#176- The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Quick recap: A young girl, Geneviéve, is in love with a guy, named Guy. He gets drafted to the war so the two decide to sleep together before he leaves. Geneviéve gets knocked up (of course) and after waiting a few months for Guy to write to her, gives up and marries some rich dude.

Fun (?) fact: Every word of this movie is sung. EVERY. WORD.

The ridiculously bright colors did a number on my eyes

My thoughts: Musicals have been hit or miss for me on this list and I fully expected this one to be in my ‘miss’ category by the end of the night. Every single word sung? COME ON. But actually, it had the effect of making the story more realistic. If you think about it, most musicals transition to singing and dancing with the most elaborate sets and then everyone goes back to what they are doing, as if it never happened. With The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, the film is one entire song and the same melody can be heard from beginning to end. At some point I forgot the singing was even there and was able to focus on the story and characters.

Speaking of umbrellas, this Glee mashup of Umbrella/Singin’ in the Rain perfectly illustrates how over the top musicals can be.

After getting over my shock that this is a musical, my next shock came as I realized that I was watching a melodrama. COME ON. But as far as melodramas go, this one wasn’t so bad. In fact, it seemed almost….logical? No, most teenage girls wouldn’t marry a random rich guy after pledging their undying love for the man that knocked them up. But Geneviéve is in a different position, about to have to care for a newborn when her mother, the owner of the umbrella shop, can barely stay afloat. For survival’s sake, it makes sense to marry. Poor Guy, though. Apparently know one told him that his girlfriend had moved on and that he would never get to meet his child. Never fear, however, because Guy is ridiculously good looking and ends up with his late Aunt’s nurse. They marry and have a child of their own, a little boy named François. Years later, the two meet again, where Guy discovers that Geneviéve has also named her daughter François! The conversation is about as awkward as it gets and the two part, realizing that you can still be happy even if you aren’t with the one you planned on being with the rest of your life.

Final review: 3/5. It’s worth watching if you are a fan of musicals, especially ones that don’t have happy endings.

Up next: Louisiana Story

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#167- The Jazz Singer

Quick recap: The son of a well respected Jewish Cantor, Jakie Rabinowitz, is expected to follow in his family’s footsteps. Instead he becomes a jazz singer because that’s how you rebelled in the 1920s.

it’s the Black Face that ultimately won his parents over.

Fun (?) fact: Although The Jazz Singer was the first movie with audible dialogue, it did not mean that movie studios stopped making silent films. The technology was still really expensive at the time, often doubling the budget of a film.

the episode ‘Like Father, Like Clown’ is an homage to ‘The Jazz Singer’

My thoughts: The Jazz Singer is one of those movies I know is important and yet before last night, I didn’t know anything about it except that it had sound and was about a jazz singer. Never in a million years would I have predicted it would be about the battle between tradition and the modern Jewish family because it seemed like a light hearted, fluffy comedy musical.

Starting with the positive, I thought the story was sweet overall with the father finally coming around and welcoming his son back into the family before dying, although he never actually told his son that. Small details, I suppose. Moving on, I also appreciated the pace of the movie since silent films have a history of dragging on during certain times. The audio can only be heard in a couple of scenes along with the singing and it surprised me how excited I got when sound was introduced. I of course have grown up with ‘talkies’ as have most people alive today, and yet there is something special about witnessing something for the first time, like people in the 20s did.

What I didn’t love about The Jazz Singer is Al Jolson. I realize he is ‘the jazz guy’ and deserves to be the main character, but the dude creeped me out. First of all, the movie ages him from a cute 9 or 10 year old boy to a man in his late 40s who looks like he has been cooped up in the morgue for the past 20 years embalming dead people. At no time did I see Jolson as cute or sexy or anything other than ‘creepy undertaker’.

The whole ‘blackface’ thing was also more racist than I imagined, if that were even possible. The movie is about a minority (the Jewish people) and how they come to terms with tradition versus modern times. And Jakie, played by Jolson has this revelation that he needs to be ‘true to my race’ as he is in blackface! The end of the movie is supposed to be sweet as Jakie’s mother is in the audience and her son sings a song about her (‘Mammy’, seriously). All I could think about is that maybe Jakie’s father had a point and he should’ve stayed a Cantor instead.

NOPE. Now he just looks like a racist creepy undertaker.

Final review: 2/5. Yay for historical importance but the rest of the movie is a little ridiculous.

Up next: The Adventures of Robin Hood

#157- Swing Time

Quick recap: A dancer, Lucky Garnett, moves to New York City in order to raise $25,000 to marry his fiancée. Instead he ends up falling for his dance partner and making a huge mess, although no one seems to care in the end.

and a little Blackface thrown in for good measure.

Fun (?) fact: During the scene where Lucky sings ‘The Way You Look Tonight’, Penny (played by Ginger Roberts) can be seen washing her hair. After several attempts using egg whites, shampoo and various other ingredients, the director settled on whipped cream since it didn’t run down her face so quickly.

