Top Hat

• Title:  Top Hat
• Director:  Mark Sandrich
• Date:  1935
• Studio:  RKO Radio Pictures
• Genre:  Musical, Comedy, Romance
• Cast:  Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton, Erik Rhodes, Eric Blore, Helen Broderick
• Words and Music:  Irving Berlin
• Format:  Standard, Black and White
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"Oh, that call wasn't for me, it was for you. Somebody has registered a complaint." - Horace Hardwicke (Edward Everett Horton)

"I know! I've just seen the complaint and she's lovely, she's delightful, she's charming, and she wants to sleep." - Jerry Travers (Fred Astaire)

"May I rescue you?" - Jerry

"No thank you. I prefer to be in distress." - Dale Tremont (Ginger Rogers)

"You want this show to last two nights? Get me a plane, now!" - Jerry

"What kind of plane?" - Horace

"One with wings!" - Jerry

Top Hat  is a a romantic comedy filled with mistaken identities and misunderstandings, and music! Like any farce, it's the type of plot that would be resolved in five minutes if anyone in the cast actually talked to each other for five minutes, rather than making assumptions. But that's not really a negative - because it's light, frothy romance with no harsh realities at all. The sets are marvelously art deco and beautiful - especially the Venice hotel with it's waterways and boats.

The story begins in London, with Jerry Travers waiting in a very quiet English gentleman's club for his friend Horace. The club is one where Silence Must Be Observed at all times, and everyone stares at Jerry when he drops something, or turns the page of his newspaper. Horace finds Jerry, starts to talk to him, then realizes where he is, and urges Jerry to leave so they can talk. Just as he's leaving, Jerry does a quick tap dance on the floor simply to annoy everyone - and as a joke.

Horace takes Jerry to his hotel, Jerry - excited about seeing Horace, and their new show, begins tapping in his hotel room ("No Strings (I'm Fancy Free)") - waking up the young woman in the hotel suite below. She calls to complain to the manager. Horace takes the call, gets confused, and goes down to the hotel desk to tell the manager he doesn't want a young woman in his hotel room because it wouldn't be proper. Meanwhile, Dale goes to the hotel suite and complains. Dale doesn't introduce herself - and Jerry's so taken with her, he doesn't introduce himself either. This proves to actually be a very important part of the plot.

The next day, Jerry goes to the hotel flower shop and orders that all the flowers be sent to Ms. Tremont's room (by room number) - then charges the very expensive bill to Horace by his room number.

Horace, afraid that Dale might be a "designing woman" sets his valet, Bates, to following her. This is another part of the plot that's considerably more important than it seems. Horace also warns Jerry off, telling him about a woman he met called Violet who took advantage of him.

Meanwhile, we learn Dale is a social model. A dress designer named Alberto Belleni pays her to wear his dresses, so her friends will see them, ask about them, and he will get more contracts to design dresses and sell more of his designs. But, since he's financially supporting her - this is something not good for Horace to find out as he'd get the wrong idea. Dale is also close friends with his wife, Madge.

Jerry tries to meet Dale again, she rebuffs him - mentioning she's going for a ride in the park. Jerry gives her a ride to her lesson in the park, and again tries to get her interested in him without luck. During her ride, Dale gets caught in the rain. She shelters in a gazebo. Jerry arrives and tries to calm her down by telling her a story about clouds. He then sings "Isn't it a Lovely Day? (To get Caught in the Rain)" to her, and the two dance in partner tap. Ginger is wearing jodphur-pants. Fred and Ginger also mirror each other beautifully when dancing.

Later at the hotel, Ginger asks the concierge to point out Horace. The concierge points to "the man with the briefcase and cane" on the walkway. But Horace runs into Jerry and hands him his briefcase and cane - thus making Dale think he's her friend Madge's husband. This type of thing continuously happens - Dale keeps thinking that Jerry is Horace, and thus her friend's husband and a terrible cad to boot.

Jerry is in the middle of his show, changing between acts, when Horace reads his wife's telegram and finds out she and Dale are heading off to Venice. Jerry insists they hire a charter plane and go to Venice as well.

The production number, part of Jerry's show, is "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails" which has Astaire dancing with a chorus of men in formal wear. During the dance he "shoots" the men with his cane. His short tap dancing routine gets a standing ovation from the audience.

In Venice, Dale meets up with Madge, and they meet the sea plane - but Dale isn't there when Madge says hello to Jerry - whom Madge actually wants to set-up with Jerry.  The hotel is full - so Horace and Jerry end up sharing the bridal suite, while Madge and Dale share their own suite.

Bellani, thinking that Horace has designs on Dale confronts him, but Horace has no idea what's going on.

Dale talks to Madge about her husband's flirting. Madge says she knows he flirts, but it doesn't mean anything. Dale decides to "teach him a lesson" and goes to his room to throw herself at him - and again runs into Jerry. Jerry turns the tables and flirts back.

Later, at dinner, Madge, Jerry, and Dale meet - but no introductions are made, as Dale insists she knows who Jerry is (she still thinks he's Madge's husband Horace). Fred and Ginger dance to "Cheek to Cheek", with Ginger in the beautiful, floaty, feather dress. It's ballroom dance that begins with the two in the midst of a crowded dance floor, and moves to the two dancing on a patio that resembles an even bigger version of the gazebo from earlier. There is also some side by side and partner tap, with the two mirroring each other beautifully. But when Jerry proposes - Dale thinks he's Madge's husband, and slaps him.

Alberto Belleni flirts with Dale, and proposes to her. She accepts him but insists they must be married immediately.

Jerry, in a last ditch effort to get Dale to listen to him has Horace distract Belleni, and goes to talk to Dale. He takes her on a boat ride on the water - and finally explains who he is.

Meanwhile, Bates reports to Horace that Dale and Jerry are drifting out to sea. Horace, Madge, and Belleni go off in a boat to "rescue" Dale and Jerry.

Dale and Jerry return, happy at last, but concerned about her quick marriage and how to dissolve it. Dale rushes off. Bates tells Jerry that Madge, Horace, and Belleni went off in a boat from which he'd "removed the gasoline" while disguised as a gondolier. The local police arrest Bates for his impersonation.

There is a production number instrumental of "The Piccolino", which starts with Bugby Berkeley-styled dancers. Then the camera changes to a much happier Dale singing "The Piccolino" to Jerry. Then the perspective switches back to the elaborate production number.

Fred and Ginger dance - tap and ballroom, mirroring each other in tap. Their dance is full frame and uncut. Ginger's dress is sparkly with a trumpet skirt. They dance back to their table, saluting each other with champagne glasses.

Horace, Madge, and Belleni return. That Horace is Madge's husband is confirmed, as is the blossoming romance between Dale and Jerry. Just as everyone is wondering what they will do, Bates arrives and states he had been following Dale everywhere, and he had earlier disguised himself as a clergyman by turning his collar around. Belleni states, "But you were the one who married us!" Dale responds, "Then we were never really married!" And she rushes off in Jerry's arms!

List of Musical Numbers

• No Strings (I'm Fancy Free)
• Isn't This a Lovely Day (To be Caught in the Rain)?
• Top Hat, White Tie and Tails
• Cheek to Cheek
• The Piccolino

Top Hat  is a simple, romantic comedy - fueled by mistaken identities, coincidences, and misunderstandings, where, of course, in the end - everything works out. But it features some of Irving Berlin's best songs and Fred Astaire and Ginger Roger's best dances. The sets, especially the boats in the waterway, are wonderful - and the Art Deco just shines. The dances are filmed full-frame and often without cuts. Certainly, there's no cuts to faces and feet - which means one can follow the dance and focus on Fred and Ginger's artistry. There are two ensemble production numbers - Fred's tap dance with a male chorus, which is part of the show he's been hired for as a professional dancer; and "The Piccolino". "The Piccolino" is a wonderful production number - but it seems out of place in Tap Hat. It starts as a elaborate production number, switches to show Ginger singing, switches back to a production number, then switches a fourth time to Fred and Ginger dancing. The production part is full of fast cuts, and elaborate patterns, using ribbons. In short, it looks like a Bugsy Berkeley musical. But when "The Piccolino" focuses on Fred and Ginger dancing together, it becomes one of their signature-style dances - shown full frame, in a single shot without cuts, with Fred and Ginger both tap dancing (briefly) and ballroom dancing. So overall, though very elaborate, it works.  Top Hat is one of my favorite Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films, along with Swing Time and Shall We Dance. For many, it is the quintessential film for the pair.

Recommendation:  See it!

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Next Film:  The Truman Show

Shall We Dance? (Japan, 1996)

• Title:  Shall We Dance? (Japan, 1996)
• Director:  Masayuki Suo
• Date:  1996
• Studio:  Miramax
• Genre:  Drama, Musical
• Cast:  Kôji Yakusho, Tamiyo Kusakari, Naoto Takenaka, Eri Watanaka, Hiromasa Taguchi
• Format:  Color, Widescreen (In Japanese, with English Subtitles)
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"...There is a secret wonder...about the joys that dance can bring." - Spoken introduction

"Dance is more than just the steps.  Feel the music and just dance for sheer joy." - Sensei Tanaka

Shall We Dance (1996) and Shall We Dance (2004) have the exact same plot, but it is the Richard Gere film that is a re-make and Americanization of this Japanese film.  I actually saw both in the movie theater, and enjoyed them both.

The Japanese film starts with a spoken introduction about the reserved nature of the Japanese people, a nature than sees ballroom dancing with suspicion.  In a land where married couples don't hold hands, much less kiss in public, and would seldom if ever express love with words even in private, the act of dancing with a stranger is seen, well, as something perverse. However, this film is about ballroom dancing in Japan and the world-wide competitive dance sport.

Sugiyama, is a successful accountant, who has just bought a house for his family.  He works long hours and commutes daily to his job.  He is satisfied, if not exactly happy with his life. But it would never occur to him to change anything.  On the commute, from his train window, he sees a beautiful young woman in a dance studio - who seems filled with melancholy.  It takes a few tries for Sugiyama to work up the courage, but he finally goes to the dance studio to sign up for lessons.

