What do you think of the cast of the new Anna Karenina film?

West Side Story is terrible. Of course many critics like it, because (in my opinion) they think it "highbrow". It's an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, and the music is by a classical composer, Leonard Bernstein. Nonetheless, the score is sappy mush (can anyone listen to "I Feel Pretty" without being nauseated). The cast is terrible - neither of the leads can act or sing. And the script is ridiculous. When one's mind's ear hears, "Oh, I am fortune's fool", the movie's hero shouts, "Maria!" over and over.

A few of the songs and dance numbers are OK, but in general the movie is not even close to Singin' in the Rain. Complaining about a lack of narrative in a Musical is like complaining about a lack of singing in a tragic drama. It's all about the songs and dances. The light-hearted, jazz oriented numbers in Singin' blow away the balletic schmaltz in West Side. I never saw West Side Story on the stage, and, by reports, the dancing was innovative. In the movie, it doesn't work. It's meant to capture the teen angst of disaffected youth -- but the gang members look more like ballerinas than dissaffected youths. The best number is the one backstage number -- the dance in the gymn.

"Say it loud and there's music playing / Say it soft and it's almost like praying..." Barf!

I'll grant that mine is not a standard opinion (the movie won the Oscar), but it is the opinion of a huge movie-musical fan (me). Nothing in West Side Story comes even close to the "Singin' in the Rain" number or the long "Broadway Melody" ballet at the end (starring the incomparable Cyd Charisse, who also starred in the superb "Band Wagon").

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Originally Posted by Ecurb

Nothing in West Side Story comes even close to the "Singin' in the Rain" number or the long "Broadway Melody" ballet at the end (starring the incomparable Cyd Charisse, who also starred in the superb "Band Wagon").

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I agree completely. The "Broadway Melody" is a work of genius, the long fifteen or so minutes which contains nearly no raison d'etre is highly reminiscent of Busby Berkley, the man who would use a musical sequence in order to express formative techniques.

Having a fifteen minute dance sequence isn't unprecedented. The Red Shoes had a seventeen minute fantasy ballet. I do like fantasy ballets though :D The score for West Side Story is awesome. That opening music that goes into the Jets song... very dramatic. You may not like some of the lyrics but the music is classic. How can you not feel emotional during 'Tonight' or 'Somewhere'? 'Somewhere' is very moving in that scene right at the end: "There's a place for us/Somewhere a place for us". Maria believes that there will be somewhere where they are free to love, a place where prejudice and violence cannot destroy their love.

'Maria' needs a man with a knockout voice because the whole song rests on delivering those killer notes. I have a recording of that song that's so emotive and powerful...the man dubbing Richard Beymer didn't do justice to it.

As for the lyrics of 'I Feel Pretty', they're sung by a teenage girl. They convey the sort of delirious feeling of a 'first love'. The other characters even tell Maria that she's gone a bit cuckoo.

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Originally Posted by kelby_lake

Having a fifteen minute dance sequence isn't unprecedented. The Red Shoes had a seventeen minute fantasy ballet. I do like fantasy ballets though :D The score for West Side Story is awesome. That opening music that goes into the Jets song... very dramatic. You may not like some of the lyrics but the music is classic. How can you not feel emotional during 'Tonight' or 'Somewhere'? 'Somewhere' is very moving in that scene right at the end: "There's a place for us/Somewhere a place for us". Maria believes that there will be somewhere where they are free to love, a place where prejudice and violence cannot destroy their love.

'Maria' needs a man with a knockout voice because the whole song rests on delivering those killer notes. I have a recording of that song that's so emotive and powerful...the man dubbing Richard Beymer didn't do justice to it.

As for the lyrics of 'I Feel Pretty', they're sung by a teenage girl. They convey the sort of delirious feeling of a 'first love'. The other characters even tell Maria that she's gone a bit cuckoo.

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It's all a matter of taste, I suppose, but "Tonight" and "Somewhere" are pure mush, as far as I'm concerned. They lack the wit (both musically and lyrically, despite Sondheim) of the classic Broadway songs. Rogers and Hart, Berlin, Porter, Arlen, Gershwin or Kern wrote dozens and dozens of far better tunes. I'll give you the Dance in the Gym and "America" as pretty good numbers.

I never suggested that the long Ballet in Singin' was unique (I can't remember the time line, but American in Paris and Band Wagon both had ballet scenes, and the ballet 20 years earlier in Follow the Fleet (Fred and Ginger, to Irving Berlin's fabulous "Let's Face the Music and Dance) is as good as any of them. Of course I love "Red Shoes" (I like ballet as well as I like musicals), and it leads me to another point: The musical as an art-form lends itself to light-hearted shows. There can be some tragedy or trauma, but it's a "light" art-form. There's a beautiful Prokofiev ballet version of Romeo and Juliet, and Gounod wrote an opera which I haven't seen. I know Les Miz was a big hit (and I loved it), but in general opera and ballet are more suited to great tragedies than musicals. Les Miz worked because it was basically half opera, half musical.

