So think of a movie musical like "Oklahoma!" and how glorious it is whenever it bursts into song and dance. Fun, isn't it? Now imagine that a genius studio head decided no one would like "Oklahoma!" if it had songs, and so ordered them all to be removed. Imagine what would be left of poor "Oklahoma!" if it were no longer a musical. It certainly wouldn't have an exclamation point at the end of its title anymore.
That's what happened to "Fanny," a Broadway musical that was turned into a non-musical in its transition to screen. The result is a film in which clearly everything that made this story worth telling was left at the stage door, and everything that made it impossible to sit through made the leap unscathed. Seriously, are we supposed to give a rat's ass about anything happening on screen?
The only thing that keeps "Fanny" from being an utter waste of your time are the loveliness of Leslie Caron in the title role and the showbiz chops of Charles Boyer and Maurice Chevalier as two old dudes stuck in a terrible story on the European seaside. Don't get me wrong -- it's still a waste of your time, but it's less of a waste than if the film had starred terrible actors instead. And to add insult to injury, this is one of those auditory atrocities from the 1960s in which 90% of the film's dialogue was re-recorded in post production, so it feels like watching a foreign film that's been dubbed.
"Fanny" was mysteriously nominated for five Academy Awards in 1961 -- Best Picture(!!), Best Actor (Boyer), Best Color Cinematography, Best Film Editing, and Best Dramatic or Comedy Score -- and I can't bring myself to understand how it earned any of them. Best Picture?!! Was there not a single better movie made in 1961 aside from the four the Academy had already nominated?
Grade: D-
That's what happened to "Fanny," a Broadway musical that was turned into a non-musical in its transition to screen. The result is a film in which clearly everything that made this story worth telling was left at the stage door, and everything that made it impossible to sit through made the leap unscathed. Seriously, are we supposed to give a rat's ass about anything happening on screen?
The only thing that keeps "Fanny" from being an utter waste of your time are the loveliness of Leslie Caron in the title role and the showbiz chops of Charles Boyer and Maurice Chevalier as two old dudes stuck in a terrible story on the European seaside. Don't get me wrong -- it's still a waste of your time, but it's less of a waste than if the film had starred terrible actors instead. And to add insult to injury, this is one of those auditory atrocities from the 1960s in which 90% of the film's dialogue was re-recorded in post production, so it feels like watching a foreign film that's been dubbed.
"Fanny" was mysteriously nominated for five Academy Awards in 1961 -- Best Picture(!!), Best Actor (Boyer), Best Color Cinematography, Best Film Editing, and Best Dramatic or Comedy Score -- and I can't bring myself to understand how it earned any of them. Best Picture?!! Was there not a single better movie made in 1961 aside from the four the Academy had already nominated?
Grade: D-