- Also Known As:
- Unknown
- Year:
- 1951
- Country:
- Predominant Genre:
- Music
- Director:
- Best Performances:
- Premiss:
- Silent
film-production company & cast make the difficult transition to sound. - Themes:
- Personal change
- Self-expression
- White culture
- Similar (in Plot, Theme or Style) to:
- Mary Poppins
- Red Shoes
- Sound of Music
- Review Format:
- DVD
Not as good as something like Mary Poppins or The Sound of Music, but still pretty impressive for all that - especially because it is a whole lot funnier.
A clever parody of Hollywood that is, itself, pure Hollywood - it states that Hollywood has to move on technically yet remains in its own charming time-warp.
The problem with this film lies in finding enough material to fill the gaps between the musical numbers, which are excellent but disconnected.
However, Jean HAGEN is particularly fine as the leading lady with the squeaky voice who will sound ridiculous unless she gets someone to dub her for her future film appearances; and Gene KELLY shows genuine fear when he realizes that the dumbshow that was OK for silent pictures will no longer suffice on a soundstage.
And Donald O’CONNOR is extremely athletic in his role and appears to be competing with KELLY for most frenetic pacing. His running up a wall and then over has to be seen to be believed in a less skilled age of CGI.
KELLY’s preoccupation with the ballet threatens to turn this musical-comedy into another The Red Shoes. This makes the film something of a hodgepodge of styles and aesthetic ideas that do not quite gel, yet when these include the fabulous Cyd CHARISSE and her
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