Cinemascope

That's funny. I don't see an original review of a movie from the 60's lessening or heightening the appeal of a movie... just seems interesting to see what reactions it prompted upon release.

Wonder why they chose B&W....

Well it's too bad you weren't there in the New York Times newsroom at the time to show them how to do things right. I'm sure they would have been blown away by your analytical skills.

I was curious about that myself and I found this... hope it helps. In 1954, when 20th Century Fox was to produce a film based on Finnish author Mika Waltari's novel The Egyptian, studio head Darryl F. Zanuck wrote to Alfred Newman (at the time head of the Fox music department), telling him that he would like to have him score it. He however doubted that Newman would have the time due to his work on the film version of the musical There's No Business Like Show Business, and Zanuck suggested Bernard Herrman and Franz Waxman as possible choices for the scoring of The Egyptian. Ultimately however, Newman chose to assign his brother Lionel to help him out on Show Business, that way giving himself the time to develop thematic material for The Egyptian. Time was still too short though, and so Newman brought Bernard Herrmann into the project, resulting in a unique collaboration between two of the most distinguished composers in the history of film music - and a truly classic score, a masterpiece of the Golden Age. http://goldenscores.com/?a=reviews&id=7

The problems with Pocketful of Miracles were likely not the fault of the cast... if you've seen Capra's original you may understand what's missing from his remake... I doubt there's anything he could have done to pull off the same kind of magic in the 60's remake that there was in the original, which came out still during the depression.

It is interesting to note that even when it was brand new, critics had already noted how the characters -- often amounting to racial caricatures -- could occasionally become "oppresive" on the audience... November 10, 1961 Screen: 'Flower Drum Song' Opens:Movie Drawn From a Musical Arrives Music Hall Offering New Film in Color By BOSLEY CROWTHER SINCE colorfulness and pleasant music were the strong points in "Flower Drum Song," the Richard Rodgers-Oscar Hammerstein 2d musical, when it bloomed on the Broadway stage, it is notable that the film version stresses those qualities and does well enough by others. So "Flower Drum Song" fairly blossoms anew on the vast Panavision color panel of the Music Hall, where it was set out yesterday. Again the gay fa?ades and fragile fretwork of a purely theatrical Chinatown frame an assortment of brightly costumed, Oriental ornamented characters who frequently leap into brisk dances and burst into glib American songs. Again pert Miyoshi Umeki starts the show with her reedy rendering of "A Hundred Million Miracles" and the carpenters take it from there. Again Juanita Hall shouts "Chop Suey," which is the truest, liveliest song in the show, surrounded by a crowd of slim consumers, and all is right in this prefabricated world. Don't get the idea, however, that the characters and comedy put forth in this fable of Chinese-Americans residing in San Francisco's Chinatown are in any way basically different from the characters and comedy that used to bloom in any number of plays about German or Swedish or Jewish immigrants coming from the old to the new country (via the comedy route) in years gone by. Joseph Fields, who helped write the original and prepared the screen play for the film, obviously learned at the knee of his father, who was in the old vaudeville team of Weber and Fields. For the characters he has got to make the pat jokes about modern Americans and quaint Chinese could be lifted right out of "The Prince of Pilsen," which was about the vintage and style of Weber and Fields. There's the picture-bride come from Hong Kong to marry the Chinese-American she's never seen, and her father, who is a beaming Oriental about fifty years pre-Sun Yat Sen. There's the fellow she's supposed to marry, a racy character, who doesn't really want her; and there's the nice college lad (Chinese-American) for whom she falls and who finally falls for her. Then, of course, there's the nice fellow's father, an old-world type who still wears long dressing gowns and a little round cap with a tassle on it, and there's the nightclub cutie who's oriented all around. Oh, yes?and there's the aunt of the nice fellow, a comical marriage-arranger, played by bulky Miss Hall. Set up by Mr. Fields as cozy clich?s, if not outright caricatures, these characters emerge in the blunt contours of conventional romantics and clowns. Under Henry Koster's broad direction, they have a thoroughly artificial air, which is endurable when the artifice is skillful, oppressive when it is not. Miss Umeki's little smiling, paddling pre-bride is amusing in lighter scenes, but difficult when she settles softly into pot-holes of sentimental goo. Nancy Kwan's nightclub cutie is as phony as a manufactured pearl, but we heartily concur in her sentiment when she goes through a strip-teasy number called "I Enjoy Being a Girl." James Shigeta is precise and unconvincing as the "Ivory League" (that's the joke!) lad, Benson Fong is fussy as his father, and Kam Tong is, too, as the father of the girl. Miss Hall is a dressed-up, social-climbing Bloody Mary as the aunt, and Jack Soo is broader than Jerry Lewis as the racy character. Reiko Sato, the beautiful dancer, is obscured in a small pathetic role, but she bursts forth briefly and handsomely in an ornate ballet done to the song, "Love Look Away." In short, there's nothing subtle or fragile about this "Flower Drum Song." It is gaudy and gaggy and quite melodic. Along those lines, it is quite a show. The Music Hall stage show, called "Moonlight and Rhythm," features a singing group, the Eight Notes; Larry Griswold, trampolinist; Loray White, vocalist; the Rockettes and the Corps de Ballet in an elaborate performance to Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata," with Irene Apinee and Jury Gotshalks as soloists. The Cast FLOWER DRUM SONG, screen play by Joseph Fields; directed by Henry Koster; produced by Ross Hunter for Universal-International. At the Radio City Music Hall. Running time: 133 minutes. Linda Low . . . . . Nancy Kwan Wang Ta . . . . . James Shifeta Mei Li . . . . . Miyoshi Umeki Madam Liang . . . . . Juanita Hall Wang Chi-Yang . . . . . Benson Fong Sammy Fong . . . . . Jack Soo Frankie Wing . . . . . Victor Sen Yung Helen Chao . . . . . Reiko Sato Dr. Li . . . . . Kam Tong San . . . . . Patrick Adiarte Madam Fong . . . . . Soo Yung

