Post by kijii on Sept 11, 2019 6:19:01 GMT
My review as copied from another thread
Star! (1968) / Robert Wise
Viewed from DVD with commentary track
It's hard to imagine that Robert Wise, Saul Chaplin, and Julie Andrews would want to follow up Sound of Music with a 3-hour musical flop like this, but they did just that! (Wise and Chaplin had also worked together on West Side Story). This is an overblown musical biopic of Gertrude Lawrence. The movie is more one to be suffered through than entertained by. Yet, there was a lot of talent used to make it. Evidently, it was made as a "road show" to be opened in only a few select theaters around the country and to run for only limited engagements, with seats sold in advance.
The movie contains 14 different musical production numbers tracing Lawrence's life from the London's West End to Broadway and back again. All musical works were shown as if there were on a stage (either in performances or rehearsals). As Wise says in the commentary track, this was not a movie where people just suddenly break out into song as part of a story line.
With regard to Gertrude Lawrence, she seemed to have had a lot of love affairs, but had trouble with forming long-lasting relationships. "She couldn't sing, she couldn't dance, but people LOVED her." From childhood til the end of her life, Noel Coward was always there to pick her up whenever she was down. Lawrence's last Broadway show was the original production of The King and I.
Here is a link to her Broadway Shows: www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/gertrude-lawrence-49117
Here's the movie's Trailer to give an idea of its flavor: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLWYgdDz7ME
(One stage production after another with thinly-placed dialogue to orient the audience a bit.)
Noel Coward : Close personal relationships are bloody difficult, my darling but they do get easier with time. Loneliness gets harder.
Noel Coward : You can't decide what you want until you decide who you are.
Noel Coward : Unfortunately, my darling, you can't take a whole audience home to bed without being accused of immorality on rather a grand scale.
The movie seemed to lack either critical or popular success. Yet, it received 7 Oscar nominations, including one for Daniel Massey as Best Supporting Actor. Massey played Noel Coward and Coward (himself) chose Massey for the role.
Viewed from DVD with commentary track
It's hard to imagine that Robert Wise, Saul Chaplin, and Julie Andrews would want to follow up Sound of Music with a 3-hour musical flop like this, but they did just that! (Wise and Chaplin had also worked together on West Side Story). This is an overblown musical biopic of Gertrude Lawrence. The movie is more one to be suffered through than entertained by. Yet, there was a lot of talent used to make it. Evidently, it was made as a "road show" to be opened in only a few select theaters around the country and to run for only limited engagements, with seats sold in advance.
The movie contains 14 different musical production numbers tracing Lawrence's life from the London's West End to Broadway and back again. All musical works were shown as if there were on a stage (either in performances or rehearsals). As Wise says in the commentary track, this was not a movie where people just suddenly break out into song as part of a story line.
With regard to Gertrude Lawrence, she seemed to have had a lot of love affairs, but had trouble with forming long-lasting relationships. "She couldn't sing, she couldn't dance, but people LOVED her." From childhood til the end of her life, Noel Coward was always there to pick her up whenever she was down. Lawrence's last Broadway show was the original production of The King and I.
Here is a link to her Broadway Shows: www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/gertrude-lawrence-49117
Here's the movie's Trailer to give an idea of its flavor: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLWYgdDz7ME
(One stage production after another with thinly-placed dialogue to orient the audience a bit.)
Noel Coward : Close personal relationships are bloody difficult, my darling but they do get easier with time. Loneliness gets harder.
Noel Coward : You can't decide what you want until you decide who you are.
Noel Coward : Unfortunately, my darling, you can't take a whole audience home to bed without being accused of immorality on rather a grand scale.
The movie seemed to lack either critical or popular success. Yet, it received 7 Oscar nominations, including one for Daniel Massey as Best Supporting Actor. Massey played Noel Coward and Coward (himself) chose Massey for the role.