Upon learning that private lessons are very expensive, he signs up for group lessons instead. His tutor is Sensei (teacher) Tanaka, an older, experienced, and patient teacher. The other students in the class include a slightly overweight man who's taking dance lessons to lose weight and hopefully meet girls, and a know-it-all type who's taken one dance class before with his wife, and now thinks improving his dance skills will impress her.

Also at the studio is Mr. Aoki, who works with Sugiyama at his office, and is a competitive dance hopeful; and a second teacher (Toyoko) who also hopes to be more successful at competitive dance.  Mia, the young woman Sugiyama saw in the window, also works there, but only gives private lessons.  Unraveling her story is as much of the plot, as are Sugiyama's growing skills at dance.

Sensei Tanaka works with Sugiyama and his fellow students, teaching them basic steps, and the ten competitive dances as well as a few fun, social dances.

At home, Sugiyama's wife and daughter notice he now seems happier, but eventually, his wife grows suspicious and hires a private detective.  Upon learning his secret is that he's taking weekly dance lessons, and he's not having an affair, his wife accepts it, but is confused. Remember that, culturally, ballroom dance isn't accepted.

As the students improve, there are montages not only of the dance lessons, but of Sugiyama dancing on the train platform, in a park (including in the rain), and even moving his feet in time under his desk.  Meanwhile, Mr. Aoki, slides through corridors and rows of desks with precise movements - but cannot find a good partner for competitive dance.

The second half of the film involves an amateur ballroom dance competition.  Due to various events, Toyoko will dance two traditional dances (Waltz, and Quick Step) with Sugiyama and the Latin dances (Rumba, and Paso Double) with Mr. Aoki.  The Latin dances are first and Aoki starts off doing what he always does - overacting, using "jazz hands", and wearing a ridiculous wig and costume.  A competitor turns the wig, so for the second dance he removes it and dances far better than he ever has, because he's not trying to be someone he's not. During their dances, Sugiyama and Toyoko are doing brilliantly, until Sugiyama's distracted by his daughter rooting him on from the stands.  He manages to step on and tear off Toyoko's skirt.  Needless to say, Toyoko is forced to default.

Sugiyama is appalled by this.  He gives up dancing and goes back to his wife and daughter. He's invited to a fair-well party for Mia, who's decided to return to Blackpool (England) and competitive dancing. Finally, though, he shows up at the very end of her party and she dances her last dance with him.  As they dance, other couples join in on the dance floor.

The Japanese, original, film version of Shall We Dance? moves at a slower pace than the re-make with Richard Gere.  But at times, this makes for a better film.  It's filled with fascinating characters, all of whom have their own stories, and all of whom are looking for something.  That it isn't until the very end that we find out all of Mia's story, makes her story that much richer.  The music also, is mostly traditional ballroom dance music.  "Save the Last Dance for Me" is used for montages.  Mia's theme dance song is "Shall We Dance?" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I  (yes, the Yul Brenner musical).  "Shall We Dance?" fits, but it will stick in your head for days after seeing the film.

Recommended:  See it.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars
Next Film:  Oz the Great and Powerful

Les Misérables

Title:  Les Misérables
Director:  Tom Hooper
Date:  2012
Studio:  Universal
Genre:  Musical, Drama
Cast:  Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit, Samantha Barks, Colm Wilkinson, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen
Format:  Color, Widescreen
DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"But remember this my brother, see in this some higher plan, you must use this precious silver, to become an honest man." -- The Bishop

"But the tigers come at night, with their voices soft as thunder, as they tear your hope apart, as they turn your dream to shame. ...  There are dreams that cannot be, there are storms we cannot weather.  I had a dream my life would be, so different from this hell I'm living.  So different from what it seemed, now life has killed the dream I dreamed."  -- Fantine

"You know nothing of Javier, I was born inside a jail.  I was born with scum like you, I am from the gutter, too!"  -- Javier

"...how your world might be changed in one burst of light, and what was right seems wrong and what was wrong seems right."  -- Marius

"But now there's a higher cause.  Who cares about your lonely soul?  We strive towards a larger goal, our little lives don't count at all." -- Enjolras

Les Misérables is a sung musical, meaning that nearly every line in the film is sung, rather than the majority of the film being spoken and acted, only to break for the musical numbers.  However, because everyone is always singing everything in the film, the singing quickly becomes part of the reality of the film, and the audience becomes used to it and accepts it.  Also, the characters are often singing their hearts out, and many of the best songs in the film are actually soliloquies.

The film is based on the long-running stage musical (which ran in both New York on Broadway, and in London on the West End), which is turn is based on a novel by Victor Hugo.  The story though is about redemption, about mercy, about love for one's child, and about how tiny kindnesses or tiny slights can have vast effects on a person's life.

The film opens with Jean Valjean and a group of convicts in the rain pulling ropes to right a capsized ship.  Inspector Javert looks on, then orders Jean Valjean to bring him the French flag.  Valjean does this by lifting the entire broken ship's mast -- a very heavy, long, wooden mast.  Javert then gives "Prisoner 24601" his yellow ticket of leave.  Jean Valjean is at first excited that he has finally gained his freedom after nineteen years a slave to the law - his crime breaking into a house to steal bread to feed his sister's starving child.  However, he is only placed on parole - ordered from place to place by the French police and military.  Jean Valjean soon discovers no one will offer work to a convict, and he can't even find food or a place to sleep.

Still desperately trying to live, Jean Valjean, drops into a local church, where the bishop (Colm Wilinson, originator of the role of Jean Valjean on Broadway), offers him food and a place to sleep for the night.  Yet, in the middle of the night, he awakes and steals the bishop's silver.  He's immediately caught and brought in front of the bishop.  The bishop shocks Jean Valjean by lying for him, confirming his story to the police that he "gave" his silver to him.  The bishop then also gives him his silver candlesticks, and dismisses the police.  But for his mercy, the bishop demands that Valjean must become a better man.

Valjean goes into the church to contemplate his fate and his future.  He ends by tearing up his yellow papers which brand him a convict.

Eight years later, in Montreul, Valjean, now using the name M. LeMer, owns a factory employing hundreds, and is mayor of the town.  In his factory, Fantine is one of the female workers.  She continues to refuse the advances of the foreman.  When she receives a letter, a rival female worker steals it and reads it aloud.  Upon learning Fantine has a child, she attacks her.  The two fight and Fantine shouts back that the woman has a husband and "something on the side".  Enraged, the woman attacks again.  Valjean arrives and is about to deal with the problem - then he sees Javert and goes to his office instead, leaving his foreman to settle matters, though he admonishes him to show mercy.  The foreman sacks Fantine, and kicks her out in the cold.

Meanwhile, Valjean meets with Javert who introduces himself, remarks that he's been noticed as an excellent mayor, and gives him papers introducing himself and his transfer as officer of the law for the town.  Valjean is a bit nervous, but accepts him.  There's a shout from the street and Valjean runs outside.  A man is trapped under a collapsed cart.  Though the cart is quite heavy, Valjean lifts it to free the man and save his life.  Javert looks on, suspiciously.

Meanwhile, Fantine struggles to support herself.  She sells her jewelry, her hair, her teeth, and finally gives in and sells herself.  Fantine's soliloquy, "I Dreamed a Dream", tells her story and contrasts the golden summer of her youth with the hell she's now living.  Hathaway's performance is strong and makes the audience feel sympathetic to her, rather than feel sorry for her.  And won her several "Best Supporting Actress" awards.  Later, wearing the sleeveless red dress of a prostitute, a man attacks Fantine.  When Javier arrives the man claims she attacked him.  But Valjean also arrives, and upon learning the woman once worked in his factory, he takes pity on her and takes her to a hospital.  He also learns she has a daughter, living with an innkeeper and his wife.

Later, Javert presents himself to Valjean, admonishing himself for making a false report, and telling Valjean that "Prisoner 24601" has been caught, so he apologises for thinking "M. LeMer" was Valjean.

This leaves Valjean in a moral dilemma.  He cannot allow another man to go to prison in his place, yet his workers depend on him.  In the end, Valjean decides he cannot allow an innocent man to be jailed in his place.  He goes to the court, and admits he is "Prisoner 24601".  But then he leaves the court and goes to the hospital to see Fantine.  There, he finds Fantine dying.  He promises to find and care for her child.  She promises her to his care.  At the hospital, Javert arrives.  They confront each other.  Jean Valjean pleads for three days to find, take care of, and make arrangements for Cosette.  Javert pretty much says, "Are you kidding?" and draws his sword.  Valjean defends himself with a wooden beam and escapes by jumping into the water.

Jean Valjean travels to the inn, and pays the Thénerdiers' fifteen hundred for their "sacrifice" of keeping Cosette.  Madame Thénerdier had been abusive of Cosette, treating her like a slave while spoiling her own daughter, Éponine.  M. Thénerdier had cared so little for her - he couldn't get her name right.  Valjean and Cosette leave, taking a horse-drawn couch to Paris.  The flight to Paris features the one new song from the film that isn't in the original musical, "Suddenly, You're Here".

Javier, having lost Valjean again, sings "Stars", his own soliloquy.  He's on a roof, and the song begins with a large, stone eagle behind him.  As he sings, he walks on the top of the stone balustrade, seemingly careless of the result if he fell.  He swears he will catch Valjean.  "Stars" is a beautiful song, and one of my favorites from both the film and the musical.

In 1832 Paris, Valjean and now teenaged Cosette, have made a life for themselves.  Times are hard, as the people are suffering.  Marius, Enjolras, and a group of students are disgusted with the state of affairs, and try to raise the people in rebellion.

