1h 52min | Biography, Family, Musical | 25 November 1952 | Color
Director: Charles Vidor
Stars: Danny Kaye, Farley Granger, Zizi Jeanmaire.
Roland Petit ... choreography / dancer: The Prince in "The Little Mermaid" ballet
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044685/
12 songs performed in the Soundtracks; all but 1 written (words & music) by Frank Loesser, the 1 being the Little Mermaid ballet is compiled selections by Franz Liszt. Catchy, memorable tunes, and some have tongue-twisty lyrics, but not nearly so rapid fire as Sylvia Fine usually writes (she does not appear in the credits.)
I find it strange that I like dance so much, and ballet so little, especially since I like classical music. I find ballet boring. I think it's too regimented, too much emphasis on form: straight spines and pointed toes. While there can be beauty in precision, this has too much emphasis on it. And there's a lot of partner work where the man is little more than a teamster catching and lifting the woman. I get excited in ballet only by men dancing, and then only when they can leap like a gazelle (Baryshnikov).
So the lengthy ballet here did nothing for me. I must confess: I watched it very casually, with eyes away from the screen more than on it. So I didn't give it a fair shake, and I didn't follow the story of the Little Mermaid (ballerinas as Mermaids? What about the fish tails?) I did see them "swim" (flying through the air on wires, which seems impractical for a stage ballet: how do dancers dance while in harness?)
FG played a too-young ballet master, staging the ballet, barking at everyone, yet married to the principal ballerina at whom he barked the most. DK is infatuated with her, and wants to rescue her from FG's cruelty. In the film, people shrug off FG's slapping his wife (he doesn't just bark), which horrifies DK, but they say "they're married." Yup, domestic violence has been condoned for a long time. ZJ, the wife, seems fine with it too, and gets quite amorous with FG more than once. She torments him back, but it's all very psychologically unhealthy, which I suppose we expect from "artistes".
Better to put on some good music and read Anderson's tales than to watch this film (although the use of color is very nice).
Goldwyn, dir. Vidor; 6
