#42 Lady Be Good

Lady Be Good (1941)

directed by Norman Z. McLeod

written by Jack McGowan

Kay Van Riper

John McClain

I don't know how we ended up with this, maybe my mother-in-law gave it to Hallie. It's about a couple who fall in love while writing hit songs together. As much as I'm fine with Robert Young and Ann Sothern, they really don't have much chemistry together. It's also not a typical musical. There aren't many songs and most of them are the product of the couple's work and are part of a musical number. That said, we're keeping the movie.

There are two reasons; the lesser reason is the montage of the song "Lady Be Good" being shopped around to different singers. The major reason is Eleanor Powell who actually gets top billing. She was a tap dancer and her routine set to "Fascinating Rhythm" is unbelievable. She dances with a dog, too, but it's the FR number that will blow your mind. I've seen it several times and it's never failed.

There are a few other fun bits in the movie. The Berry Brothers, a soft-shoe dance trio are amazing, and Red Skelton and Lionel Barrymore are good fun.

verdict: eh as a movie overall, but we're keeping it

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#23 Kismet

Kismet (1955)

directed by 

Vincente Minnelli

written by 

Charles Lederer and Luther Davis

This movie doesn't get a lot of love, but we love it. Famous for two songs, "Baubles, Bangles, and Beads" and "Stranger in Paradise" (like most of the music in the show it's adapted from original music by Alexander Borodin), it's got color, great sets and matte backgrounds, and above all, Howard Keel at his hammiest and Dolores Gray.

The plot is a bunch of fairytale silliness - a poor poet, because of the lies he spins to keep his daughter and himself fed, lead him to run afoul of first a bandit (Jay C. Flippen), and then the Wazir (Sebastian Cabot). His daughter (Ann Blyth) catches the eye of the Caliph (Vic Damone), and the poet himself and his wonderful lines of b.s. enthrall the terminally bored Lalume, wife of the Wazir.

Most of the other songs are solid, and, in particular Dolores Grays' two big numbers, Bored and Rahadlakum, are terrific. We're not the biggest musical watchers, but we do have a small, solid collection and this is one we're keeping there.

Verdict: a keeper

Howard Keel and Dolores Gray

#7 - 1776

1776 (1972)

directed by

Peter H. Hunt

written by 

Peter Stone

I never saw this until I met Hallie 18 years ago. It's the story of the debate over the American colonies' debate over independence in the summer of 1776 in Philadelphia. When I was a kid, it always looked boring and when I was an adult it didn't seem to show up anymore on tv. I really like it. I really only knew William Daniels (John Adams), Howard Da Silva (Ben Franklin), and Ken Howard (Thomas Jefferson) from tv shows. To see them sing and dance was a fun revelation. It's a strange musical in that there are several long songless periods, but it doesn't matter. The songs are terrific, and the cast is so much fun. Roger Ebert declared the songs unmemorable, but I don't know what he was smoking. If you aren't grabbed by "Sit Down, John," "Piddle, Twiddle and Resolve," and "But Mr. Adams" I just don't know what to say. Apparently, the history is off-kilter in parts, but I think it still gets the basic arguments over whether to declare independence right - the place of slavery, lingering loyalty to England, the risk of war to colonial wealth, etc.

Verdict: definitely a keeper

Howard, DaSilva, and Daniels