1h 57min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 26 October 1956 | Color, WS
Director: David Miller
Stars: June Allyson, Joan Collins, Dolores Gray, ...
Robert Sidney ... stager: dances & musical numbers
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049578/
Musical version of The Women (1939), which I've seen enough to remember many of the corresponding cast members, but have not actually rated. The original apparently had no men in the cast, yet the married women are listed by their husband's name (Mrs. John Doe), and then their 1st name. I can imagine that the gimmick of no men made the '39 version much more interesting. When you see who they're competing for, you evaluate "is he worth this?"
Other than Norma Shearer/June Allyson, the casts are roughly comparable. So why does this feel so inferior?
Casts (in '56 order):
June Allyson::Norma Shearer (the innocent, sturdy one)
Joan Collins::Joan Crawford (the homewrecker)
Dolores Gray::Rosalind Russell (Fowler, the fouler)
Ann Sheridan::Paulette Goddard? (unmarried)
Ann Miller::? (next wife to DG's hubby)
Leslie Nielsen::no men
Jeff Richards::no men
Agnes Moorehead::Mary Boland (countess)
Charlotte Greenwood::Marjorie Main (Reno hostel owner)
Joan Blondell::Phyllis Povah (pregnant again)
Alice Pearce::Dennie Moore (manicurist)
Barbara Jo Allen::Hedda Hopper (gossip columnist)
(Note: BJA was in the original as a receptionist.)
The tension depends on the idea that the women are dependent on the men, at least emotionally, and the men in the '56 cast don't strike me as terribly valuable, certainly not so much that at least 2 women want them with such passion as to cause all this trouble.
The addition of musical numbers comes solely from the JA character being a former singer, and her husband a B'way producer. The only time DG sings is over the opening credits. AM and CG do NOT perform. JC is only a showgirl, so she poses/struts in a couple of numbers.
The number Now Baby Now has an interestingly used scaffold, where the chorus boys pose and do stunts far behind the action of JA and more boys. JA is kept off her feet a lot by her helpers, who lift and/or catch her a lot.
Young Man with a Horn was previously used in Two Sailors and a Girl ('44), also starring JA and staged with Harry James. I wonder if it's the same footage. I didn't look at the scene closely enough to evaluate age of either principal.
I think this suffers in part from being the remake of a well-done antecedent, so it can't help but disappoint. And it does.
MGM, dir. Miller; 6
