I'm not a big fan of vintage Hollywood musicals any more and can only return, even if with trepidation, to just a handful of classic titles. For that reason, I haven't watched one in ages
but this film had always been a highly-touted example of the genre being also more adult than usual, with a social theme involving an impending factory strike so, I decided to give it a go. That said, my adjustment to the schmaltzy style which so characterizes musicals of this era wasn't immediate...
However, there's no denying that the songs by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross are splendid even if I preferred the more intimate numbers; likewise, Bob Fosse's choreography felt impersonal for the most part (though I was, admittedly, conditioned by the fact that I'd seen the musicals he later directed which exhibited a definite, and unique, stylization to the dance steps prior to this one!). Anyway, the best musical sequences are: Doris Day's "I'm Not At All In Love", John Raitt's melancholy "Hey There" (later reprised by Day), "Steam Heat" (a recognizably Fosse number highlighting Carol Haney) and the stylish "Hernando's Hideaway" (though, in retrospect, it seemed silly to me that the latter is ostensibly a "secluded place" and yet all the factory-workers seem to hang out there!).
The cast, of course, is headed by Day (ideally cast here as the head of the factory's "Grievance Committee", with the film itself generally considered as her best); many of her fellow performers had originated their characters during the show's Broadway run including leading man John Raitt (rather stolid in his only major film role), Eddie Foy Jr. (as the burly manager at the factory whose fits of jealousy and penchant for throwing knives could turn dangerous when he's had one drink too many!) and Carol Haney (as the latter's fiancé and the factory-boss' secretary in what proved to be her last film, as she died quite young).
Ultimately, the film isn't up to Donen's best (and better-known) musicals such as ON THE TOWN (1949), SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952) and SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954) nor do I see myself watching it as frequently as his two delightful imitation-Hitchcock comedy-thrillers, namely CHARADE (1963) and ARABAESQUE (1966). Still, even if I wasn't quite as enthused with the film as I'd hoped, I'd still like to catch the same team's follow-up musical DAMN YANKEES (1958), if anything for its Faustian overtones.
However, there's no denying that the songs by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross are splendid even if I preferred the more intimate numbers; likewise, Bob Fosse's choreography felt impersonal for the most part (though I was, admittedly, conditioned by the fact that I'd seen the musicals he later directed which exhibited a definite, and unique, stylization to the dance steps prior to this one!). Anyway, the best musical sequences are: Doris Day's "I'm Not At All In Love", John Raitt's melancholy "Hey There" (later reprised by Day), "Steam Heat" (a recognizably Fosse number highlighting Carol Haney) and the stylish "Hernando's Hideaway" (though, in retrospect, it seemed silly to me that the latter is ostensibly a "secluded place" and yet all the factory-workers seem to hang out there!).
The cast, of course, is headed by Day (ideally cast here as the head of the factory's "Grievance Committee", with the film itself generally considered as her best); many of her fellow performers had originated their characters during the show's Broadway run including leading man John Raitt (rather stolid in his only major film role), Eddie Foy Jr. (as the burly manager at the factory whose fits of jealousy and penchant for throwing knives could turn dangerous when he's had one drink too many!) and Carol Haney (as the latter's fiancé and the factory-boss' secretary in what proved to be her last film, as she died quite young).
Ultimately, the film isn't up to Donen's best (and better-known) musicals such as ON THE TOWN (1949), SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952) and SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954) nor do I see myself watching it as frequently as his two delightful imitation-Hitchcock comedy-thrillers, namely CHARADE (1963) and ARABAESQUE (1966). Still, even if I wasn't quite as enthused with the film as I'd hoped, I'd still like to catch the same team's follow-up musical DAMN YANKEES (1958), if anything for its Faustian overtones.