Music for Millions(1944)

Music for Millions (1944). Musical/comedy. Directed by Henry Koster. Cast:Margaret O'Brien, José Iturbi as Himself, Jimmy Durante, June Allyson and Marsha Hunt. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1946.

When seven-year-old "Mike" travels to New York from Connecticut by train, she is worried when she is not met by her sister, Barbara Ainsworth. Mike is soon cornered by a policeman, who takes her to Symphony Hall, where Babs, a bassist, is performing. Mike runs onto the stage and annoys conductor José Iturbi, in the middle of the concert. Iturbi, wants to fire Babs, until his stage manager, "Andy" Andrews, reminds him that with so many of the male players gone because of the war, he cannot afford to fire Babs. Babs, who was unaware that Mike was coming for a visit, is thrilled to see her. Babs and the female orchestra members, sneak Mike into their "no children" boardinghouse. After Babs faints the doctor shares a secret with Mike, telling her that Babs is pregnant.

Although Mike and her roommates have tried to keep it a secret about Babs's condition, their obvious concern alerts Iturbi, who is sympathetic.

Just before the orchestra leaves for Florida on a tour, a telegram arrives for Babs at the boardinghouse. Rosalind, one of Babs's roommates, reads the message herself. As feared, the telegram has bad news about her husband Joe, and Rosalind and the other girls decide not to tell Babs anything about it until after the baby is born.

Even though Music for Millions, is called a musical comedy, you will need plenty of "hankies". Jimmy Durante's comedy, provides the smiles. You will also enjoy the beautiful classical concertos played by Jose Iturbi, and his mostly female orchestra. Giving their support to the boys in uniform.

Blue Hawaii (1961).

Another one of my favorite beach movies is the film, Blue Hawaii (1961) a musical filmed in Hawaii. Cast: Elvis Presley. After two years in the Army, Chad Gates returns home to Hawaii, happy to be back with his surfboard and beach buddies.

He rebels against his wealthy and domineering parents by not going to work for the family pineapple business. Chad decides to go to work as a guide for the same tourist agency where Maile, his Hawaiian girl friend works. His first job is to show school teacher Abigail Prentace and four teen aged girls around the Hawaiian Island..


At a luau, Chad gets into a fight with a drunken tourist who is making inappropriate moves on one of the teenage girls. He is arrested and thrown in jail. Chad's mother blames the fight on Maile's bad influence. Maile is worried about Abigail's interest in Chad.

FUN FACTS:
The closing scene, was shot at the Coco Palms Resort on Kauai, where Elvis was staying when filming the movie. Cameo: (Hal B. Wallis) walking down the street.

The soundtrack for this movie is Elvis' most successful chart album, but it is also the number one album for (1961). "Blue Hawaii" spent 20 weeks at the #1 spot of the Billboard Top LP's chart in 1961-1962 (a record to be broken in (1977) by Fleetwood Macs "Rumors" album), which stayed on the charts for 79 weeks.

About seven minutes before the end of the film. Maile is peeking through the blinds, you will see a couple paddling a canoe. The blond woman seated up front, is singer Patti Page. Patti was then married to Charles O'Curran, a choreographer for many films produced by Hal B. Wallis, including "Blue Hawaii."

What I liked most about this fun film was the location and Angela Lansbury's performance as Elvis's crazy Southern Belle mama.

STAGE DOOR (1937)

Stage Door (1937). Adapted from the play by the same name. Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou, Gail Patrick, Constance Collier, Andrea Leeds, Samuel S. Hinds, Lucille Ball, Eve Arden and Ann Miller.

