The Band Wagon (1953)

The Band Wagon
Director: Vincente Minnelli
USA 1953
111 min
Starring: Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray and Jack Buchanan, among others.

Can you believe that I actually saw this film for the first time just yesterday? I have trouble believing that myself. Well, anyway I had to write something about this crazy Technicolor delight!

The year before The Band Wagon, Singin' in the Rain (1952) became a box-office success. There are some interesting likenesses between the two movies:

• Adolph Green and Betty Comden are the persons behind both the films' scripts.
• Both films take place in the world of entertainment during eras of extensive changes: Singin' in the Rain takes place in Hollywood during the change from silent films to talkies, The Band Wagon on the stage, where the audience now wants more than top hats and tap dancing.
• In both movies the first attempt of trying something new becomes a great failure, and only when the persons involved go for something they can and like does it become a success at a second attempt.

Now, do not misunderstand me: Both movies manages on their own, and The Band Wagon is not a blatant copy of Singin' in the Rain. Oh no. I just find comparisons very interesting. No that I finished that off, I can go on with the rest of the film!

The film begins with an auction, where the top hat of the once popular Tony Hunter (Fred Astaire's alter ego: his career was beginning to fade at this time) is sold on auction - no bidders. In the next scene we see a couple of men in a train discussing celebrities, and how they remember the glory days of Tony Hunter. Behind a newspaper is Tony Hunter himself, joining the discussion by stating that he wouldn't go to see Tony Hunter even if he was given $5 for the effort. (That is called self-distance, my friends.)

After having sung the sad "By Myself" (mostly sad because he looks so jolly while singing it) he meets his friends on the platform, the scriptwriting couple Lester and Lily Marton (Betty Comden and Adolph Green's alter egos) played by Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray. I instantly loved Fabray for her exploding energy, Jesus! Oh, and Ava Gardner makes a cameo!

That shoe shining routine is wonderful, but I can't see that it would have made it into a film today...

Lester and Lily has an idea for a Broadway show that they want Tony Hunter to star in to bring his career back on tracks. They also have a popular ballet dancer in mind, Gabrielle Gerard (Charisse, complete with her fabulous legs), and a famous director/actor by the name of Jeffrey Cordova (Buchanan). Cyd Charisse as a ballerina can only look right when wearing a dress red as sin.

I read somewhere that Cordova is a parody of Orson Welles, but I feel that he is a general spoof on all over ambitious directors. He is without a doubt the most hilarious character in the film, and the scene where he imagines Lester and Lily's play as a sort of modern interpretation of Faust is painfully hysterical.

Immediately when Tony and Gabrielle meet they get on the wrong foot with each other because of either ones insecurities if they can live up to the other one's talent. A little dance in Central Park later, they do however come to the conclusion that they can meet half ways and make it a success.

Cordova's Faust play becomes a huge failure as the audience look like they have had a seizure after leaving the theatre. The gang re-writes the whole thing, and the rest of the film contains of a series of entertaining song and dance numbers, including the famous and weird "Triplets" act.

But my absolute favorite scene in the entire film is, as anyone probably could guess, the film noir spoof "The Girl Hunt". It starts of in a black alley with a cool-as-ice Fred Astaire and a cynical narration. Out of nowhere a lady in distress pops out, some gang members beat him senseless and leaving clues behind them. And of course, Cyd Charisse as the femme fatale who is "selling hard, but I wasn't buying". Oh, can it get more perfect than this? Pure joy, all through the scene. Charisse must be Astaire's best dance partner after the Ginger Rogers era, such delight to watch.

I guess all this comes down to this: I adored this film after the first viewing. I will put it in my perfect-films-to-watch-when-I'm-sick-or-when-just-generally-feeling-sorry-for-myself-list, among Gone With the Wind and Singin' in the Rain. But the latter one is a little overused for the moment, I know everything in and out in that film. The Band Wagon simply gets to take it's place for a while.

Now - pic spam! (I want her legs!)

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Meet Me in St. Louis

Director: Vincente Minnelli

USA 1944

113 min

Now I've finally seen this wonderful musical! I've been meaning to watch it for a long time, but we all know how that often turns out - putting it on the "to-see-list", and hopefully having watched it by the turn of the next millenium.

I was just lucky to turn on TCM yesterday, and I unintentionally timed it perfectly while zapping among all the God forsaken choices of channels my generation is cursed with. I suddenly heard the voice of the Lord himself saying "Next up on TCM - Meet Me in St. Louis", jumped high of joy and threw myself on the couch with a chocolate bar. And was it a delight, oh boy.

I must keep my eyes open for more Vincente Minnelli musicals (I've only seen An American in Paris before), cause Meet Me in St. Louis had the unusually right amount of everything - well-written lyrics, catchy tunes, melodrama, humor and even some horror (seen through the eyes of the children). All in magical Technicolor!

Rose (Lucille Bremer) and Esther sing the title song, to their father's despair.

The plot plays out in the city of (what else) St. Louis in 1903, the year before the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. During the whole film the town is getting ready for the event of the century.

In the centre of the plot is the Smith family, mostly dominated by women. Here we find the grouchy but well-meaning father Alonzo (Leon Ames), who bravely tries to keep his authority in the female household. There's also his wife Anna (Mary Astor), grandfather Smith, son Lon Jr and four daughters. Among the daughters we find the second eldest, Esther, played by Judy Garland. It is probably Esther and the youngest daughter, "Tootie" (Margaret O'Brien), who are the most important characters in the film. (The film is based on a novel written by Sally Benson, the real "Tootie".)

Tootie and Esther entertaining the guests at a family farewell party.

As I said before the film's greatest strength lies in the combination of candy sweet entertainment and, minutes later, truly heart tearing moments. A good example is the scene where Esther sings Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas to Tootie, only days before the family has to leave St. Louis to move to New York City. Taken out of context, the scene looks really calm and beautiful, but it's perhaps the most bittersweet moment in the entire film. Let me put it like this - I cried. (Luckily, I had my chocolate bar in reach.)

Meet Me in St. Louis was a huge box-office hit, and grossed more money that any MGM film had done in 20 years (except for Gone With the Wind, of course).

It was also during the filming of Meet Me in St. Louis that Judy Garland met her second husband (of five), director Vincente Minnelli. The married soon after the filming was done, were married for six years and had a daughter in 1946 - Liza Minnelli.