One day, Marius sees Cosette on the street.  She and Valjean are handing out alms to the poor.  They also run into the Thénerdiers.  Meanwhile, Éponine lives in the same rooming house as Marius, and knows that his father is rich.  She's also trapped in the gang of thieves led by her parents, the Thénerdiers.  Javier is also in Paris, and still obsessed with catching Jean Valjean.

When Marius arrives in the wine shop, his fellow students tease him about falling in love at first sight with a girl whom he doesn't even know.  But his best friend, Enjolras, is actually angry.  As staged in the film, "Red and Black" actually becomes an argument between Marius (who's just fallen in love and is beginning to re-think things) and Enjolras and the other students, who want to start a revolution.  When young Gavroche arrives to tell them the people's hero, General LeMarque is dead, the students all agree - they will raise the barricades at his funeral.

Cosette gets her turn at a soliloquy, "In My Life", as she realises she's also fallen in love at first sight.  The song, "In My Life", transitions from Cosette to Marius, to Éponine, to a duet of Cosette and Marius.  That night she and Marius meet in her garden.

The Thénerdiers' gang plans on robbing Valjean's house, Éponine stops them by screaming to attract attention, but Valjean thinks Javert has discovered him, and tells Cosette they must leave and move on.  Cosette is angry and hurt, as she's just fallen for Marius.

Éponine, realising that Marius will never fall for her, sings her soliloquy, "On My Own", in the rain.

Everyone then sings, "One Day More", anticipating the coming battle in the morning.

At General LeMarque's funeral, the people sing, "Do You Hear the People Sing?" and the barricades are raised.  The students rush to the barricades.  Javier sneaks around to discover what is going on, and wears a French tricolor boutonniere.  Javier lies to the students about the army's plans.  Gavroche however, recognizes him, and tells everyone he's "Inspector Javier".  The students attack Javier who attacks back, and finally he's at the students mercy as the soldiers advance.  Battle breaks out.

Éponine sacrifices herself to save Marius from being shot.  She gives Marius Cosette's letter.  Marius gives Gavroche a letter, who gives it to Jean Valjean.  Valjean has to figure out what to do, and he decides to go to the barricade.  Enjolras gives Javert to Valjean.  Javert taunts Valjean to kill him.  Valjean sets Javert free with no conditions, he evens offers his address.

As night falls, the students drink wine and sing the melancholy, "Drink with Me".  Valjean also sings, "Bring Him Home", praying for Marius' safety, for Cosette's sake, and sees him as his son.  In his prayer, Jean Valjean offers his own life to save Marius and bring him home to Cosette.

The next day, Marius and the students are the only barricade left.  The people never rose up, not liking the odds.  The rain has ruined their gunpowder.  Enjolras, knowing their situation to be hopeless, urges those who wish to, to leave.  Gavroche sings one line of "Do You Hear the People Sing?" and the students stay for a desperate last stand.  Gavroche then goes out to get ammunition from the dead bodies before the barricade.  He's shot dead by an French army soldier.  One of the older students, presumably his father, is devastated.  The soldiers give them the opportunity to give up.  Enjolras encourages a last stand.

There's a last minute battle.  One by one the students die.  The soldiers bring in cannons to blow-up the barricade.  The rest of the students are killed, Enjolras raises his banner, and is shot dead.

Javier sees the death, walking among the row of impossibly young people lying dead in a row on the street.  He pins his own medal on Gavroche, and is completely disgusted by the death and waste.

Jean Valjean carries a wounded Marius away through the sewers.

In the sewers, Thénerdier steals from the dead.

Javier and Valjean confront each other.  Valjean pleads for mercy for Marius, so he can get him to a doctor.  Javier lets Valjean go, then commits suicide by jumping off a dam.  Javier's final soliloquy makes it clear that he can't stand Valjean's mercy, that Valjean had saved his life, or that his entire life dedicated to law and order has become such as sham, as so many young children were killed in the rebellion.

Marius is brought to a doctor.  Marius sings "Empty Chairs and Empty Tables", a lament for his friends he's lost, though the film does not use the "ghosts" behind him, used to great effect in the stage musical.  Cosette comes to Marius.  Marius offers Valjean a home with he and Cosette.  Valjean refuses, and explains who he really is.  Jean Valjean leaves and goes to a convent, seeking sanctuary.

Cosette and Marius marry.  The Thénerdiers  arrive to cause trouble, and to bribe Marius, but Marius realises instead that Valjean had saved his life at the barricade.  At the convent, Valjean is dying.  He hears Fantine's voice, then she appears.  Cosette and Marius arrive and say their final farewells.  Fantine leads Jean Valjean to the light.  "Do You Hear the People Sing?" is reprised as Jean Valjean joins Fantine, Gavroche, Enjolras, and all the other dead characters on the barricade, singing in the sun.

I saw Les Misérables on opening night in 2012, in a packed theater, with people of all ages.  I think I started crying during "Red and Black" and I don't think I really stopped until the end of the film.  Every time I started to not cry, the woman next to me started, and before long we were both sobbing again.  But I don't think there was a dry eye in the house.  I cried when I saw it the second time in the theater.  When I bought the DVD, I watched the commentary track first -- and still managed to cry while concentrating on Tom Hooper's description of making the film.  Even while taking notes in preparation for this review - I cried during, "Do You Hear the People Sing?"  The film is that moving and beautiful and stirring.  But it's also a very moral film.  By giving his silver to Jean Valjean, the Bishop shows him mercy that he had never seen and completely changes his life.  Later, Valjean must sacrifice everything to spare an innocent man mistaken for him, to rescue Fantine (who's downfall was his own fault - he'd been too wrapped up in his own problems to notice hers) and most importantly to save Cosette.  Raising Fantine's child, not only does he come to love her, but he rescues Marius and gives him to her because he loves her, and knows he must let her go.

Meanwhile, Javert, as played by Russell Crowe, is considerably more sympathetic than in the two stage productions of  Les Misérables, I've seen.  Javert isn't evil, but he's overly concerned with fulfilling the letter of the law, without any care to extenuating circumstances.  Javert at the beginning of the film, doesn't care that Valjean stole to feed his sister's starving children.  He honestly believes it's better to starve and die then  to resort to crime to live.  When Valjean shows him mercy, letting him go at the barricade, and covering it up with a gunshot directed away from the inspector, Javert cannot understand it, and begins to become unhinged.  When he catches Valjean and Marius, and Valjean pleads for mercy - Javert grants it, but decides he cannot live in Valjean's world.  Javert is incapable of seeing the grey of the real world, and only sees black and white.  However, whereas such a character is often portrayed as "evil" or "hated" - Crowe gives him depth and makes him understandable and sympathetic.

This is a beautiful film.  It's not to be missed.  I highly, highly recommend it.

Recommendation:  See it!
Rating:  5 of 5 Stars
Next Film:  Iron Man 3

Swing Time

• Title:  Swing Time
• Director:  George Stevens
• Date:  1936
• Studio:  RKO Radio Pictures
• Genre:  Musical, Comedy, Romance
• Cast:  Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Helen Broderick, Eric Blore, Betty Furness
• Format:  Standard, Black and White
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"My talent  is gambling, Pop, hoofing is all right, but there's no future in it.  I want to spread out."-- John "Lucky" Garnett (Fred Astaire)

"Listen, no one could teach you to dance in a million years!  Take my advice, and save your money."-- Penny (Ginger Rogers) to Lucky

"It's funny how we met... and all that's happened to us since."-- Penny
"The way we've been sorta'... thrown together and everything."-- Lucky
"As if  it were all meant to happen."-- Penny
"It's quite an experience."-- Lucky
"No, it's more than an experience.  It's sorta like... a romance."-- Penny

Swing Time is one of my three favorite Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals (the other two being Shall We Dance and Top Hat).  This time, Fred plays John "Lucky" Garnett, a professional dancer who's about to marry his high school sweetheart.  The guys in his touring dance troop know they will be out of a job if Garnett leaves the stage for marriage and a serious job, so they arrange for him to be hours late for his own wedding.  When he misses the wedding the girl's father actually makes a deal with Garnett... if he can make $25,000 then he will let him marry his daughter.  Lucky takes the challenge and goes off to the city to make his fortune.

In a large city, presumably New York, he runs into a girl, Penny Carroll (Ginger Rogers).  He follows her and finds out she's an "instructress" at a dance studio.  Deciding to have a little fun, he dances badly, causing several prat falls with Penny... who gets so frustrated she tells him no one will ever be able to teach him to dance, he should save his money.  Unfortunately, her boss over-hears this and fires her and her maiden aunt (Helen Broderick).  Lucky feels bad and decides to show Penny's boss that she has taught him a thing or two and the two dance together.  Penny's boss is so impressed he gets them an audition at the Silver Sandles club.

Unfortunately, unbeknownest to Penny, Lucky is flat broke, he only has the wedding clothes he's wearing to his name.  He sends his friend Pops to get some money, but Pops isn't as good a gambler as Lucky.  He brings a drunken gambler to Lucky's for a game of "strip pichet" (no idea... a card game that looked like some version of gin).  Lucky's never played the game before and loses.

Penny gets mad at Lucky for blowing their audition.  But he gets them a second tryout.  She relents after he sings to her while her hair is covered in shampoo.  At the club, they dance together on the crowded dance floor, but before they can perform their number... the orchestra leader cancels and leaves.  He's had a crush on Penny for awhile, and refuses to play to see her dance for another man.

Lucky gambles again for the orchestra... and wins it.  He and Penny get their audition.  Penny and Lucky, with the orchestra become a star attraction, and the owner of the Silver Sandals offers Lucky 50 percent of the take.  Mindful of his deal with his ex-fiancee's father, he argues it down to 25 percent.  He'd earlier quit his bets at the roulette wheel because he was afraid of  winning too much.

Lucky, Penny, Pop, and Mabel (Penny's maiden aunt) head out to the country to relax, even though it's the dead of winter and it's snowing.