When Terry Randall, an aspiring actress arrives at the Footlights Club, she is greeted by a group of actresses and chorus girls. Terry's uppity manner immediately alienates her from her roommates who pride themselves on their down-to-earth style. Because of her relationship with producer Anthony Powell, known womanizer, Jean also dislikes another room mate, Linda Shaw. Loved by all is Kay Hamilton, a actress who had done well the previous year, has since been unable to find work. Jean is spotted during a dance rehearsal by Powell, who arranges an audition for her and her partner Annie at a nightclub. Later Kay faints in Powell's office when she learns that the producer has refused to see her. Angry, Terry bursts into Powell's office and gives him what for, for his callous behavior. Powell dismisses Terry, but when he is later approached by a potential backer who has made casting Terry a part of his offer, agrees to star her in his next play, Enchanted April. Powell then invites Jean to dine with him and to spite Linda, Jean accepts. Powell shows Jean pictures of his young son and estranged wife, and plays a "poor little me" routine to win her over. When Jean becomes drunk, Powell sends her home, where Terry helps her to bed. Later Powell tells Terry that he wants her to star in Enchanted April. Kay is stunned to learn that Terry has been cast in the role and blesses her room mate's good luck. In spite of Terry's bad performance during rehearsal, Powell keeps her in the show and prepares for bad reviews. What will it take to turn Terry's out look on life?

FUN FACTS:

Ann Miller was only 14 years old when she performed in this film. She had lied about her age and produced a fake birth certificate. Miller was tall and beautiful at age 14 that she pulled it off. It is quite impressive to see her holding her own while dancing with Ginger Rogers, by then the dance partner of Fred Astaire.

ON THE TOWN (1949)

ON THE TOWN (1949) A wonderful musical, about three sailors (Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Jules Munshin) on a twenty-four hour shore leave, looking for adventure and romance.They go on a sightseeing tour of Manhattan. On their list: the Empire State Building, Central Park and Rockefeller Center, Ozzie and Gabey quickly becoming bored of sightseeing and want to check out the beautiful women of New York. The three sailors see a poster of Ivy Smith, "Miss Turnstiles"(Vera Ellen) for the month of June, thinking that she is beautiful girl he has ever seen. They tell her life story in a dance number. They can not believe that they find her, as soon as they arrive at the subway station, where Ivy is posing for a photo shoot. Gabey poses with her for a photograph. she quickly disappears. Gabey, Chip and Ozzie follow Ivy in a taxicab driven by Brunhilde (Betty Garrett), who has eyes for Chip. With the poster of Ivy's as their only information, Gabey and his friends look for her in places where she might be working. Brunhilde, takes the sailors to look for Ivy at the Museum of Natural History, where Ozzie meets Claire (Ann Miller), an anthropologist, who quickly joins them in the search. When they break into a dance, Ozzie and Claire accidentally knock over a dinosaur skeleton at the museum. They run for their lives, but the police are hot on their trail. The group splits up and search for her separately, agreeing to meet later that evening at the Empire State Building. Alone at last with Chip, Brunhilde takes him to her apartment, only to be disturbed by her quirky, roommate, Lucy(Alice Pearce).

Gabey eventually finds Ivy in a dance studio, and they make plans to go on a date later that evening. Ivy promises to return from her date in time to make her performance as a coach dancer at Coney Island, because she owes her dance instructor a lot of money for her lessons. Chip, Brunhilde, Ozzie, Claire and Gabey meet at the top of the Empire State Building, where they hide Ozzie from the policemen who are still looking for him. When Ivy arrives, the three couples begin their night ON THE TOWN. The evening comes to an abrupt halt when Ivy disappears without explanation, leaving behind only a note. His friends try to cheer him up by quickly having Lucy fill in for for Ivy. Gabey has a few drinks and thinks about his new love, Ivy. Will the two love birds find each other again?

I loved the fact that this movie was filmed on location. I really enjoyed the dance numbers. For me they seemed to go with the plot instead strictly for entertainment. I also, loved the dance number where the guys dress up in Hiram costumes and sing like girls..In her screen debut, Alice Pearce (the roommate with the sneezing problem). Alice is also known as the first actress to play the nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz on the show Bewitched (1964).

http://www.tcm.com/video/videoPlayer/?cid=16834&titleId=355

CLICK to view theatrical trailer.

Jules Munshin (February 22, 1915 – February 19, 1970) was a Jewish song-and-dance artist who had made his name on Broadway when he starred in Call Me Mister(picture to the left). Additional Broadway credits: The Gay Life and Barefoot in the Park.


Although Munshin was in successful MGM musicals such as Easter Parade and Take Me Out to the Ball Game, audiences would always remember him as one of the trio of sailors (along with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra) singing "New York, New York" in the hit film On the Town (1949). Another of his great roles was Bibinski, a Russian Commisar in Silk Stockings (1957).

