One of the more obscure Broadway musicals to get a big movie musical treatment, "Half a Sixpence" (which remember is better than Half a Penny) is a light-hearted version of H.G. Well's "Kipps". Like the classic British musical "Me and My Girl" (which would become more famous in America in the 1980's), "Half a Sixpence" tells the tale of a British commoner who all of a sudden finds out he is rich. Will money and position change him? Tommy Steele repeats his role from the British and Broadway hit and does an excellent job. Those who found him annoying in "Finian's Rainbow" will find him more so here, but I am not in that camp. Once a British rock star, he scored much success on the musical stage, and shows many talents as a singer, dancer, comic and actor.
The problem with this movie is that it just tries to be so much. Too many strange montages, way over-the-top musical numbers and so much energy, that there is sometimes little opportunity to catch your breath. Julia Foster is sweet and a little feisty as Kipps' old girlfriend who saved the half a sixpence he gave her as his promise to marry her, yet finds him different after he gets ahold of a fortune and becomes engaged to Helen, a wealthy noblewoman (Penelope Horner). Helen isn't a snob (although her mother, played with aristocratic haughtiness by Pamela Brown is) and accepts Kipps for who he is. Appropriately so, the wealthy young lady has no musical numbers, the majority of those being saved for Steele.
Individually, each of the musical numbers are fine, but there are way too many, and some of them go on too long. "If the Rain's Gonna Fall" is a sweet charming number that is like an ensemble "Singin' in the Rain", but "Money to Burn" ("I'd Buy Me a Banjo") is slightly out of place and doesn't move the plot along at all. An energetic boat racing sequence is fun to watch (with Steele singing over the action), and the wedding "Flash Bang Wallop!" ("One More Picture!") goes into a riotous dance that is fun but lengthy. The title song is sung sweetly by Steele and Foster, while the opening "All in the Cause of Economy" is perhaps the best song integrated into the film. Anne's solo, "I Know What I Am", is slightly depressing. Veteran actor Cyril Ritchard ("Peter Pan'" Captain Hook) is fun in a supporting role, while Broadway veteran Grover Dale is seen briefly as one of Steele's pals.
Directed by the amazing George Sidney, the veteran director behind many classic MGM musicals (and "Bye Bye Birdie"), "Half a Sixpence" is a noble effort that somehow goes slightly overboard to the point where you want to say "Time Out!", and not for good behavior.
The problem with this movie is that it just tries to be so much. Too many strange montages, way over-the-top musical numbers and so much energy, that there is sometimes little opportunity to catch your breath. Julia Foster is sweet and a little feisty as Kipps' old girlfriend who saved the half a sixpence he gave her as his promise to marry her, yet finds him different after he gets ahold of a fortune and becomes engaged to Helen, a wealthy noblewoman (Penelope Horner). Helen isn't a snob (although her mother, played with aristocratic haughtiness by Pamela Brown is) and accepts Kipps for who he is. Appropriately so, the wealthy young lady has no musical numbers, the majority of those being saved for Steele.
Individually, each of the musical numbers are fine, but there are way too many, and some of them go on too long. "If the Rain's Gonna Fall" is a sweet charming number that is like an ensemble "Singin' in the Rain", but "Money to Burn" ("I'd Buy Me a Banjo") is slightly out of place and doesn't move the plot along at all. An energetic boat racing sequence is fun to watch (with Steele singing over the action), and the wedding "Flash Bang Wallop!" ("One More Picture!") goes into a riotous dance that is fun but lengthy. The title song is sung sweetly by Steele and Foster, while the opening "All in the Cause of Economy" is perhaps the best song integrated into the film. Anne's solo, "I Know What I Am", is slightly depressing. Veteran actor Cyril Ritchard ("Peter Pan'" Captain Hook) is fun in a supporting role, while Broadway veteran Grover Dale is seen briefly as one of Steele's pals.
Directed by the amazing George Sidney, the veteran director behind many classic MGM musicals (and "Bye Bye Birdie"), "Half a Sixpence" is a noble effort that somehow goes slightly overboard to the point where you want to say "Time Out!", and not for good behavior.