Well doesn't it make it even worse when the quality of the movie isn't even a consideration, since it's all just an excuse for the merchandising?

Tnx for the new link

Rita Hayworth... Technicolor... period musical... what better way to spend Saturday morning?

No question about it, MGM musicals were something else again, huh?

OMG, look!!!! It's Regis!!! The guy is everywhere!!!!

Well at any rate, I think it was a happy accident no matter how it came to happen. I think this movie benefits from the dreamlike quality that only B&W films can have. Color is all very well for a movie like Ford's The Quiet Man.

Actually I seem to detect a bittersweet touch to her face.

See OP

Well the upcoming DVD should have plenty of extras!

Nobody said it did.

I like the hat!

TCM always shows the most complete version of any movie that's made available by the distributor.

Well I for one I'm glad John Ford chose to film How Green Was My Valley the way he did... and that's a fact!

Then in order to be truly "nostalgic" we'd only look at documentaries The nostalgia factor for many folks is not in what is portrayed in the movies, but simply in the kinds of movies that Hollywood was making and in the kind of movies many Americans went to.

A lot of folks might feel otherwise, but to me those movies are classic movies. Nor do I think something has to be "first-rate" in order to be fun (from a certain point of view) and enjoyable due to nostalgia factors alone... the old Saturday-morning serials, B-movies from the 50's and beach movies from the 60's might qualify.

I also have to disagree with the person who thought "How Green Was my Valley" should have been in color. I think, if it had, the color would have destroyed the whole mood of the film. B/W highlighted the bleakness and hard lives of the miners and their families. Color would have added a false cheerfulness to it. In my opinion, it would have looked like they lived in Brigadoon. That's an excellent point, I was thinking along the same lines.

Well sure Leone would have liked a bigger star, but his first Westerns were such low-budget efforts that it wasn't really a feasible idea. He was able to get bigger budgets for his films starting with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Well, look at the bright side... if you want to know what a color movie would have looked like in B&W you can turn the color all the way down and get a pretty good idea. Granted it won't be perfect, because B&W films had to be lighted differently (and usually very carefully) but it might be worth a try.

If they haven't, they should. It would be a great movie to play during "31 Days of Oscar", it received 2 nominations and it also won the Golden Globe for Best Picture (Musical/Comedy).