johnm001
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Posts posted by johnm001
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Both Knightley and Johansen can sing, but do not posses voices that I would call appropriate for Eliza. The box office you cite is a lifetime box office, not 1964s, which was something less than half that amount. Either way, a hit. But, compare it to Mary Poppins, made for less money and grossing about $50 million more, that's more what Warner had in mind! Here is Hathaway from a few years ago. Audio is poor, but you get the idea.
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I would have gone with Hathaway, in a second. Not only is she not anorexic-looking (why do they keep thinking Eliza is some emaciated waif who wouldn't survive for 5 minutes?), she's a better actress than Knightley, and she can sing.
As for Warner being right about the dollars and cents of the thing, he actually wasn't. His prediction was that MFL would be the biggest money-making film of all-time. It probably should have been, with the right cast and director, but the fact is, it wasn't even the biggest film of the year. And, considering his output of money, it was even less successful than it appeared. Of course, it was a success, just not anywhere near what he thought it would be.
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I was always glad she wasn't in it. I hate the film, and Audrey is the least reason why. I did see the original London production, with Julie and Alec Clunes, which will remain burned in my memory to my dying day. I'm gald it's being remade, although I'm not knocked-out by the casting of Kiera Knightley.
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*People Will Talk* and *The Keys of the Kingdom* are my favorites from that list!
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But then, he did what any studio boss felt was necessary
Really? Richard Zanuck didn't feel it was necessary. Walt Disney didn't feel it was necessary. Marty Ransohof didn't feel it was necessary. Julie Andrews was signed to three films, prior to a single one being released. My Fair Lady was the biggest musical show in history, with the biggest selling record album in history. The title was the star. You would think someone with Jack Warner's experience would know that. In fact, he did know it. I stand by my statement about him not thinking her pretty enough for his film. It was an extremely popular opinion in Hollywood. So much so that both Robert Wise and Marty Ransohof would not cast her in their films without a screen test. Instead, Walt Disney, who was extremely proud of his star and his film, allowed them to see clips of the unreleased *Mary Poppins*, and the issue was put to rest. It is true that if Cary Grant played Higgins or Jimmy Cagney played Doolittle, they might have persuaded him to cast her (they were both tremendous fans of the Broadway show), but as it was, he was quoted as saying he was not going to cast Andrews, no matter what. He had already spoken to both Elizabeth Taylor and Shirley Jones based on Hepburn's original rejection. That was prior to Grant's and Cagney's refusal. In fact, Hepburn accepted because she felt she could do the role as well as anyone else he might cast, and was not going to suffer any backlash since Warner was so firm and public about his refusal to cast Andrews.
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> {quote:title=MovieProfessor wrote:}{quote}
> Oh wait! One more point. In the years following what happened with My Fair Lady and the casting of Audrey Hepburn, producer Jack L. Warner said before he died, I would have Andrews in the picture, had Cary Grant decided to star! Warner had from the start, wanted Grant in the role of Professor Higgins, made famous by Rex Harrison on stage. Had this been done, the fate of another musical movie that same year would have been very different! Its clear to note that Julie wouldnt have been cast in Walt Disneys Mary Poppins! Yet, either way you look at it, be it My Fair Lady or Mary Poppins, Julie probably would have won her Oscar anyway! Audrey simply helped speed up the process of Julie getting such huge notoriety and a lot of sympathy. Its was all so amazing the way Julie Andrews rose to the heights of movie star fame and box-office clout. All of it resulting from a simple business decision that changed the scope and destiny of the movies. What a year 1964 was and will remain such a banner year in movie history.
Warner said that, but it isn't true. Nothing supports it. His original choice for the film were Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant and James Cagney. All three turned him down, because the roles were so identified with their original stars. Hepburn only agreed when she was told that even if she did not do the film, Andrews would not get the role. The reality is that Warner did not think Andrews was pretty enough for his film. Pretty much anyone who knew him or was remotely associated with the Hollywood community knew this buzz. It was even reported to be the case, casually, back then. His official stand on it was that Julie was not known outside of New York, which of course, wasn't true at all. Once she became the biggest star in the world, he became rather obsessed with having her star in a film for him. As for her not being able to to *Mary Poppins*, that is also somewhat of a Hollywood legend. Due to the demand for special effects and animation, principal photography on *Mary Poppins* was completed prior to principal photography on *My Fair Lady* beginning. Other than some pre-production stuff, there was really nothing that would have prevented her from doing both. It is *The Americanization of Emily* and some early work on *The Sound of Music* which she would have been unable to do.
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I still think the backlash on *My Fair Lady* had more to do with the fact that the original cast was so well-known (regardless of Jack Warner's public claim), due to the phenomenal success of the cast album, and television appearances, etc. Even if another singer had been cast, the backlash would have existed. Of course, the dubbing aspect of the backlash (actually secondary, because it wasn't immediately known that Audrey would be dubbed), wouldn't have factored into it.