They return to the city and the Silver Sandals is re-opening after it's make-over.  Ricardo, the band leader, tries to give Penny jewelry and she refuses it.  Mabel challenges Penny to kiss Lucky.  She's determined to, loses her nerve, and then they do... off screen, hidden by a open door.

Lucky, with his dancers and chorus girls, dances to "Bojangles of  Harlem" as the new opening number of the club.

Margaret, Lucky's ex-fiancee arrives at the club.  Pops plays card tricks with some wise guys in the audience of the club.  Unfortunately, they are the ones Lucky won the orchestra from.  Even worse... they now know Pops palmed the Ace for Lucky... something even Lucky hadn't realized.  Confronted with the evidence that he cheated, Lucky decides to re-draw cards, and loses.

Penny finds out about Lucky gambling... and losing... and gets really upset, and even more upset when she finds out about Lucky's ex-fiancee.

Ricardo (the orchestra leader) proposes to Penny, and in a fit of pique she accepts him.

Fred sings "Never Gonna Dance" to her and they dance together, but it is a dance of  love and loss, and at the top of  the Silver Sandals set, the two part company.

But Margaret is there to give John a "Dear John" letter... she's fallen in love with someone else.  Meanwhile Lucky is completely in love with Penny. In the end, Pops and Lucky pull the same gag with cuffed trousers on Ricardo as his band had pulled on Lucky in the prologue, giving Lucky enough time to talk to Penny and stop the wedding.

List of  Musical Numbers

• Pick Yourself  Up - Fred and Ginger vocals, and dance - Ballroom & Partner Tap
• The Way You Look Tonight - Fred, vocals
• Waltz in Swing Time - Fred and Ginger, dance - Ballroom & Partner Tap
• A Fine Romance - Ginger and Fred vocals
• Bojangles of Harlem - Fred & Chorus - dance
• Never Gonna Dance - Fred, vocals - Fred and Ginger - Ballroom Dance

Swing Time is just pure fun.  Fred and Ginger are in fine form, and the picture mixes romance with comedy and irony.  For example, Fred sings the lovely ballad, "The Way You Look Tonight" to Ginger -- while her hair is covered in shampoo and she's annoyed with him, rather than in a traditional romantic setting.  "A Fine Romance" is a sarcastic song with both Fred and Ginger spitting lyrics like - "A Fine Romance... with no kisses".  The film also uses the RKO Players like Eric Blore and Helen Broderick to fill in the comedy moments of  the plot.  The only real out of place number is "Bojangles of Harlem" which is, unfortunately, done with Astaire in blackface.  Otherwise, it's a fine number (which includes Astaire dancing with three shadows... that suddenly start to not follow him).  But yeah, dated, is the kindest word for it.  The Silver Sandals set is a lovely two-level art deco set with a black and white dance floor below, and a shining black dance floor above.  The two floors are connected by two staircases, one on each side of  the main dance area.  The set is used particularly well when Fred and Ginger dance to "Never Gonna Dance" -- a song of love and loss, that ends with them parting, which at that point in the plot they do.  It's lovely.

Recommendation:  See it!

Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars

Next Film:  The Thin Man

The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle

• Title:  The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
• Director:  H. C. Potter
• Date:  1939
• Studio:  RKO Radio Pictures
• Genre:  Biography, Drama, Musical
• Cast:  Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edna May Oliver
• Format:  B/W, Standard
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"Well, we've got our health, we're young, we're in Paris, we're on our honeymoon, what more can we want."  -- Vernon

"Hey, dance with me."  -- Vernon
"All the people downstairs?" -- Irene
"Look, we can do it quietly, like this, just as if we're walking on air."  -- Vernon

"War is a man's business, women only do what they're told."  -- Maggie

The Story of  Vernon and Irene Castle is the last musical that Astaire and Rogers did for RKO and it's notable for several reasons.  It's one of only two films where Astaire and Rogers played a married couple (the other is The Barkleys of Broadway).  It's the only biography the two did, so the only time they played real people.  It's the only one of their musicals that's more of a drama than a comedy.  And it's the only one with a definite downbeat ending (Vernon Castle (Astaire's character) dies).  The film is different from other Astaire and Rogers musicals and that may be why it is not as well known as their other films.

The film opens in 1911, Fred Astaire is Vernon Castle, who at the time is barely working as a vaudeville comedian.  He's not even the star of  the show he's in, but the second banana who takes all the prat falls and on-stage abuse from the star.  He tries to get the show's leading lady interested in him, but to no avail.  However, while at the seaside, he meets Irene Foote (Ginger Rogers) when they both jump into the drink to rescue a small dog.  She, it turns out, is an aspiring actress/performer and she performs "The Yama Yama Man" as an audition for Castle.

After the lackluster audition, the two go to the train station, where a group of "bachelors" and their dates are on an excursion.  When one of  the guys gets up and dances - Vernon shows off  his tap dancing skills. On their later dates, Irene suggests that Vernon should give up comedy and become a dancer.  Vernon actually agrees with her and the two approach his boss with the idea of  being a dance team.  But his boss is having none of it.  However, two French theatre owners approach Vernon and offer him a job in Paris.

Now married, Vernon and Irene go to Paris... but discover that the job they thought started immediately won't start for six weeks.  Irene convinces the theatre owners to give Vernon an advance on his salary so they will have something to live on for six weeks.  After the six weeks of waiting goes by, Vernon returns to the theatre -- only to discover he's to play his comedy role again.  As he explains to his wife, "Well, I refused... I know you don't want me to do, and I didn't want to do it... but he brought up the money we owe him..."  Irene accepts this trying to make him feel better by saying, "Well, at least it's a job, maybe not the job you want, but it's a job."  To console her, Vernon dances with her, quietly.

Fate intervenes in the person of Maggie, an entrepreneur and agent who walks into their apartment at that moment and sees them dancing.  She gets them dinner and an audition at the Cafe de Paris.  The audition is a smash success, and other couples imitate the Castles.  They are hired by the nightclub as professional dancers.  Before long they are back in New York, introducing The Tango to New York. The Castles sell books, records, and dancing lessons.  Irene becomes a fashion icon.  Their merchandising continues with ladies hats, bon bons, and face cream.  Vernon's name goes on cigars and dancing shoes.  They introduce the Fox Trot, and the Castle Polka.  With both scenes of the Castles introducing their ballroom dances, the shot of  the couple dancing is double exposed with sparkles and lights - giving it a dreamy quality.  Irene bobs her hair, which causes a sensation and starts a trend.  The Castles introduce the Moxie, another dance, at a seaside resort.  They then tour nationally.  (We see the couple dancing across a map of  the US and each place they stop - additional dancers appear).  As they return home, Irene and Vernon tell their manager, Maggie, they are tired and want to buy a house and raise a family.  However, as they pull into one little town, there's a fuss outside the train -- Germany's declared war.

At first, the Castles do retire to their new home, and Vernon agrees with Irene that he won't enlist.  But when he's asked to work at a benefit... he sees all the Canadian solders and decides to enlist in the Royal Flying Corps.   He manages to live through the war, but when he returns home he's sent to Fort Worth at the last minute as one of  the pilots in an airshow for a Brigadier General.  An inexperienced pilot takes off and flies into his airspace -- given the choice of  hitting the other plane or trying to avoid the crash he pulls straight up and the plane stalls.  Vernon Castle is killed in the plane crash... the young inexperienced pilot in the plane with him survives, in part because Vernon took the seat in front rather than letting the young pilot do it since he knew that the front was the more dangerous seat.  After her uncle and Vernon's close friend tells Irene the news she walks into the garden of  the hotel her husband had  set-up for her and imagines the two of them dancing together in the garden.

Again, The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle is very unusual for an Astaire and Rogers film.  It has a downbeat ending, and even the dances are mostly not complete dances ... they are excerpts as the story unfolds.  Astaire performs well as Vernon Castle... really getting into the role which is quite meaty.  Rogers has less to do, mostly following her husband around, and worrying constantly about him after he goes to war.  But the film is meant to be a historical film, taking place between 1911 and 1918, when women didn't even have the right to vote, so Irene's somewhat shadowed appearance can be understood if not condoned.  And it is obvious that this couple loves each other, and Vernon, at least, allows his wife to not only have a say in their decisions but to lead in them (It's Irene who insists he's better than physical comedy; it's Irene who wants them to retire from touring; and it's Irene who at first insists that Vernon not go to war).  In a sense, though Vernon dies at the end, the film is not only romantic, but it's a more realistic romance than most movie romances.

The story for the script was written by Irene Castle, based on her autobiographical book about her husband, and she acted as an advisor on the film, especially in terms of  Rogers clothes.

This was not your typical Astaire and Rogers musical, I'd say it's for diehards only, or if you want  to see a different type of film starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.  The rating is based on the film not being what you expect out of a musical -- for example, there are very few full dances in the film.

Recommendation:  Depends.
Rating:  Three and a half out of five stars.
Next film:  Stripes

The Sound of Music

• Title: The Sound of  Music
• Director:  Robert Wise
• Date:  1965
• Studio:  20th Century Fox
• Genre:  Musical, Romance
• Cast:  Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Angela Cartwright
• Format:  Color, Widescreen (70mm film)
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"Fraulein, were you this much trouble at the abbey?"  - Capt Georg von Trapp
"Oh, much more, sir." -- Maria

"Activity suggests a life filled with purpose." - Capt. von Trapp

"Maybe the flag with the black spider makes people nervous." - Greta

The Sound of  Music is a big showy musical film, which appears to be shot at least partially on location rather than being studio-bound, like most MGM musicals.  However, it is also long, at least three hours.  When the intermission card came up, I was ready for the film to be over.  yet, despite it's length, The Sound of  Music is a good film, and one that many consider a classic.

Julie Andrews is Maria, a young noviate at a convent -- it's clear to the Mother Superior and other nuns, that, while she is likable, Maria is not quite nun material, so the Mother Superior suggests she at least attempt to make her way in the world before returning to the abbey to take her vows.  Not quite ready to put the young woman out on the street with nothing but the clothes on her back, the Mother Superior sends her to Capt. von Trapp to become governess to his seven children.

