G | 2h 18min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 22 March 1967 | Color.ws
Director: George Roy Hill
Stars: Julie Andrews, James Fox, Mary Tyler Moore, Carol Channing, John Gavin, Jack Soo, Pat Morita, Philip Ahn, Beatrice Lillie.
Joe Layton ... musical sequences
Buddy Schwab ... assistant: Mr. Layton
Jay Thompson ... assistant: Mr. Layton
Kitty Malone ... dance (uncredited)
20 songs in the Soundtracks, but only 10 performed by principals.
The start of the film is weird, because it begins with a notice saying Overture, but then goes black for quite a while, still playing music. Eventually we get the first images and opening credits. At the end, after recapping the principals' credits, we get more black screen with exit music unannounced. Each blackout lasts multiple minutes.
I left the G rating on the summary above because the film was preceded by the MPAA rating (although that's still 1.5 years away), and because it's ludicrously low. This _IS_ a comedy about white slavery, and that's spelled out by newspaper headlines. I'd hate to think what other heinous crimes can be covered by comedy to earn a G.
I like the musical numbers, but the second act (and there is an intermission) has too few. Only the first chapter after the intermission has a musical number (I think; I used the chapter menu to decide that, not running through the film again.)
CC is a most welcome sight. This is her 3rd of 8 film credits, and of the last 4, 1 is a cameo and 3 are voice only. This is the only musical of the 1st 4.
MTM (b. '36) acts the innocent ingenue well. The Dick Van Dyke Show ended in '66. Her series starts in '70.
JA (b. '35) did not convince me that she was young enough to stay in the hotel for "single young ladies". But her singing and acting is always welcome.
3 production numbers are worth noting: the social dance at the hotel early on where JF invents the "Tapioca", the Jewish wedding where JA sings, and the acrobat act with CC as a participant. And of course the elevator that requires dancing to move is loads of fun.
Universal & more, dir. Hill; 7+
