"Oklahoma!", the first modern musical, conquered the audiences in search of a differed non-Ziegfeld glamour tone. In turn "On the Town", Adolph Green and Betty Comden's masterpiece little creation, proved the fact that audiences were ready for a new kind of musical entertainment...a show carried by a small, intimate group of principal performers.
In retrospect, Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra have matured as sailor characters in the four years since "Anchors Aweigh", clearly evident through the fact that this time the men search the town no strings attached...no young boys, operatic singers and the entire MGM studios...and they're fancy free. Although they're in search of girls again, this time it is without Jose Iturbi on their backs...and there's only twenty four hours to do it in as they scour the big apple, ambitious to find love and see it all in a day.
In tow with the brilliant Kelly and Sinatra, is Jules Munshin, who played a food enamoured waiter in the 1948 Judy Garland/Fred Astaire vehicle "Easter Parade" and now responsible for destroying a dinosaur. The delightful singing and dancing cast is headed by Betty Garrett, a determined taxi driver responsible for ferrying the group around during their all too short stay, Ann Miller, the anthropologist and Vera-Ellen, the beautiful subway 'celebrity' Miss Turnstiles.
"On the Town" became a musical pioneer in itself when Kelly rallied for filming to occur in New York itself when most filming was done previously in the controlled conditions of an indoor sound stage. However, it provided a whole lot of firsts for the Freed department besides another practice run with Kelly. It marked Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly's co-directorial debut. Comden and Green excised their wise cracks and humour in their witty, amusing New York tale. And Gene was allowed to choreograph another serious ballet which killed the humourous and youthful-like story and revived it with great songs.
MGM, the champion of musical production and its legendary Freed unit this time didn't have to recreate "Ziegfeld Follies" or "The Great Ziegfeld" to achieve a successful musical, nor did they have to hand out as many paychecks. Perhaps they finally began to realise that.
Unfortunately musicals were coming to an end, as was the pairing of Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson, possibly the musical team to follow Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. The work that followed of the great actors in "On the Town" became scarce. What followed next was Kelly's legendary career topping performance in "Singin' in the Rain", Sinatra winning an Oscar in "From Here to Eternity" and Miller in "Kiss Me Kate". Yet what followed for the others, and everyone else specialising in musicals, is questionable.
Despite all that eventually happened to the mostly forgotten musicals of Hollywood's Golden Days and this being one of the last, the fact that they don't make them like they used to is not a worry because this is such a brilliant musical example.
Rating: 9/10
In retrospect, Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra have matured as sailor characters in the four years since "Anchors Aweigh", clearly evident through the fact that this time the men search the town no strings attached...no young boys, operatic singers and the entire MGM studios...and they're fancy free. Although they're in search of girls again, this time it is without Jose Iturbi on their backs...and there's only twenty four hours to do it in as they scour the big apple, ambitious to find love and see it all in a day.
In tow with the brilliant Kelly and Sinatra, is Jules Munshin, who played a food enamoured waiter in the 1948 Judy Garland/Fred Astaire vehicle "Easter Parade" and now responsible for destroying a dinosaur. The delightful singing and dancing cast is headed by Betty Garrett, a determined taxi driver responsible for ferrying the group around during their all too short stay, Ann Miller, the anthropologist and Vera-Ellen, the beautiful subway 'celebrity' Miss Turnstiles.
"On the Town" became a musical pioneer in itself when Kelly rallied for filming to occur in New York itself when most filming was done previously in the controlled conditions of an indoor sound stage. However, it provided a whole lot of firsts for the Freed department besides another practice run with Kelly. It marked Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly's co-directorial debut. Comden and Green excised their wise cracks and humour in their witty, amusing New York tale. And Gene was allowed to choreograph another serious ballet which killed the humourous and youthful-like story and revived it with great songs.
MGM, the champion of musical production and its legendary Freed unit this time didn't have to recreate "Ziegfeld Follies" or "The Great Ziegfeld" to achieve a successful musical, nor did they have to hand out as many paychecks. Perhaps they finally began to realise that.
Unfortunately musicals were coming to an end, as was the pairing of Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson, possibly the musical team to follow Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. The work that followed of the great actors in "On the Town" became scarce. What followed next was Kelly's legendary career topping performance in "Singin' in the Rain", Sinatra winning an Oscar in "From Here to Eternity" and Miller in "Kiss Me Kate". Yet what followed for the others, and everyone else specialising in musicals, is questionable.
Despite all that eventually happened to the mostly forgotten musicals of Hollywood's Golden Days and this being one of the last, the fact that they don't make them like they used to is not a worry because this is such a brilliant musical example.
Rating: 9/10