EASY TO LOVE (1953)

Easy to Love (1953) With the Cole Porter classic as the music title, Esther Williams and Van Johnson star in their fifth film together.

After Julie's (Esther Williams) performance in the water-skiing show, she comes to Ray (Van Johnson) to talk about about her long hours, and wants to quit working for him when he asks her to cancel her plans for that evening. Ray ignores her wishes, and sends her on a very important job for a LIFE magazine photo shoot, where Julie meets the handsome singer Barry Gordon (Tony Martin), who is also being photographed. During her photo shoot, Barry asks to take the place of the male model, and they become attracted to each other . After the photo shoot, Julie asks Ray to take her to see Barry's nightclub act. Later that evening, Julie gets a call from Barry and they go out dancing. When Barry learns that Julie swims, models and even types for Ray for not much money, he makes an appointment for her to meet Oscar Levenson, who is producing a water follies show. Julie auditions for Oscar, who gives her the job. That afternoon, Julie tells Ray about her new job, Ray pretends that it is OK with him. She starts to feel guilty, and at the last minute, she returns to Florida with him. Ray asks Julie to meet with him that evening. Julie thinks Ray is going to propose. Hank comes by to tell Julie that his father wants him to return to Texas, and she tells him that she is in love with someone else. Hank then rushes into Ray's office and accuses him of stealing his girl friend, and Ray is surprised to hear that Julie is in love with him. That evening, when Julie comes for dinner, Ray pretends to be talking on the phone with another woman. He then informs Julie that he will double her pay. Julie returns to the resort and is surprised to find Barry sitting at the piano, and when he sings a love song to Julie, Ray becomes jealous. Barry asks Julie to go to Paris with him, but before she can answer, Ray asks Julie to go with him in his boat. When Ray proposes, he finds that Julie had already jumped out of the boat. The next morning, after performing in a spectacular water-skiing show, with dozens of water skiers, ramps, pyramid formations and gushing geysers. Nancy accidentally knocks Julie out with a water ski. By this time I have no idea who loves who.. any who... Who is to rush to her side ?

Tony Martin bumps into Cyd Charise (in a cameo), his real-life wife at the time.

Esther Williams was pregnant during the filming of this movie.

Supposedly Esther Williams favorite of her movies.

http://www.tcm.com/video/videoPlayer/?cid=77124&titleId=73862

Click to view theatrical trailer

MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID (1952)

Million Dollar Mermaid, A perfect role for Esther Williams. A story inspired by the life of " Annette Kellerman," an Australian swimming champion and water ballet performer who performed in New York's Hippodrome. I thought Esther, did a wonderful acting tribute to Annette.

The film starts off in Sidney, Australia, where a young Annette, is wearing leg braces during her recovery from polio. She starts swimming to strengthen her legs.The scenes with Annette as a little girl, I thought were emotional. As Annette, eventually recovers she begins ballet along with her love of swimming and with her father's support she wins the south Wales women's Amateur Freestyle Cup.

After running into financial trouble, Frederick closes his music conservatory and accepts a teaching position in London. On the trip to England, they meet American promoter James Sullivan, Doc Cronnol, and Sidney.( a boxing kangaroo). Jimmy is impressed by Annette, and makes an offer to manage her swimming career. Annette wants to help support her father, she accepts the offer after she learns that her fathers job fell through.

To kick off her career, Annette decides to to swim 26 miles to Greenwich, with Doc and Jimmy, rowing along side. Soon thousands of spectators are cheering her on as she swims through London. Her father Williams, reads about the swim in the newspaper, and is there to greet her as she swims into Greenwich. Soon they receive many offers, but Jimmy turns them down because he has a dream of going to America, for their fame and fortune.. When they first get to America, things don't go as planned, until Annette receives a telegram, offering her a water ballet at the Hippodrome. Soon Annette gets a call from Hollywood, and will appear in her first film, Neptune's Daughter . A few weeks later, on the last day of filming the movie Annette, dives into the water for her last scene, a crack develops in the glass of the huge tank. Annette is trapped and swept onto the broken glass as the tank bursts and she is seriously injured. Two weeks later, her recovery is still unsure. When Alfred and Jimmy, go up to Annette's room they see her doctor and he tells them that she may never walk again....