One reason Berkley and Minelli were great musical comedy directors is that they promoted a light-hearted, joyful character in their filming. Minelli knew that the emotional resonance of the movie was in the songs, and he set them up to score points with the audience. By the way, Minelli met Judy Garland on the set of "Strike Up the Band", directed by Busby Berkley (great movie, by the way).

To bring the conversation full circle: there have also been both opera and ballet versions of Anna Karennina. A movie -- especially one starring Keira Knightley -- isn't going to cut it (neither would a musical).

I agree with Kelby, West Side Story is one of the best musicals ever composed, and the film is one of the best musical films.

Although, I think Bob Fosse's work with Cabaret and All That Jazz is the high point of musicals in film. Also, I think Fosse's work show that the musical can indeed be put to use for more than light comedic stories.

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Originally Posted by OrphanPip

Although, I think Bob Fosse's work with Cabaret and All That Jazz is the high point of musicals in film. Also, I think Fosse's work show that the musical can indeed be put to use for more than light comedic stories.

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Definitely. I love Cabaret.

This attitude might be a bit dated but I really admire Rodgers and Hammerstein for making musicals dramatic. A more accessible type of opera perhaps. But of course the dramatic musical began with Show Boat.

I love Caberet, too. Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood have to be the two worst stars in any musical. They can't sing,they can't dance and they can't act. I prefer Kiss me Kate for a Shakesperean musical. Look for Bob Fosse as one of Bianca's suitors. (I'll admit that Katherine Grayson is lousy, but even she is better than Natalie.

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Originally Posted by kelby_lake

Having a fifteen minute dance sequence isn't unprecedented. The Red Shoes had a seventeen minute fantasy ballet.

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I never did claim that Singin in the Rain was one of the first musicals to do such a thing, I only claimed that it did it masterfully. 42nd Street had quite a long climactic musical sequence for being one of the first great musicals. It also contains an often parodied/alluded to shot (a camera dollying under the legs of countless women). The musical sequences were directed by Berkely, I believe.

On another note, The Red Shoes happens to be a superb achievement in British Cinema. It is their equivalent of Singing in the Rain although by no means is it on the level of Singing in the Rain.

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I agree with Kelby, West Side Story is one of the best musicals ever composed, and the film is one of the best musical films.

Although, I think Bob Fosse's work with Cabaret and All That Jazz is the high point of musicals in film. Also, I think Fosse's work show that the musical can indeed be put to use for more than light comedic stories.

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It depends on what the range of "best" is. It is a good musical, without a doubt.

Fosse was quite the musical genius. Cabaret is a musical masterpiece. While All That Jazz is a great musical, it suffers horribly in terms of originality. The fact that the film happens to be semi-autobiographic, and that it contains a convoluted narrative structure brings far too many parallels to Fellini's masterpiece. It's great to allude to, or homage a favorite director, but not when it reaches the extremity of every single critic being able to spot it a mile away.

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Originally Posted by Ecurb

I prefer Kiss me Kate for a Shakesperean musical. Look for Bob Fosse as one of Bianca's suitors. (I'll admit that Katherine Grayson is lousy, but even she is better than Natalie.

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I think Kiss Me Kate is great. I wouldn't call Katherine Grayson lousy but I'm not a fan of her very operatic singing voice. It worked for Show Boat but not for Kiss Me Kate. The dancing in Kiss Me Kate is superb: particularly Too Darn Hot, Tom, Dick and Harry, and From This Moment On. And Cole Porter's lyrics play nicely with Shakespeare's language.

The Grayson version of Showboat can't compete with the30s version starring Helen Morgan, Paul Robson and Irene Dunne. Morgan was one of the greats, and Showboat provides afilmed record of her greatness. Also, she was actually black._

Bump, seeing as it went off-topic :)

Here's what I don't understand: Apparently the last Twilight and Harry Potter books are so long and epic that they needed to split them up into two movies...Yet, somehow, Anna ****ing Karenina only deserves one.

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Originally Posted by Desolation

Here's what I don't understand: Apparently the last Twilight and Harry Potter books are so long and epic that they needed to split them up into two movies...Yet, somehow, Anna ****ing Karenina only deserves one.

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Crazy, hey? But the box office know that they could have split Twilight and HP into 5 films and people would have gone to see each one.

It's a shame that Karenina doesn't have the name recognition to be given a decent adaptation. But, maybe they can still make a good movie out of it in one shot.

On the other end of the spectrum, though, The Great Gatsby is being made with a $150 million dollar budget, and is set to be released in 3D.

I just don't get Hollywood...

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Originally Posted by Playtime

Yep. Money and lack of ingenuity/originality. They want something that can make money and is relatively low risk, and the common way to do this is sequels/adaptations/prequels/remakes/reboots.

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Amen. Seems like that's the only thing on the menu anymore: adaptations that are infinitely inferior to earlier ones, toilet humor comedies, and sci-fi thrillers with juvenile scripts and ridiculous plots. The King's Speech was good, but great films seem to be like red diamonds these days. I watch foreign films almost exclusively now...

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