A widower, Capt. von Trapp has become increasingly cold and withdrawn since the death of  his wife.  This is shown with the scene where he introduces the seven children to Maria by blowing their call signs on a whistle.  Maria finds this ridiculous.  The Captain then criticizes Maria's clothes.  When she tells him she doesn't have any others, she gave hers away when she went into the convent, he buys her fabrics to make new dresses.  He also has new drapes put in her room in his villa (it's a small castle).  She takes the old fabric and makes play clothes for the children.

Soon Maria becomes the best governess the children have ever had, taking them on field trips and teaching them to sing.  At first, stern Capt. von Trapp is appalled at Maria's light-hearted way, but eventually she draws him in too.  However, he's seeing Baroness Elsa, a cold-hearted widow.  At first, it seems like the Captain and the Baroness are a perfect couple, but eventually it's clear that he belongs with Maria.

Eventually, Elsa breaks off  her engagement with Capt von Trapp, as she realizes she's just not capable of being a mother of seven.  Capt. von Trapp then immediately proposes to Maria, they marry and leave for their month-long honeymoon, leaving the children in the care of  "Uncle Max".  The Captain and Maria return to discover that the Captain's beloved Austria has been annexed by Germany.  Not only that, but he is ordered to report to a naval base and become an officer in the German Navy.  Capt. von Trapp would literally rather die, and he and Maria plot their escape.

Here, Max comes to the rescue -- the von Trapp Family Singers will sing in the Salzburg Folk Festival, something the Captain had been against, and their escape will be arranged after the performance.  The plot eventually works, they escape, hide in the abbey, then go first by car, then by foot through the mountains and into Switzerland.

List of  Musical Numbers

• The Sound of  Music
• How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?
• When You're 16, Going on 17
• My Favorite Things
• Doe a Deer / Do Re Mi
• The Lonely Goatherd (during the children's puppet show)
• Edelweiss
• So Long, Fare Well, Auf  Wiedersehen, Goodnight
• The Sound of  Music (reprise, slower version)
• My Favorite Things (reprise)
• I Must Have Done Something Good
• How Do  You Solve a Problem Like Maria? (reprise)
• When You're 16, Going on 17 (reprise)
• Doe a Deer / Do Re Mi (at the folk concert, reprise)
• Edelweiss (at the folk concert, reprise)
• So Long, Fare Well, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodnight  (at the folk concert, reprise)

The good things about The Sound of  Music -- the full frame (though widescreen) filming of  the singing and the few dance numbers ("When You're 16, Going on 17" and the folk dance Maria and the Captain dance together during his grand party) is very nice, though the dances aren't as complex as either a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musical or an MGM musical.  The location filming is gorgeous -- and it's nice to see a musical that isn't so studio-bound.  However, the film is overly long.  The second half (post the intermission card) does actually move faster, and I'm not sure what I'd cut if  I was the editor (well, yes I do -- I'd dump a lot of  the montages between Maria and the children and show more concrete examples of  how she reaches them).  Anyway, over three hours is really pushing it for a musical.

Recommendation:  See it, at least once, it is a clasic

Rating: 3.8

Next Film:  Spaceballs

Singin' in the Rain

• Title:  Singin' in the Rain
• Director:  Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen
• Date:  1952
• Studio:  MGM
• Genre:  Musical, Romance, Comedy
• Cast:  Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Cyd Charisse, Rita Moreno
• Format:  Standard, Technicolor
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"Dignity, always dignity."  -- Don Lockwood


"What do you think I am?  Dumb or something?"  Lina


"Everybody's always making speeches for me, well tonight I'm going to do my own talking, I'm going to make the speech!" -- Lina

It should come as no surprise that I'm a big fan of  Fred Astaire (see links on left to his many films that I own) so, even though I think it's perfectly possible to like both, I'm much less of  a fan of Gene Kelly.  Kelly definitely has a very different dancing style -- he's athletic, and dances like a gymnast but he's also very heavy.  While Astaire dances on air -- and seems to float with grace and style, Kelly is very down to earth and almost working class, even when playing a rich, successful, film star as he does in Singin' in the the Rain.

The film starts with a 1927 film premiere, which is reminiscent of  an Oscar Red Carpet night, complete with a female commentator, who announces the stars as they arrive.  Soon, one of  the film's stars arrives, Don Lockwood (Kelly), who is convinced to tell his well-known story to the audience.  He does, but the pictures in the resulting montage are the exact opposite of  his words.  It is a very nice piece of  ironic humor to start the film.

However, it is also ironically, and unintentionally, a comment on the studio system of  film-making, of which MGM was a prime (but not the only) example.  The studio would create background stories, publicity images, even the names of  their stars, as well as choosing which films their stars made and who their co-stars were.  Studio system actors, in a very real sense, were "just doing a job" -- they showed up, made that month's picture, then the next, and the next, and the next.  This is one reason why film stars of  the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, racked up huge numbers of  films if  they stayed in the business.

Just as Lockwood and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), the stars of  Monumental Pictures, start their new film, "The Dueling Cavalier", Warner Brother's "The Jazz Singer" comes out and is a smashing success.  "R.F.", the head of  the studio, decides "The Dueling Cavalier", will be a talking picture.  Don and Lina are given voice / diction lessons, but whereas Don takes to it like a duck to water, Lina, whom the studio has not allowed to speak in public, has trouble.  Her voice is loud, squeaky, obnoxious, and her manner is rude, self-centered, and shrewish.  Not only is her voice a distraction, but she is unable to figure out she must direct her voice towards the microphone, or that playing with her costume (notably a strand of  fake pearls) will cause extra noise that's a distraction on the film.  In short, Lina, is a disaster, though probably not entirely due to her own fault.

The new film is shown to a preview audience, and the crowd roars with laughter (for a serious, historic romance), and many complain it's the worst they have ever seen when leaving the theater.  RF, Don, and Don's friend, Cosmo (Donald O'Connor) are devastated. But, Kathy (Debbie Reynolds), a young starlet and acting hopeful, that Don has been pursing, has an idea -- make the film into a musical.  Cosmo points out that  Lina also can't sing or dance.  Then he gets an idea:  Kathy will dub Lina's lines, and sing for her.  They take the plan to RF, who loves it.  Don suggests they save what they can of  the film by making it about a "young hoofer" (that is, a dancer) who goes to New York to seek his fortune on the stage, while backstage he's hit by a falling sandbag, and dreams he's in the French Revolution (the footage already shot of  "The Dueling Cavalier"), the title of  the film will be changed to "The Dancing Cavalier".

Everything goes to plan until Lina finds out what's going on, and about Kathy dubbing for her.  She's extremely angry and releases a story to the press about her phenomenal singing voice.  She also points out to RF she's in charge of  her own publicity.  Therefore, RF's plans of  giving Kathy screen credit, and making it plain in the press she was a new star and would star in new films with Don goes up in smoke.

The new film's premiere is a success, and Lina insists she will make Kathy dub her voice for the next five years, ruining Kathy's own career.  She makes a speech to the crowd, which goes over only so-so, then at the crowd's insistence, sings the reprise of  "Singin' in the Rain", getting Kathy to dub it for her.  However, Don, Cosmo, and RF pull the curtain back, revealing that the excellent voice is, in fact, Kathy.

List of  Musical Numbers

• Fit as a Fiddle
• All I Do is Dream of  You
• Make 'Em Laugh
• You Were Meant For Me
• Moses Supposes
• Good Morning
• Singin' in the Rain
• Would You?
• Broadway Melody / Broadway Rhythm
• Singin' in the Rain (Reprise)
• You Are My Lucky Star

Most of  the music from Singin' in the Rain, isn't original at all -- it's from Warner Brothers and RKO musicals from the late 1920s up to the mid-1930s.  Even the title tune is from the Hollywood Review of 1929, while "Good Morning" is from Babes in Arms (1939).  However, "Singin' in the Rain" with Gene Kelly gleefully walking, striding, singing, and dancing in a cold, rainy street is an excellent number.  I also liked the less-than-serious "Moses Supposes" (Kelly and O'Connor, partner tap) and the energetic "Good Morning" (Reynolds, Kelly, and O'Connor, trio partner tap).  The finale is typical of  big, technicolor, MGM musicals, with several moods, changes of  set and costume, lots of show dancing, and even two lovely ballet numbers starring Cyd Charisse dancing opposite Gene Kelly.

However, the film is very anti-feminist in it's attitudes.  Lina, is made fun of  and gets her come-uppance, not only because she's a "shrew" but because she insists on being in charge of  her own career, and speaking for herself.  Whereas Kathy is a good girl and always does what she's told - by Don and RF especially.  Lina's goal, speaking for herself, making her own career decisions, and basically not being pushed around, isn't so bad.  Yes, she misbehaves (especially towards Kathy whom she sees as a threat to her relationship with Don), but you know what they say about well-behaved women (they rarely make history).  There's also the inherent age-ism of  a young starlet replacing a more mature actress.  Overall, what she wants and her behavior isn't that bad, considering, and the way she's belittled, made fun of, and embarrassed -- not to mention the complete loss of  her career is a bit harsh of  a punishment.

