There's no way around Vincente Minnelli if you're into classic Hollywood musicals. Husband to Judy Garland, father to Liza Minnelli, and responsible for some of the biggest Gene Kelly classics. Vincente lived and breathed musicals.
Movies
Very typical Minnelli musical that starts off with a lot of hassle and problems, spends the last half hour stuck in musical numbers and turns out a happy ending from out of nowhere. Astaire and Charisse are professionals, but lack the energy to make this a better films. This film is sure to appeal to core musical fans, I'm just not one of them.
A very kitschy musical. Gigi's reputation has seemingly tanked over the years (and with good reason too), but once you've won that Oscar you've made your name forever. The only thing that stands out these days is the overly colorful cinematography, the rest isn't really worth watching. The songs are bland and horrible, the plot is more than a little predictable and even though I do love a bit of color, the crass and oversaturated color story felt more like an attack on my eyes. Not a film I will remember fondly, then again that seems to be the case for most people these days. A relic.Read all
Hollywood drama about Hollywood. Oh, how they love themselves. The Bad and the Beautiful is sentimental and unsubtle, it's a template for Academy-safe drivel that still haunts the Oscar ceremonies to this date. It's no surprise then that this film ended up with 5 of these coveted statues. It's a simple setup for a 2-hour film. The performances are weak, I didn't care for the setting, not the plot and the characters. This is a film for people who appreciate classic Hollywood, nothing more, nothing less. That's not a big surprise for a film directed by Vincente Minnelli, it's just not my thing.Read all
The remakes of this film are dreadful, and it turns out the original isn't any better. Apart from a short dream sequence halfway through, it's a film built on endless dialogues that fail to be amusing and/or funny. It's a towering bunch of boring clichés, fired away at the audience at breakneck speed. Spencer Tracy is a decent cast, but his character is dull and the plot doesn't give him much to work with. The story is terribly predictable, there's not even a thing to smirk at and while 90 minutes is relatively short, the film feels at least twice as long. Not a film I'll fondly remember if I remember it at all.Read all
Ziegfeld Follies