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> {quote:title=CelluloidKid wrote:}{quote}
> *
> It's impossible to top an icon like John Wayne, but the Coen Bros' True Grit is shaping up to have a better supporting cast than the original did. (Hey, Wayne supposedly didn't like Kim Darby either.)
The Duke wanted Karen Carpenter in the role.
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I can't disagree with anything you've said. I guess I just never cared enough about any of his film to allow any of it to bother me.
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Okay. *Broadway Melody of 1936*, Marjorie Lane dubbed Eleanor Powell. Also *Born to Dance* in the same year. Also from 1936, Allan Jones dubbed Dennis Morgan (then known as Stanley Morner), in *The Great Ziegfeld*.
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What's your definition of major musical?
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And Rod Steiger's and Yvonne De Carlo's crazy son, Woody, in the absolutely wonderful horror film, *American Gothic*. Need I say more?
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The fact of dubbing was never an issue, until Audrey Hepburn did *My Fair Lady.* People who didn't live through it don't realize just what a major news story that was. Here you had the film cast of a musical which just happened to be the biggest selling album (of any genre) of all-time, which included someone who couldn't sing the songs. A lot of people didn't like it. From that point forward, any film that had iconic music, in the case of *La Mancha*, The Impossible Dream, came under the scrutiny of those who felt singers should inhabit movie roles where singing is required.
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> {quote:title=hlywdkjk wrote:}{quote}
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> Other directors made only one or two musical films - but they weren't all that "successful", such as *Gentlemen Prefer Blondes* (Howard Hawks), *Thoroughly Modern Millie* (George Roy Hill), *Finian's Rainbow* (Francis Ford Coppola) and *The Wiz* (Sidney Lumet).
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You don't consider *Gentlemen Prefer Blondes* and *Thoroughly Modern Millie*, successful?! *Blondes* was in the top ten of 1953, and I believe Hawks 3rd most successful picture. *Millie* was the top road show film of 1967, and Universal's biggest hit in their history, up to that point. It stayed their number 1 film until *Airport*..
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Since the title says "Censored", this came to mind -
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Some might say that "being a film buff", you would have not only known of the 1993 film, but already have seen it. I passed on the Kidman version, as I find her screen persona too tedious to endure. I like all the other versions of this film, giving the edge to the 1956 version. And, while I like the 1993 version, changing the setting to a military base, only serves to undermine the tension.
I also like 1994's *The Puppet Masters*, which is similar in tone and story, but based on a different book, written by Robert Heineman, about 2 years prior to Finney's The Body Snatchers.
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Seriously, there is a search function. If you had checked, you would have discovered the billion other threads on the exact, same, tired, repetitive, sorry topic. Stop watching TCM is my recommendation. You'll feel better.
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I saw it when it was originally in theaters, but not since. I don't recall hating it, though.
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I find it strange that people state what the victim wants or doesn't want as some sort of reasoning behind what should happen. Victims don't bring charges against a person in this country, the state does. More to the point, the people of the state do. The law would never be justly served, if it were up to victims to decide who should be prosecuted and who shouldn't. They have no legal say in the matter. Besides, Polanski is a fugitive from justice, which is its own crime, having nothing to do with the original victim. Finally, plying a child with liquor and drugs, then having **** intercourse, against her will, is rape. And, it's pedophilia. No matter how it was plea bargained, and no matter how the rapist paid-off the victim and her family. AND no matter what Whoopi Goldberg thinks. Rape is rape. And sex with a child is pedophilia. How appropriate (and obvious) that Woody Allen was demanding his release.
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> {quote:title=CelluloidKid wrote:}{quote}
> *Sorry I posted again!!! My bad! But when I read this article handed by my partner I coudn't believe it!!!*
You couldn't believe that a man who fed booze and drugs to a 13 year-old child, then repeatedly raped her, then became a 30-year fugitive was arrested? What about it did you find so difficult to believe?
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Poor Johnny one-note
yelled willy nilly
Until he was blue in the face
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It's a matter of opinion which film is the best, of any year. However, my favorite films of 1969 are:
*Last Summer*
*The Bird With the Crystal Plumage*
*Hello, Dolly!*
*The Reivers*
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> {quote:title=johnbabe wrote:}{quote}
> go to GarborFoever.com, they have posted that she was in the Guiness Book of Records, as well as other books, etc., she was put in their records books as the Most Beautiful Woman who EveryLived, it is not so shocking is it?
When did the Guinness Book of World Records get into the opinion business? Now, if they voted her most dull woman who ever lived, I could believe it!
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*Invaders from Mars*. I still love it.
Keira Knightley Nabs Starring Role in "My Fair Lady" Remake
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