"Love Power" from The Producers (1968)

Still amazingly funny even after 45 years, the produces went on to become a huge Broadway hit. But they left this scene out- thought it was outdated, maybe so, but for those of us who remember those times, this scene will always tickle a funny bone.

"The Music Man" with Robert Preston, Shirley Jones and Buddy Hackett (1961)

This is a timeless film which never grows old. With Robert Preston reprising the Broadway role he performed 1,375 times, and teamed with veteran Shirley Jones, this film is still a sure fire piece of entertainment. From the opening scene with the salesmen on the train until the final moments of the story, you can count on feeling the lure of a nation once made up of the small towns, and the equally small hustlers who traversed the country in search of that most desirable gem; “the rube.”


When Professor Harold Hill, played by Robert Preston, arrives in River City, Iowa, he is there for one purpose only; to scam the townsfolk into forming a band for the boys, purely out of concern for their well-being. At least that’s his rap. What he really wants is to get as many orders as possible for the band outfits and instruments necessary for the band before he leaves town, intent on never returning. He is, in short, a con artist.

But, even the most well laid plans of mice and men; it is said; often go astray. And that’s exactly how it goes for Professor Hill. After stepping off the train he meets his old cohort, Marcellus Washburn, played by Buddy Hackett, who has settled happily into small town life working at the local livery stable. Professor Hill is appalled at this, and quickly moves to enlist his old friends help in getting the town excited about having a Boy’s Band. It will, he tells them, elevate their town above all others in the state. But to accomplish this ruse he must win over the town’s icily cold widowed librarian, Marian Paroo, played by Shirley Jones. And as he attempts to do that, he finds himself falling in love with the librarian, as well as the town.

Ron Howard plays the librarian’s son Winthrop, who lives with Marion and her mother, Eulalie Mackechnie Shinn, played by Hermione Gingold. The elder woman is much taken by Professor Hill, while her daughter is more than indifferent to him. Indeed, she is hostile towards him, displaying her distrust of his motives from the very first time they meet. But the salesman in Professor Hill has a need to win at all costs, even if it means an end to his wayward profession.

This film was released just as Ron Howard was making his television debut on the Andy Griffith Show, where he played Sherriff Taylor’s son Opie. Watching him in this film is really interesting. It’s a tribute to the people surrounding him in this film; as well as the Andy Griffith Show; that he grew up to become one of the most beloved, and respected of Hollywood filmmakers.

Filled with great musical numbers; my favorite being “You’ve Got Trouble”, and also the moving “Til There Was You”, which was even a hit for The Beatles in 1963; this movie is a sheer delight to watch.  The embedding codes were disabled for "You've Got Trouble"; but here is the link to that wonderfully exciting number. With words and music by Meredith Wilson, the song is tailor made to highlight Robert Preston’s unique talents;

http://youtu.be/LI_Oe-jtgdI

"Cabaret" with Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey and Michael York (1972)

It took me a long time to watch this film. I was reluctant to see it at the time it was released in 1972 because I had seen it on Broadway in 1966 when I was about 12 years old. Jill Haworth had the leading role as Sally Bowles, and being 12 years old, I had a huge crush on her. Added to that, I had recently seen "Pookie Adams", and that movie simply did little to make me a fan of Ms. Minnelli's. I have to add that when I watched that film years later, I found it to be very moving. But the Broadway production of "Cabaret", and Jill Haworth in particular, had quite an effect on me, so when "Cabaret" came out as a movie, I simply didn't go to see it. Nothing, at least in my mind, could compare to the show.

Twenty years went by before I took the film out, in VCR format, in 1992. At that time I was hyper critical of the additional musical numbers which had been added to the soundtrack, while lamenting the loss of some of the original songs in the show. "The Pineapple Song", along with "Don't Tell Mama" and "Meeskite", come to mind immediately.

But time has a way of changing ones perceptions, and this movie lends validity to that line of thought. And, so it goes with this wonderful film version of "Cabaret."

If Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli had never done another film, or show, again after this adaptation of the original Broadway show, they would still be immortalized for their performances in this movie. Bob Fosse, the genius Broadway choreographer, is at his best in this film. He even outshines his own work in the stage version with the addition of the musical number "Mein Herr".

At first I was a bit upset at the deletion of Lotte Lenya's role as the landlady, along with her subsequent romance with one of the boarders. But after watching the film again with a more objective mind, I see the wisdom in focusing more on Sally Bowles and her relationship with Brian Roberts, played by Michael York. The screenplay gives a wider range of motion than can be achieved on a theater stage, and so it would have been almost impossible to reproduce the show exactly as it had been presented on Broadway. The pity of it is that it took me so long to acknowledge this.

The story, of course, concerns a young American woman named Sally Bowles, who works as a singer and dancer in one of Berlin's many decadent pre-war nightclubs. Joel Grey plays, as he did on Broadway, the irrepressible Emcee of the Kit Kat Club where Ms. Bowles works. His exuberance in his role leaps from the screen, underscoring the tumult, and decadence, which marked Germany in the days after the First World War. Germany, having been saddled with war reparations designed to keep it from ever becoming a military threat again, had fallen prey to the ravages of the Great Depression. With that fall came two opposing ideologies; one ultra-Liberal, as defined by the Communists and the Kit Kat Club; and the other, ultra-Conservative and defined by the Nazi Party.

Into this foray comes Brian Roberts, a young Englishman who has come to Germany planning to write. In the interim he gives English lessons. And, in the long run, he falls in love with Sally Bowles. When Maximilian von Heune, a rich playboy, played by Helmut Griem, enters the picture, things heat up as the sexual tension builds amongst the three. Brian, who has thought of himself as homosexual after three failed attempts at love with women, is at first confused by his feelings for Sally, who desperately seeks true love. And when his feelings for Maximilian are added to the mixture, he is further confused by all that is happening to him.

Added to the story is the plight of their mutual friend, and Brian's student, Fritz Wendel, played by Fritz Wepper, who fancies himself a gigolo looking to marry for money. To his chagrin he falls in love with Natalia Landauer, played by Marisa Berenson, who is a Jew. He is confused by this turn of events, but proposes to her anyway. She declines citing their religious differences as the reason. This gives way to the secret which Fritz has been hiding all along; he is Jewish! He has only been masquerading as a Christian for social purposes. He is now forced to come clean, hoping that she will understand. His biggest complaint now is that "she has made an honest man of me!"

Still, after all these years, one of my favorite numbers in the show is "If You Could See her Through My Eyes", in which Joel Grey, as the Emcee, dances with his true love, a gorilla. After extolling her virtues, and lamenting that others would never understand his love for her due to their differences, he reveals that "if you could see her through my eyes - she wouldn't look Jewish at all!"

"Cabaret", both the show and film, are based upon the 1951 Broadway play "I Am a Camera", which was based upon Christopher Isherwood's book "Goodbye to Berlin" which is part of "The Berlin Stories." That book begins with the quote, "I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking."

A delightful film, with excellent performances by the entire cast, this movie has some disturbing parallels to the world in which we live today. An excellent adaptation by the creators of the original Broadway show; with some new musical numbers added by the original composers and lyricists, Fred Ebb and John Kander; make this film as entertaining as it is poignant.