1h 51min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 26 September 1958 | Color, WS
Directors: George Abbott, Stanley Donen
Stars: Tab Hunter, Gwen Verdon, Ray Walston.
Bob Fosse ... choreographer; also dances
Patricia Ferrier ... assistant dance director (uncredited)
11 songs in the Soundtracks, including Heart and Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets.
GV & BF dance to Who's Got the Pain? in ch20, which reminds me of Steam Heat in The Pajama Game ('57). GW & TH plus a large ensemble dance to Two Lost Souls in ch 26.
Rated 8 on 2006-01-02, today I'm not so impressed. I don't like all the fanny wiggling of Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets (ch15); it just not very seductive, other than the fact that she takes off a couple of layers of clothing (to end up as shown on the poster).
TH is extremely handsome. Don't think I knew he was gay until recent years, and it didn't color my reaction today because he is staying loyal to his 50-something wife, so he doesn't need to be responsive too. He's good as the ball player, and executes well the limited dancing they gave him. The singing is by the actors throughout; no bel canto expectations here.
The ending is weird, because the devil is defeated despite the contract being fulfilled. His loyalty to his wife saves him? Makes no sense to me.
Today I liked the big ensemble number (ch26) best, except that the lighting (or the print) is too dark. I'm shocked that the dvd is out of print and rare old copies are offered at a premium on Amazon. I wonder if the copyright has reverted elsewhere, or if the film is just insufficiently popular to warrant a WAC re-release. (Fortunately, I bought this back in '04, before that bad production run.)
The other great thing about this: GV's acting. This is her last dance film; her next film of any ilk is 20 years hence. (She has some TV: Self credits, but no acting credits during that gap.) So I might have rated this high for her getting a star-turn, and doing it very well. She (b. '25) does have IBDb credits in those years, but not a lot; but that doesn't cover all theatre.
So I'll leave it at 8, with a minus.
Warner, dir. Abbott & Donen; 8-