Berkeley's first of two films that he did with Esther Williams. This film gave him the opportunity to Showcase three water ballets set on the stage of the Hippodrome Theater. In the final number not only does Esther Williams drop into the center of a circle formed by swimmers, but he also uses fire and colored smoke for a beautiful effect. The last ballet is truly worth seeing. Million Dollar Mermaid received an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography.

This is considered to be Esther's signature film.

Esther Williams, broke her neck diving off a 50-foot tower during the scene where she wearing a gold swimsuit. She spent six months in a body cast before recovering to finish the film.

Cast: Esther Williams, Victor Mature, Walter Pidgeon.

http://www.tcm.com/video/videoPlayer/?cid=116167&titleId=258

to view theatrical trailer.

PAGAN LOVE SONG (1950)

Pagan Love Song (1950), A beautiful south seas musical, where everyone lives in the sun and looks out for each other. This is one of my favorites films from the Esther Williams DVD volume II collection. A tanned Esther Williams plays a Half-Tahitian Half- American woman.( Mimi Bennett), who lives with her rich aunt. Bored of the easy life of Tahiti and longs for the excitement of the United States. But when (Hazard Endicott) played by Howard Keel, arrives to take over his late uncle's coconut plantation, she has a change of heart. At first Hazard mistakes Mimi for one of natives, and instead of correcting Hazard, Mimi playfully pretends to know just a little bit of English. Later.. Mimi stops by to invite Hazard to a party at her house. Hazard accepts the invitation. Expecting the guests to be natives, Hazard comes dressed in a sarong. When he finds the guests are dressed in suits and evening dresses. He leaves the party , and Mimi, realizing that her joke has gone to far, catches up with him and tells him the truth. After a short time they become engaged. Everything is going well until one day when Mimi witnesses Hazard lose his temper with one of his workers Tavae. Mimi does not like Hazard's harsh treatment of Tavae and breaks off their engagement. Will Mimi ever forgive Hazard?

This is a gorgeous film. Scenery of the island of Tahiti was beautiful. A cute story line with some wonderful songs and one amazing coral sea ballet. I also enjoyed seeing the native dances. One that really stood out in my mind was the SIMONE knife dance. Rita Moreno plays a feature role, in sarong and long beautiful hair.

Esther Williams, was 6 months pregnant while filming PAGAN LOVE SONG.

http://www.tcm.com/video/videoPlayer/?cid=74492&titleId=3499
Click to movie trailer

Van Johnson and Cyd Charisse were the first choices for the leads, but Charisse was pregnant at the time. A new screenplay was then written for Esther Williams to star in.

VIVA LAS VEGAS (1964).

VIVA LAS VEGAS (1964) , Princess requested... This week's SPOTLIGHT. And so far winning the favorite Ann Margret movie poll.

Viva las Vegas!! What a fun film for Elvis fans. This is one of my favorite Ann Margret films. She's awesome in the musical numbers. Talk about chemistry between two stars.. In my opinion the film is about the songs and dance numbers. Which include the title song, "Come On, Everybody", "What'd I Say", and "Appreciation"...but all of them are good, and the other songs are: "The Lady Loves Me", "I Need Someone to Lean On", "Today, Tomorrow, and Forever", "My Rival", and "If You Think I Don't Need You". If you look closely in one of the dance numbers you will see Ann Margret wearing ballet slippers instead of high heels. The car race footage in the finale is amazing.

Though the relationship did not last. Elvis and Ann Margret remained friends for the rest of his life. According to Ann Margret, Elvis sent her flowers in the shape of a guitar on the opening night of every one of her Las Vegas shows.

FIESTA (1947)

FIESTA(1947). Is a musical with beautiful exotic settings, and a different role for Esther Williams. It begins with Maria and Mario as children of retired famous toreador Antonio Morales. Antonio's dream is for Mario to follow in his footsteps. Mario spends his time training for the bull ring, but his true passion is to play the piano. On the night of the bullfight, Antonio sabotages Mario's chance to work with the famous composer Maximino Contreras. Mario becomes angry and goes into hiding. In order to convince her brother to come back and save the family name. Maria comes up with a plan, with the help of a trusted friend Chato (Tamiroff), to impersonate Mario in the ring.( There are some beautiful, bullfighting scenes.)This runs the risk of her future marriage to scientist Pepe Ortega (Carroll). Ricardo Montalban, performs several beautiful dances with Cyd Charisse. I was especially impressed by Montalban's piano playing, wondering if he was really playing. If he was... he is wonderful.