Recommendation:  See it (if only for the dance sequences)

Rating:  3.5 out of  5

Next Film:  The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Shrek Forever After

• Title:  Shrek Forever After
• Director:  Mike Mitchell
• Date:  2010
• Studio:  Dreamworks
• Genre:  Animation, Romance, Comedy, Musical
• Cast:  Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderes, Julie Andrews, John Cleese
• Format:  Color, Widescreen Animation
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"You have three beautiful children, a wife who loves you, friends who adore you, you have everything.  Why is it that the only person who can't see that - is you?"  -- Fiona

I bought the Shrek films in a complete set, and it turns out the only one I hadn't seen was this one, the fourth and final Shrek film.  This time around, Shrek goes through a mid-life crisis, fearing he has lost his "roar".  He makes a deal with Rumplestilskin to have one day as an fierce ogre again in return for giving up one day of his own life.  However, Rumplestilskin takes the day Shrek was born, creating a weird alternate universe where Fiona's parents no longer exist, Rumplestilskin rules Far Far Away with an Iron Fist and the help of a troop of  evil witches, and Fiona Warrior Princess leads a band of  less than successful ogre rebels.  Donkey pulls a wagon for a pair of  evil witches, meanwhile Puss-in-Boots no longer wears his boots and hat, no longer fights, and has gotten very over weight.  Moreover, since Shrek was never born, after 24 hours he will cease to exist, making all the changes permanent.  It's sort of Shrek does "It's a Wonderful Life".


However, I still enjoyed this film.  Overall, the first film is the best, but all four, including this one, manage to keep the characters in character and true to themselves.  Even the alternate universe Fiona, Donkey, and Puss, all ring true to themselves.

Shrek discovers that if  Fiona experiences "True Love's Kiss" her curse will be broken, and Shrek also will be freed from his contract with Rumplestilskin.  However, when Shrek finally kisses her -- she hasn't fallen in love with him.  However, never fear, the film has a happy ending, and Fiona kisses Shrek a second time, having fallen for him, she and everyone else is returned to the birthday party that Shrek had stormed out of.  The ending credit music is, "I'm a Believer", as in the first film.  This is found by a montage of  "best of" scenes from all four films.

Again, I enjoyed the film.  This time the theme is more about being grateful for what you have, rather than themes of self-acceptance,  but it's still a well-thought out movie.

Recommendation:  See it!  May as well complete the set.
Rating:  3.8 out of  5 Stars
Next Film:  Singin' in the Rain

Shrek the Third

• Title:  Shrek the Third
• Director:  Chris Miller
• Date:  2007
• Studio:  Dreamworks
• Genre:  Comedy, Romance, Musical, Animation
• Cast:  Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Justin Timberlake
• Format:  Color, Widescreen Animation
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"I know what it's like to not feel ready for something.  Even ogres get scared, you know, once in awhile."  -- Shrek


"OK, girls, from here on out, we're gonna' take care of  business ourselves." -- Fiona

In the third Shrek installment, Fiona's father, the King, dies, and leaves Shrek as his heir.  But Shrek isn't ready, and thinks the kingdom won't accept an ogre as king -- so he finds out, on the king's deathbed, that there is another heir, Arthur.

Shrek decides to go with Donkey and Puss-in-Boots to find this lost heir.  Just before he leaves, Fiona tells him she's pregnant.  Shrek is nervous and slightly terrified at the prospect of  becoming a father.

Meanwhile, all the princesses and her mother give Fiona a baby shower.  This is thankfully interrupted by Prince Charming, who has gathered all the evil-doers in Far Far Away to attack the castle.  Charming, a frustrated actor who was failing at dinner theatre, is still trying to impress his mother, Fairy Godmother, by becoming king and taking over the kingdom.

Although Fiona, the Queen, and the princesses initially escape, they are betrayed by Rapunzel (who has made a deal with Charming to become his wife and defacto queen of  Far Far Away).  Once in a dungeon room, the princesses (Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty) all announce they will wait to be rescued.  Fiona thinks they should rescue themselves, but isn't sure how.  The Queen breaks them out of the dungeon cell -- and Fiona liberates the Princesses.  I loved this scene, especially the bra burning.  The Princesses, the Queen, and Fiona then attack the castle to rescue Shrek, and defeat Prince Charming.

However, during the final conflict at Charming's show (a play starring Charming and Rapunzel in which Charming defeats Shrek and wins the Princess), Shrek and Arthur convince all the villains they should be who they want to be, and fulfill their dreams.  Charming, however, is not taken in by this - as all he wants is control of  the kingdom.  Shrek and Artie  manage to defeat Charming.

Instead of the big musical number to end the film, this one has a montage of Shrek and Fiona as new parents to three little ogres.

Overall, I really liked the Liberation of  the Princesses part of this film (including the combat montage to "Barracuda"; the second plotline -- Shrek and Donkey (with Puss-in-Boots) on yet another quest to a distant  land felt like it had been done.  Charming's rousing of the villains was interesting - but by the end of  the film I actually felt kinda' sorry for Charming.  I think the film could have done a better job of  being fair to his character -- he almost became a cardboard villain so to speak.  Also, with a lost boy king named Arthur, I expected Arthurian/Holy Grail/etc type gags, but other than a psychedelic Merlin the film completely ignored that opportunity.

There also isn't as much in the way of  sight gags and verbal wordplay as their has been in the previous two films.

Recommendation:  See it
Rating:  3.5 out of 5 Stars
Next Film:  Shrek Forever After

Shrek 2

• Title:  Shrek 2
• Director:  Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, Conrad Vernon
• Date:  2004
• Studio:  Dreamworks Pictures
• Genre:  Animation, Musical, Romance, Comedy
• Cast:  Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Julie Andrews, Antonio Banderas, John Cleese, Jennifer Saunders
• Format:  Widescreen, Color Animation
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"Stop!  I have misjudged you!" -- Puss-in-Boots
"Join the club -- we have jackets."  -- Shrek
"On my honor, I am obliged to accompany you until I have saved your life and you have spared me mine." -- Puss-in-Boots
"I'm sorry, the position of annoying talking animal has already been taken."  -- Donkey

In the second Shrek movie, Fiona and Shrek return from their honeymoon to an invitation from Fiona's parents to go visit them in Fiona's home kingdom of  Far Far Away.  Fiona thinks this is a great idea and is sure her parents will love Shrek.  Shrek is considerably less sure, and is convinced meeting his in-laws will be a disaster.  They make the long and boring trip to Far Far Away (depicted as Hollywood) only to have the King and Queen be shocked that Fiona has married an ogre, especially the king.  Fairy Godmother, meanwhile, a conniving woman, plots to get her son, the swarmy mama's boy, Prince Charming married to Fiona, as the King had promised.

This round, it's Shrek's turn to show his insecurities, especially about his looks as an ogre.  He takes a potion which turns he and Fiona human (and Donkey into a white horse).  Fairy Godmother and the King try to get Fiona to fall for Charming, but in the end -- she tells Shrek she loves him.  And she wants to be with the ogre of  her dreams.

Like the first Shrek film, Shrek 2 is filled with great sight gags, inside jokes, word play, and reversals of typical Disney-style fairy tales.  It also pokes fun at the Hollywood Fairy Tale as well.  Puss-in-Boots, voiced by Antonio Banderas is a great addition to the cast.  And, like the first film, the music is great (particularly Fairy Godmother belting out a jazzy rendition of  "Holding Out for a Hero").

Recommendation:  See it!
Rating:  4 of 5 Stars
Next Film:  Shrek The Third

Shrek

• Title:  Shrek
• Directors:  Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson
• Date:  2001
• Studio:  Dreamworks Pictures
• Genre:  Animation, Musical, Comedy, Romance
• Cast:  Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Lithgow
• Format:  Color, Widescreen, Animated
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"Bachelorette Number Three is a fiery redhead from a dragon-guarded castle surrounded by hot boiling lava.  But don't let that cool you off.  She's a loaded pistol who likes pina coladas and getting caught in the rain.  Yours for the rescuing, Princess Fiona!"  -- Magic Mirror


"You know, Donkey, sometimes things are more than they appear."  -- Shrek


 "It's the world that seems to have a problem with me.  People take one look at me and go, 'Oh help, run!  A big, stupid, ugly, ogre.'  They judge me before they even know me.  That's why I'm better off alone."  -- Shrek

Shrek takes the typical Disney-style Fairy Tale and inverts it, casting the Ogre as the hero who must rescue the Princess.  But not only that, Shrek pokes great fun at Disney and as traditional Fairy Tales and even nursery rhymes.  It's almost lie watching a parody of  the Disney Fairy Tale genre; and the sight gags and verbal humor work very well.  But what Shrek is also about is being true to yourself, seeing yourself as beautiful for who and what you are, and coming to terms with the "real you".  And that is a very good message to be sending to kids and teenagers -- especially girls, but boys too.  Because, for all that Shrek seems to be comfortable with his Ogre lifestyle -- he's also completely alone.  And although at first he seems happy that way, very early on in the film, Donkey becomes his friend, and eventually Shrek and Fiona realize their feelings for each other and are married.  Or, at least, become a couple.

The film begins with a musical introduction of Shrek, a content and happy ogre.  When townspeople show up with pitchforks and burning torches -- he runs them off.  Meanwhile, all the fairy tale, magical, and even nursery rhyme characters are being rounded-up by Lord Farquaad.  Farquaad dumps these "unwanted creatures" in Shrek's swamp.  Shrek wants peace and quiet, so he goes off to Lord Farquaad's castle, fights off  the Lord's champion knights, and agrees to take on a quest:  he will rescue Princess Fiona, in return for Farquaad giving him his swamp back.

In a fairly standard fairy tale way, Shrek and Donkey get to the castle where Fiona is being held, rescue her and escape from the dragon.  However, the dragon is female and develops a crush on Donkey.  This will be important later in the story.

The way back to Farquaad's castle will take three days and nights.  And Fiona has a secret -- she refuses to let anyone see her at knight because of  a curse.  At night, Fiona turns into an ogress and thinks she's ugly and unlovable.  She wants to marry and experience "True love's first kiss" to break the curse.  Fiona also is adept at martial arts, doing the "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" thing to take out  Monsieur Robin Hood and his Merry Men.  Gradually, over time, Fiona and Shrek come to like each other, but there's a horrible misunderstanding, and Fiona chooses Lord Farquaad.  Meanwhile, Donkey has learned Fiona's secret.  Shrek also rejects Donkey, mostly due to the same misunderstanding.  Donkey, though, goes to confront Shrek and the two make-up and become friends again.  Donkey then sets Shrek straight, and the two are flown to Lord Farquaad's castle to stop the wedding.  Shrek interrupts the wedding, Fiona chooses Shrek and kisses him, and the curse is broken -- revealing her true form to be that of  an ogress.  Shrek and Fiona drive off  in an onion-shaped carriage.