My thoughts: After being pleasantly surprised by Singin’ in the Rain, and maybe swooning a bit over Gene Kelly, I’ve wanted to see something by Fred Astaire. While both are talented beyond measure, it is Astaire who I have always thought of as the classier of the two, more likely to be found waltzing in a ballroom than tap dancing on top of some piano. I’m not sure if that belief still holds true after watching Swing Time, but Astaire is definitely classy.

Swooning may have happened a few times

When people sat down to watch this movie in the 30s, most people weren’t too concerned with the plot. Throughout the course of their career, Astaire and Roberts made a total of 10 films together so I’m not really sure how many scenarios there could possibly be for the two of them to dance and fall in love. At any rate, people came for the dancing and musical numbers. Think of it like porn, the 1936 version. I got a little confused at times as to what exactly was going on because I felt like I was watching an I Love Lucy episode rather than a movie. The chemistry between the two of them felt real, however, and charmed me despite the ridiculousness of it all.

Oh my god, the dancing. THAT is what it is all about. The first time the two of them dance is magical and I could watch it a million times without getting tired. These numbers, especially ‘Never Gonna Dance’ is what I think of when I think of Old Hollywood- ballroom dresses, tuxedos, diamonds. It’s just beautiful. I can’t imagine all the hours and pain the two of them went through to film this, yet they do the dances so effortlessly, like they were taking a stroll. The musical numbers themselves were catchy. Overall, a wonderful experience to see something like this.

Final review: 3/5. If it was just the dancing and singing I would have given it a 5, but the end of the movie is mainly everyone laughing for 10 minutes straight and the whole thing seemed ridiculous. Also, Fred Astaire’s character was kind of a jerk to Penny, in the 30s way of how men treated women.

Up next: Terminator 2

127- Singin’ In the Rain

Quick recap: A group of actors and their movie studio go through a tough transition from silent films to ‘talkies’.

also lots of hijinks. Trust me on the ridiculous level of hijinks

Fun (?) fact: These crazy kids just gotta dance: Fred O’Connor was in bed for a week following his ‘Make ‘Em Laugh’ number, Gene Kelly performed a few numbers with a fever, and Debbie Reynolds was just a hot mess. Kelly criticized her constantly, making her cry on several occasions. I couldn’t confirm this but apparently Fred Astaire saw her crying one day and helped her with the dancing.

Reynolds should have tried tappa-tappa-tappa

My thoughts: ‘I just love Gene Kelly so much,’ an older woman sitting next to me at the Alamo Drafthouse sobbed to no one in particular. I had gotten to the theater half an hour early so that I could watch the related clips the Drafthouse likes to show before each movie. It’s one of my favorite experiences at this particular theater and it always helps get into the right frame of mind before watching something new. Going early to the theater also gives me a chance to scan the crowd and try to sum up the core audience. Tonight there was a healthy mix of older people and young children. And this sobbing woman. She glanced over at me, hopeful perhaps for a sympathizer, but I was not the right person for that. I have never seen anything with Gene Kelly and after the disaster that was High Society, have not been the most keen to watch a 1950s musical. As with most movies of this caliber I was interested to see what the big deal was and especially why this woman would be so moved to tears.

Almost immediately, I could tell this was the movie for me. The humor was authentic and I found myself laughing out loud at many scenes (especially the scene during the ‘Dueling Cavalier’ when the audio messes up and Lina Lamont sounds like a man). And of course the dancing. Oh my god, the dancing. I could watch Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor for hours. Is it too late to take up tap lessons? I, like most people, have seen the iconic ‘singing in the rain’ scene before and wondered what the fuss was about. It didn’t seem too difficult to pull off, but then again that’s why I am reviewing movies and not out at some studio practicing my plié. I see now how talented Kelly was (as well as O’Connor) and how much of their life was dedicated to this perfection. I quickly snuck a look at the sobbing woman, who was now literally sitting on the edge of her seat and silently mouthing the words to the musical number currently on the screen. It dawned on me that maybe this wasn’t some sort of schoolgirl crush but instead a pure admiration for dance. I could feel it a little now, also.

I didn’t fall in love with the music as much as the dancing and acting. The songs were catchy enough. In fact, I added ‘Singing in the Rain’ to my classroom playlist, although I don’t think my 3rd graders got as big a kick out of it as I did. But there was also a cheesy level that I couldn’t quite get past. Case in point, ‘Moses’. The song is a silly one, almost too silly for me to enjoy. ‘Good Morning’ I love for Debbie Reynold’s voice (if that was even her), but once again not very complex lyrically.

The movie ended and I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t more to watch. In the short hour and a half, I had become addicted to the constant motion and color. I dreaded leaving the theater, back to reality. Singin’ in the Rain is a perfect escape in many ways and as evidenced by the audience that night, means something very special to many people. I too was caught up in at all. I looked over at the sobbing woman, curious to see if she had the same disappointment as I did. She smiled at me serenely and walked down the aisle out the door.

Final Review: 5/5.

Up next: Hearts of Darkness

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1001 Movie Nights

Tag Archives: musical

#176- The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

#167- The Jazz Singer

#157- Swing Time

127- Singin’ In the Rain

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