Esther Williams, in her autobiography "Million Dollar Mermaid" states that during the shooting of "Fiesta", her husband at the time - Ben Gage - got drunk and had a run-in with the Mexican police, causing production to be halted as the authorities had him thrown out of the country.


American film debut of Ricardo Montalban

MURIEL'S WEDDING (1995)

Before he directed the Julia Roberts hit comedy My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997), Australian filmmaker P.J. Hogan crafted this quirky, charming ode to feminine friendship and the joys of ABBA music. Like Strictly Ballroom (1992), another Aussie crowd-pleaser, Muriel’s Wedding features eccentric characters, dysfunctional families, and actor Bill Hunter. However, Muriel’s Wedding differs significantly in overall tone, effortlessly shifting back and forth between comedy and drama.

The film’s protagonist is Muriel Heslop (Toni Collette), a plain-looking young woman with a severe shortage of self-esteem. Her father, a local politician who fancies himself a bigwig, constantly berates Muriel—even calling her a “deadweight” in front of strangers. Her “friends” call her fat and criticize her hair style, clothes, and preference for ’70s music. She longs to leave the town of Porpoise Spit and get married.

Muriel realizes part of her dream after befriending Rhonda (Rachel Griffiths), a free spirit who shares Muriel’s love for ABBA. The girls move to Sydney and enjoy an interlude of working-class bliss before a series of unforeseen events change both their lives. There is indeed a wedding, but it’s not what one expects—and that surprising quality is what makes Muriel’s Wedding such a delight (well, that plus watching Muriel and Rhonda, dressed as the ABBA girls, lip-synching to “Waterloo”).

Toni Collette, in her first starring role, transforms Muriel from an awkward loner to a confident adult who finally learns what’s important in her life. In later film roles, Collette would continue to display her amazing versatility, acting in costume dramas (Emma), suspense films (The Sixth Sense), and comedy (About a Boy).

Writer-director Hogan displays a sure hand throughout, especially in a crucial scene that goes from funny to serious in a matter of seconds. His clever use of music adds sparkle to several scenes (e.g., ABBA’s “I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do” played during a wedding). Hogan would display his canny use of music again in the underrated Unconditional Love and My Best Friend’s Wedding; my favorite scene in the latter film is when the wedding party joins Rupert Everett as he serenades Julie Roberts with “I Say a Little Prayer.”

Except for Scotland’s Bill Forsyth, Aussie filmmakers had the market for quirky comedy-dramas cornered in the 1980s and 1990s. Check out Muriel’s Wedding and Strictly Ballroom to see why. They’d make a great double-feature.

THE ROSE (1979)

THE ROSE(1979) I think this is one of the best concert films ever made. The story of a tragic rise to fame and fortune. A wonderful showcase for Bette Midler amazing talents.... The film is loosely based on the life of Janis Joplin.

The film doesn't really go into her childhood, or how she ''ROSE" to stardom, but shows her demise at the hands of her greedy manager who simply won't let her slowdown. She does her best to "get away" (acting wild, sex, going on drinking/drug binges) between the concerts, but can never quite escape.



Always back on the stage, maybe the only place she was meant to be. (There are a two other great "concert films" made in this era, THE JAZZ SINGER starring Neil Diamond as a rock and roll singer. WAY OF THE WORLD, featuring live concert footage of Earth Wind and Fire.) This was a time when going to concert was part of the teenage American experience. "THE ROSE" is about America's fascination with what was going on stage and the "glamor" behind the scenes.

The movie was originally entitled "Pearl", which Bette Midler thought it was too soon after Joplin's death to portray her life in a movie. Rewrites were then made, with Midler's guidance, that deleted some portions of the original script and embellished other parts of the story. Then the rewritten script was named "The Rose".