Overall, Shrek is an excellent film.  It's very funny, it's got a good story, and the "moral" of  being true to yourself and learning to love who you really are is good for children, teens, and adults.   I recommend it.

Recommendation:  See it!
Rating:  4 out of  5 Stars
Next Film:  Shrek 2

Shall We Dance? (2004)

• Title:  Shall We Dance?
• Director:  Peter Chelsom
• Date:  2004
• Studio:  Miramax
• Genre:  Musical, Drama, Comedy
• Cast:  Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci
• Format:  Widescreen, Color
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"I like it when my feet hurt ... takes my mind off my knees." -- John Clark


"Then I started dancing, and I found I really liked it.  It made me happy."  -- John Clark

Shall We Dance? is not a re-make of  the film Shall We Dance starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.  However, it is an American version of the Japanese Altamira Pictures film, Shall We Dance, written by Masayuki Suo.  In this version, Richard Gere plays John Clark, a Chicago lawyer specializing in wills and probate, who's wife, Beverly (Susan Sarandon) works as a buyer for Sak's.  They have one or two daughters, and a very nice life.  And John is increasingly bored with his nice, comfortable, safe life.

Every day he takes the L train back and forth to his job in the city, and on the way home he is increasingly captivated by a woman he sees in the window of a dance studio.  One day he gets off  the train at the stop near the dance studio, wanders in, and signs up for dance classes.

To his chagrin, his assigned teacher isn't the mysterious woman he saw in the window, but the owner of the studio, Ms. Mitzi.  He continues with the class anyway, with a guy who is trying to pick-up women, and another vastly over-weight guy who wants to lose some weight and learn to dance to impress his would-be fiancee'.  Also, at the small studio is Bobbi -- a loud, abrasive, but lovable woman who is trying to get into professional ballroom dancing.  She works at Mitzi's as an instructor because Mitzi allows her to practice there whenever she wants.

The lessons continue, with John getting more and more into dancing.  He discovers, by accident, that one of his co-workers (Link Peterson, played by Stanley Tucci) loves ballroom dance and works to compete as an amateur.  Meanwhile, John's wife, Beverly, notices he's absent on Wednesdays (the night of  his class) and that his shirts suddenly smell of perfume.  After one of  her colleagues finds out her husband is having an affair, she gets suspicious -- and hires a private investigator and his assistant.

Paulina (Jennifer Lopez), the mysterious woman, teaches the class one night, when Ms. Mitzi can't make it, and that night John innocently asks her to dinner.  She refuses, and reads him the riot act.  But when he returns to class anyway, she's impressed.

Later, while standing outside an electronic store window, with TVs showing Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse in The Bandwagon.  John is convinced to be Bobbi's partner for the novice class for the Tattinger Ballroom competition.  John tries to learn the Latin dances for the competition, but finds them difficult and confusing and prefers to stick with traditional ballroom.  He convinces Link to partner with Bobbi for the Latin dances and he will do the traditional ones (Waltz and Quick Step).

Meanwhile, the PI and his assistant have informed Beverly that he husband isn't having an affair, he's taking dance lessons.  The PI invites her to the competition.

At the competition, Link and Bobbi and then John and Bobbi are doing well.  Even though another male dancer had pulled at Link's wig -- which he removes.  However, during the quickstep -- John gets distracted when Bobbi mentions that she thought she heard someone yell "Go Dad!".  When another couple collides with them on the dance floor, and John manages to step on and tear off  Bobbi's skirt -- it ends their chances at the competition.

Beverly confronts John.  However, eventually she gives him dancing shoes and a tux as a gift, and he shows-up at her job with a red rose.  They attend Paulina's going away party together.  Paulina returns to England and professional competitions.

The final montage sequence, starting with Paulina's party, and showing what happens to all the main players of the film is incredibly well done.  Even the PI is shown going to Mitzi's for dance lessons.

Shall We Dance? is a good film.  I enjoyed it.  Much of  the dancing, though, though they started and ended in full frame, was filmed in medium close-up with lots of  cutaways to other people in the scene, such as the people watching the dance.  Even scenes in Mitzi's studio had this problem, including a scene of  Paulina practicing by herself that would have been breath-taking if  the entire scene had been filmed full-frame.

I also liked Paulina's spoken description of  how she first found out about ballroom dance (her family works in a dry cleaner's).  A woman came in with a beautiful sequined costume.  Little Paulina was entranced by the dress, and was even more entranced when the woman invites them to see her compete and she watches the dance and falls in love with it.  Paulina had made it to the international competition in Blackpool, England, but something went wrong.  Teaching John and helping coach him and Bobbi for the competition, encourages her to go back to Blackpool with a new partner.

Recommendation:  See it
Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars
Next Film:  Sherlock Holmes

Shall We Dance (1937)

• Title:  Shall We Dance (1937)
• Director:  Mark Sandrich
• Date:  1937
• Studio:  RKO (Radio Pictures)
• Genre:  Musical, Romance
• Music:  George Gershwin
• Lyrics:  Ira Gershwin
• Cast:  Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton, Eric Blore
• Format:  Black and White, Standard
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"I told ya' I haven't even met her ... but I'd kinda' like to marry her."  -- Peter


"If  we get married now, I can start divorce proceedings in the morning."  -- Linda


"I be your pardon, but what are grounds for divorce in this state?"  --  Linda
"Marriage."  -- Law clerk

Shall We Dance is one of my three favorite Fred and Ginger musicals -- the dialogue is wonderfully witty, the plot, involving a secret marriage than isn't, and then is, is great fun, and the Gershwin score is simply marvelous.  The dances are incredible (though I wish Fred and Ginger had actually danced to "You Can't Take That Away From Me" rather than Fred merely singing it to Ginger).  Be sure to take note of  the wonderful "Art Deco" set for "Slap that Bass", and Fred and Ginger tap dancing on rollar skates to "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off".  My other two favorite Fred & Ginger musicals are "Top Hat" and "Swing Time".  Though, I must say, there are parts of all their musicals I enjoy.

Fred Astaire plays Peter P. Peters, a dancer who's discovered by Jeffrey (Horton) and becomes the star of a ballet in Paris, under the name, "Petrov".  Ginger Rogers, is musical comedy / Broadway star Linda Keene who's sick of  the "life" and her stream of unsuitable suitors.

Astaire sees a picture of  Linda and falls for her, so he tries to meet her in Paris.  But when he over-hears her complaining to her maid about all the unsuitable men who see her picture and then try to win her over, he introduces himself as "Petrov", with a very bad Russian accent, rather than Peter P. Peters from Philadelphia, Pa.

However, both soon sail for New York on the steamship Queen Anne.  It takes Peter a while, but his persistence pays off, and soon Linda falls for him.  Yet, when Jeffrey (Horton) tells a unsuitable suitor of Petrov's that he is secretly married to Ms. Keene, and Peter confirms it -- she lets the news slip, and soon the "secret marriage" is headline news.  When Ms. Keene is seen knitting on the ship deck (she's actually making a sweater for her dog), it adds fuel to the fire.  She erupts in anger at the rumors -- and blames Peter for them.

In New York, Peter and Linda are booked into adjoining suites, by the concierge (Blore) -- who, none-the-less keeps locking the door and pocketing the key as he's told the couple is not married.  Linda, however, has her own troubles -- the news media hounds her about her secret marriage; her manager wants to keep her on the stage or he'll lose his theatre, and the man she thinks she wants to marry is angry at her for "lying" about her "marriage to Petrov".  When the manager uses a mannequin of Linda to take pictures of Linda and Peter in bed (a twin no less) and publishes the pictures -- Linda's anger only grows, especially as her boyfriend dumps her.

Linda and Peter go to the park, have a date, and decide to marry in secret in New Jersey, for real, and then publicly divorce so Linda can marry who she wants.  But Peter's now in love with her.  When Linda finally serves him divorce papers, he finds him dancing with a stage full of "Linda Keenes" (dancers with masks).  She's impressed, and in the end Linda and Peter dance together and decide to stay married.

Musical Numbers

• Slap that Bass  -- Fred, vocals and dance
• Beginner's Luck -- Fred, vocals
• They All Laughed -- Ginger, vocals; Fred and Ginger, dance
• Let's Call the Whole Thing Off -- Fred and Ginger, vocals, Fred and Ginger, tap dance on rollar skates
• They Can't Take That Away from Me -- Fred, vocals
• Shall We Dance

Also, an opening sequence of Fred "practicing" alone, that's tap and ballet; and various other sequences of ballet that are "rehearsals".

Recommendation:  See It

Rating:  4.5 of 5 Stars

Next Film:  Shall We Dance (2004)

Royal Wedding

• Title:  Royal Wedding
• Director:  Stanley Donen
• Date:  1951
• Studio:  MGM
• Genre:  Musical, Romance
• Cast:  Fred Astaire, Jane Powell, Peter Lawford, Sarah Churchill, Keenan Wynn
• Format:  Standard, Technicolor
• DVD:  R1, NTSC

"Do I look like a gentleman?" -- Jaime, Anne's father
"Jaime, you look like a banker." -- Tom
"But do I look like a gentleman?" -- Jaime

Tom (Astaire) and Ellen (Powell) Bowen are a brother-sister Broadway act, with a hit show, "Every Night at Seven".  Their show is so successful that their agent gets a call from England, an offer for the two to open their show in London in time for the summer Royal Wedding (of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip).  Aboard the steamer ship bound for the UK, Ellen meets Lord John Brindale (Lawford), and the two begin to date once the ship reaches England.  Meanwhile, on the first day of casting and rehearsals in London, Tom bumps into Anne Ashmond (Sarah Churchill), and they also begin to date.  Eventually, the show, "Every Night at Seven" also opens in London.  Tom has one of  his contacts check out Anne's American fiance' who had returned to Chicago then failed to contact her - turns out he's now married.  This frees up Anne, and she proposes to Tom.  Meanwhile, Lord Brindale has also proposed to Ellen.  At first, Tom and Ellen are reluctant to marry and break up the act.  However, with "wedding fever" in the air because of  the Royal Wedding, they quickly change their minds and the film ends with the double wedding of  Tom and Anne and Ellen and John.

