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Reviews
Damn Yankees! (1967)
Dreadful version of classic show
This came up on a discussion board of Sondheim which then digressed into discussion of Lee Remick. She's one of my favourite actresses, but couldn't save this. I remember I was so in love with all musicals back in the 60s that I even watched the TV ones, which are mostly bad. There was a second 'Cinderella' with Lesley Anne Warren' which was pretty good, and Sondheim's 'Evening Primrose' is nice twilight zone work, but there was an 'Alice in Wonderland' with Judy Rolin that was pretty bad, but nothing came close to this, one of the most awful things I ever saw. All that animation is what I remember, it was visually just hideous. and I was even a child at the time, and couldn't stand it.
No, No, Nanette (1940)
Pretty Curio But Is Not Really a Musical
This is one of the strangest 'musicals' I've ever seen. I saw that one commenter had played Jimmy Smith in a production in 1974. I myself was one of the twin pianists in the Broadway show for the last 6 months of the run, in which I worked with Ruby Keeler, Helen Gallagher, Bobby Van, and Patsy Kelly, and after Keeler left, for Martha Raye, who was taking Patsy Kelly's maid role over but was given Ruby's big 'I want to Be Happy' number. It didn't work, but this had been a great experience for me.
I had watched 'Tea for Two' a few years ago, thought it was just fair, nothing special, I was watching just a bunch of old Doris Day things from that period. This was not one of the best, unlike 'Love me or Love Me' or 'Calamity Jane'. I don't remember how much of the score it kept, not nearly all, but here you don't even get a single whole song, except maybe one full verse of 'Tea for Two', sung by Tom and Nanette in different places. That's fairly nice, but 'I want to Be Happy' is never but a snippet, there's a little of the title song that Neagle sings at the very beginning, still only a line or two; and I think later in the movie there is a snippet of 'Take a Little One Step', which was Ruby's other big number in the B'way show, but it is not even sung as a fragment. I really don't understand this, because the sets and costumes didn't look shoddy or cheap at all. Ms. Neagle is extremely pretty and quite charming, I thought. Victor Mature is stunningly handsome at that age, he really is very much the hunk already, and very sexy. Richard Carlson is also very handsome in a different, lighter kind of way. Beautiful young people and wonderful costumes and luxury are what are on display to enjoy. I looked at the cast of the 1930 version and that at least had Bill and Lucille Early from the original production, but this plot had almost no resemblance to the show I did. Nanette did not ballet (Ms. Neagle's dancing is not terribly distinguished) and both Tom and Nanette are much more naive and 'pure ingenue'. I was surprised I enjoyed as much as I did. I just gave up on it early on as having anything much at all to do with the show I enjoyed doing live. I think it had less music than any musical I ever saw: at least 'Louisiana Purchase', although it leaves out a lot of Berlin's songs, has a couple of big numbers, even if most of the songs are left out (and that's quite a good film.)
The Crazy-Quilt (1966)
Agree with other users--put on DVD
I agree with other users that it is a shame this is not available. One commenter suggests a double feature with another Korty film. I think that 'Crazy Quilt' would be great as a double bill with 'Silence', which probably even fewer have seen, and is also very moving. Korty's Emmy-winning documentary about the family with 17 or so children I remember well from TV in the 70s. I don't know whether that's available either, though. Very sensitive filmmaker, along the lines of Terence Davies (Distant Voices, Still Lives) and, to some degree, Patrick Keillor ('London','Robinson in Space'}.
I was actually surprised to see this many comments on it, and it makes me aware of how many films have never made it even to VHS and sometimes these are very important ones like 'I Can Get It for You Wholesale', one of Susan Hayward's best, which I only managed to get from someone's taping on eBay. Then a lot of times people tell me everything that was on VHS is on DVD now, but that's not so at all. Plenty of VHS tapes that went out-of-print never have been put on DVD and probably won't be.
Anyway, things like these 2 Korty films used to be made more frequently by alternative directors, and you still find some. But back in the day, things like 'Crazy Quilt' even got a fair amount of publicity, were reviewed in magazines like The New Yorker. By now, you might find a hidden write-up in the Village Voice, and a week-long showing at a place like Quad Cinema, but the audience for this kind of quiet film, never large, is much smaller still today.