna Boys Choir gets a thumbs up from me. The music alone would have been enough to get a 7.

But then they added a meaningful plotline about a boy's voice cracking, which happens to all of them who stay in the choir long enough. And it was handled well in the script.

Very telling that the boys in the cast have no photo thumbnail come up on the film's IMDb page. Three adults do. That means to me that they did not go on with their acting careers.

My big quibble with this film is that I found it difficult to recognize the 2 primary boys; they look too much alike to me, and like the other boys we see. This screenshot shows them together, when it's easy. It's when they're apart and interacting with others that I was puzzled. The tall one is Peter; the other is Tony, who's the newbie at the Choir.

Too bad it's a Disney film, with their insane dvd practices. This is out of print, and selling for $30 used on Amazon, $28 on eBay.

Disney, dir. Previn; 8

Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962), 5

The story of Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, and three of their stories...
2h 15min | Animation, Adventure, Biography | 7 August 1962 | Color, WS
Directors: Henry Levin, George Pal
Stars: Laurence Harvey, Claire Bloom, Karlheinz Böhm, Walter Slezak, Barbara Eden, Oskar Homolka.
Alex Romero ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056700/
Watched online, mediocre print.

5 songs in the Soundtracks, no performers.

This one definitely was for children. Slow as molasses, strange audio (like all the voices were after-dubbed?), and stories as dull as dirt.

Russ Tamblyn got to dance acrobatically again, with Yvette Mimieux who didn't seem to be a rigorous dancer. Terry-Thomas and Buddy Hackett got to fight a stop-motion dragon, and LH, while playing a cobbler, got help from stop-motion elves.

I saw 1 segment where the 3 vertical seams of Cinerama was evident.

I would have complained if they did stories that were extremely well known, but this was not a well-paced film. We also get biographic scenes of the brothers, which may be total fiction.

Interesting that they were given credit for Cinderella, when that belongs to a French author.  

The only good thing about this was the film that followed: Kisses for My President ('64); not a musical, but I put it in the queue. I'm sure it will be total farce and horribly sexist, since Polly Bergen is elected US President.

Cinerama Productions Corp., MGM, Bavaria Film, dir. Levin & Pal; 5