Royal Wedding seems, in part, to be drawn from parallels to Astaire's own real life -- he got his start first in vaudeville and then on Broadway, with his sister Adelle as his dance partner.  When she left the stage to marry, he wasn't sure what to do, before someone (thankfully!) suggested Hollywood, and the rest, as they say is history.  But by having Powell and Astaire playing brother and sister, rather than having them romantically linked, there's a playful side to this film that is enjoyable.  Some of  the scenes between the two are quite fun, and more of  their teasing and kidding each other could have vastly improved the film. The problem with the film is that MGM and Arthur Freed apparently love to play with toys and don't know when to put them away.  In one number, Astaire dances with a coat rack / hat stand and various pieces of  gym equipment in the steamer ship's gymnasium while waiting for Ellen to show for rehearsal.  In another, the floor Ellen and Tom are dancing on tilts wildly as the ship navigates rough waters.  And, finally, this is the film where Astaire dances on the walls and ceiling of  a room (as well as Anne's photo).  Astaire was a gifted, fluid, and graceful dancer -- yet in the "dance on the ceiling" routine, he looks uncomfortable and like he can barely manage the moves -- it's painful to watch.  Astaire doesn't need tricks - I wish MGM would just let the man dance in his later films (this is also why I much prefer Astaire's early work, especially when he was paired with Ginger Rogers).

Also, my copy of  this film is in horrible shape.  There's a "outdoor" scene between Powell and Lord Brindale which is very muddy and overly red.  Some restoration work wouldn't come amiss at all.

Finally, Powell sings three solos in this film -- and she can't sing.  I just don't enjoy her singing voice at all.  I will say, though, that her few dance scenes with Astaire, despite make-up and costumes that seem designed to make both her and Astaire look terrible, are good.  I  do think Jane has better chemistry with Astaire than Eleanor Powell did.  The Astiare/Powell brother/sister act is fun.

List of  Musical  Numbers

• "Every Night at Seven"  -- Astaire, Vocals; Astaire and Powell, Dance
• Musical number and dance, no vocals (Astaire dances with hat stand, gym equipment)
• "How Could You Believe I Love You"/"I'm a Liar" - Astaire and Powell, vocals and dance
• "You're the World to Me" -- Astaire with Anne's photo, dances on walls, ceiling
• "I Left My Hat in Haiti" -- Astaire, vocals and dance segues to production number
• "Lovely Day for a Wedding" -- Background

Recommendation:  It's OK, but disappointing

Rating:  3 of  5

Next Film:  Running Scared

Cabaret

• Title:  Cabaret
• Director:  Bob Fosse
• Date:  1972
• Studio:  Allied Artists (DVD released by Warner Bros.)
• Genre:  Musical, Drama
• Cast:  Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Joel Grey
• Format:  Technicolor, Widescreen
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"You can't stand Maximilian because he's everything you're not!  He doesn't have to give English lessons for three Marks an hour, he's rich!  And he knows about life, he doesn't read about it in books.  He's suave and he's divinely sexy.  And he really appreciates a woman!" -- Sally
"Oh screw Maximilian!" -- Brian
"I do." -- Sally
"So do I." -- Brian


"It's also an established fact, Herr Ludwig, there's also another well-organised group of  which you're obviously a member; the International Conspiracy of  horses asses!"  -- Brian

Cabaret as a film reminds me of  quote from Bax Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge:  It's the story of a time, it's the story of a place, [and] it's a story of love.  However, the love stories in Cabaret are more complicated and end less happily than the story in Moulin Rouge.  Set in 1931 in Berlin, Cabaret is the story of  the people that meet, come together, and leave at the Kit Kat Klub - a wild cabaret.  The main story is about Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli), an American Cabaret singer who wants to be an actress, Brian (Michael York), a British student who comes to Berlin with no money and teaches English to survive, Maximilian, a married, bisexual German Baron looking to fine anyone to fill his bed, Fritz a friend of Brian's who's hiding a few major secrets, and Natalia a rich Jewish woman who falls for Fritz. At the club, the all-knowing EmCee (Grey) rules.

The film draws you in slowly to it's story of  these diverse characters.  Sally, especially, is a fascinating young woman. The daughter of  an ambassador, she claims, she may have grown-up with wealth and privilege, but she  finds herself with a two-room apartment in a boarding house, working all day and singing at the Cabaret all night.  Sally drinks, smokes, and fools around.  In some ways, she's the female counterpart of  Joe Gideon in Fosse's other classic, All That Jazz.  And Sally has no problems letting everyone know just how willing she is to sleep with men to get whatever she can.  Quite by chance, she meets Brian, and the two become friends then lovers.

However, before long the two meet Maximilian.  Sally immediately begins sleeping with him, simply because he showers her with gifts and money.  Brian, who had explained to Sally that he had slept with three women before and all were disasters, and has now fallen for Sally, is also taken under Maximilian's spell, especially when the three of  them spend a "dirty weekend" together at Maximilian's country house.

Brian also meets and befriends Fritz, a shy German, who comes to him to learn English. Fritz falls for Natalia, another of  Brian's students but it's Sally who gives Fritz advice about how to get Natalia interested in him, since she keeps turning him down flat.  Eventually, Natalia calls Sally to her house and confesses she is also in love with Fritz but the relationship is impossible.

Throughout the film, the action is intercut with the entertainment at the Kir Kat Club, all introduced by the mysterious EmCee, including Sally's musical numbers.  The Club will put anything on the stage -- female dancers and singers; female mud wrestlers; a parody of  German folk singers; a duet between the EmCee and a guy in a Gorilla suit dressed as a ballerina.  Nothing is scared and everything goes at the Cabaret.  However, when the film does cut to the Cabaret, often whatever's on stage parallels the dramatic storyline.  This intercutting is Fosse's true genius.

When Sally discovers she's pregnant, she tells Brian, also telling him she will have to sell the fur coat Maximilian gave her to pay for an abortion.  When Brian asks who the father is - Sally insists she doesn't know.  And considering she's been sleeping with Brian, Maximilian, and other men she's picked up at the club, she honestly does not.  Brian proposes, and insists that he doesn't care -- he'll help her raise the baby no matter what.  They can return to Cambridge, and he will get his teaching Fellowship.  At first, Sally agrees.

Meanwhile, Fritz and Natalia's relationship is at an standstill, and Natalia insists it can't continue.  But Fritz admits to Brian that he's secretly Jewish.  When he came to Berlin, on the papers he filed, he had listed his religion as Protestant, but he isn't.  Brian convinces him to tell Natalia.  Fritz does that, and Sally and Brian witness the wedding.

However, despite Brian's wishes, Sally is full of doubt.  She spends a night at the Cabaret, having an unheard conversation with the EmCee.  When she returns to Brian that night, she's without her fur coat.  Brian badgers her until she admits she did have the abortion.  Brian is livid - and decides to leave her.  Before long, he's returning to Cambridge.  Sally goes back to the Cabaret, and that night belts out a triumphant version of the film's title tune, "Cabaret".  We finally see just how much Sally loves the stage, as she comes to life on stage, more glowingly alive than at any part previously in the film -- and this for an independently spirited woman who is the exact opposite of a shrinking violet.  However, Sally's pure happiness on the stage will be short-lived, the film ends with reflections seen through the glass side divider of  the Cabaret stage of  the Nazis in the audience.  Soon the lives of  everyone in the film will be in danger; and most of  them, even Sally will probably  be dead.  It's a haunting ending.

There is also a chilling scene earlier in the picture, on the way back from their dirty weekend, Maximilian, Brian, and Sally are at some sort of outdoor German festival.  There, a Hitler youth stands and sings "Tomorrow Belongs to Me", a patriotic German song.  At first alone, soon others stand and join in.  By the end of  the song, nearly all the young people in the audience are standing and singing.  Most of  the older people remain sitting, however.  It's a frightening visual and auditory illustration of  exactly what is happening in Germany.  Brian, seeing the display, gathers Sally and Maximilian and leaves.

In another scene, Brian gets in an argument with his German co-boarders at Sally's boarding house.  He goes out in the street and a Nazi party member tries to foist a Nazi paper on him.  Brian refuses it, yells at the Nazi, then knocks over the flag.  He's beaten senseless for his trouble.

The owner of  the Kit Kat Club had also kicked some Nazis out of  the club -- he's also beaten senseless for his actions.

But the brilliance of  Cabaret is in it's use of  intercutting -- the songs that Sally or the EmCee or both sing at the club are often intercut with and reflect the dramatic plot; but they don't illustrate the plot.  This isn't a musical where plot points are sung - it's almost as if the music of  the club is the background to the storyline.  And the club is a wild place, a place of  the underworld, but a place of ships passing in the night.  Also, throughout all the club numbers and performances - the audience sees figures walking between the camera and the Cabaret stage, almost as if  we are in a club and people are moving around.  There is also the sound of  talking, clinking glasses, clapping, laughing, etc.  The people moving between the camera and the stage also provides a wipe point for editing.

List of  Musical Numbers

• Mien Herr - Liza Minnelli
• Everybody Loves a Winner - Liza Minnelli
• The Money Song (Money Makes the World Go 'round) - Minnelli and Grey
• Two Ladies - Grey
• Tomorrow Belongs to Me - Hitler Youth (and it's terrifying)
• Cabaret - Liza Minnelli

Recommendation:  See it!

Rating:  4 Stars

Next Film:  Royal Wedding