User Reviews

"Bells are Ringing" is a must for Judy Holliday's fans. The bubbly star of some of the best comedies of the fifties, is the main reason for watching this musical, directed by Vincente Minnelli. Betty Comden and Adolph Green were the creators of the book and lyrics with music by Jule Styne.

The film was an excuse for showcasing Ms. Holliday and Dean Martin, who took over Sydney Chaplin's role. The two stars show an easy chemistry in their scenes together, even though the transfer to the screen seems somehow clumsy coming from an experienced director of musicals like Mr. Minnelli.

"Bells are Ringing" is a nostalgic look at the New York of the 1950s. It was quite a status symbol to have an answering service in those days before the automatic devices of today. There is a hilarious second plot involving illegal gambling by linking classical music works to the different races in several horse race tracks that are channeled through Susanswerphone service, which makes the police Ella is involved in the scheme.

Judy Holliday gave a tremendous performance in the film as the kind, but somehow naive Ella. Dean Martin is fine also as the blocked writer. In supporting roles Eddie Foy Jr., Jean Stapleton, and Dean Clark, are seen among others.

If I really loved musicals, I would have probably scored the movie a 9. In fact, that I scored it as high as an 8 is an indication that, for the genre, it was a heck of a film. That's because the story apart from the songs is very sweet and romantic. Plus, the actors are so appealing and good that this certainly improved the film a lot. Judy Holliday was at her best and Dean Martin certainly was able to keep up with her and I really liked him more in this musical than as a comedian. Despite films like MATT HELM, he was a good actor and singer. Now, concerning the songs, it's rare that I have seen a musical with so many songs I have never heard before! But, after hearing them, I liked them a lot more than many of the more famous Rogers and Hammerstein musical scores from other pictures. This is because in addition to having nice music, the words were so often funny and charming. I particularly liked the song all the bookies sang as well as the name-dropping song! They were terrific.

The only thing is that watching the film I felt pretty depressed, as I knew that this was Ms. Holliday's last film--cancer limited her ability to act until she eventually succumbed six years later. It's a shame, as I loved her in so many wonderful films.

Since the play, "Laurette," was never realized, the movie version of "Bells are Ringing" serves as Judy Holliday's "final" performance.

It's to her credit that she comes off as well as she does. The film is extremely stagey, and looks contrived and bloated, despite a most competent cast and director.

Yet Holliday is buoyant, full of fun, and energetic--all hallmarks of her theatrical persona.

I've read Holliday's complete bio, and am amazed she was able to overcome the tremendous obstacles she endured, from her sad childhood and family relationship through the communist "witch hunt" period--which left her saddled with protest pickets that followed her around--to failed marriages, lack of employment, and care giving responsibilities for her child and parent. All the while working wherever she could and keep smiling.

In many respects her career is quite similar to that of Montgomery Clift. Both apparently gave their best work on the stage, night after night before live audiences, rather than on film. Had both stayed in the theatre, their respective careers and lives might have remained more stable and healthy--and be alive today.

"Bells are Ringing" is a final tribute to a great talent, an Oscar-winning actress and comedienne who graced the stage and screen with a radiant presence and winning demeanor. Fortunately, as long as her films are shown, Judy Holliday will live and be rediscovered by future generations.

Fans of Dean Martino and Judy Holliday (né Tuvim) will enjoy this musical. I am a fan of both of them so I could overlook the awkward staging of the Susanswerphone set, the believeability of Maritn as a writer and the dead weight of the subplot involving the racketeers. Still there are some well-sung songs and good, if not great chemistry, between the stars. For non-fans: 6/10. For fans: 7/10.

Director Vincente Minnelli gets this stagy adaptation of the Broadway success off to a splashy start; however, like most musicals helmed by the erratic Minnelli, he never quite lives up to that colorful opening. Beginning with a succession of ringing rotary phones--all in kicky colors--the prelude acts as an advertisement for Susanswerphone, a telephone answering service. It looks as though this going be pure genius, until we find out that nervously-wired Judy Holliday is the only operator Susanswerphone seems to have (and she's the kooky type, getting involved in other people's lives because she has nothing going on in her own). Holliday is in love with one of the clients, a Broadway playwright who thinks he's washed up, and feels guilty about dating him under an alias, but her situation doesn't seem exceptionally dire. Dean Martin (miscast) sings a nice, funny version of "Just in Time" with Holliday, but otherwise hasn't much to offer. The stale plot, trite and cozy-contrived, gets a boost from the musical moments, but even those are not staged with much excitement. Too bad...Susanswerphone had great possibilities. **1/2 from ****

In contrast to the guy who wrote the comment on the main page in this board, I saw this movie and I really enjoyed it. I had never seen a Judy Holliday movie before and I was totally taken in by her charm and good acting. Dean Martin (a favorite of mine) showed his usual suave personality and I thought he was perfect for the role. The songs and the choreography are excellent. I just love the mood of this movie and its message of healthy humanism, whether or not it's something I really believe in. I like the scene where Judy and Dean say hello and introduce themselves to the man on the street. Also of note is Minnelli's smart direction. One of the best musicals of the 60s, sadly one of the last.

First, let me say that I am a fan of Judy Holliday. She displays her broad array of talents in this film, but that is about all this film has going for it. See "Born Yesterday" for a vehicle that better uses her abilities. In that movie, Judy's romantic interest was William Holden, and the chemistry was there. In "Bells are Ringing" her romantic interest is Dean Martin. I felt no magnetism between the two. And I felt that he was unsuited for this role. It was interesting that Dean's character, a writer named Jeffrey Moss, was afraid of failure in the wake of losing his former partner, with whom he had success. Dean himself was only 3 years beyond his split with Jerry Lewis, and must have wondered--at first--if he could duplicate the tremendous successes they had as a team.

Jeffrey Moss, when we first meet him, is in his bachelor flat, surrounded by used glasses, presumably used for alcohol consumption. And he has three cigarettes smoking at the same time. He is obviously used to drinking around the clock and seems to have little if any genuine affection for the numerous women in his life. He is a writer frozen with fear of failure and looks to be on the road to achieving that end.

The concept that Ella, played by Judy, interjects herself into his life and becomes his muse is a good one. But their relationship works only on that professional level. No sparks ensue. Martin's character did not even seem to know anything about Ella, let alone have any deep feelings for her as a woman.

The story itself is very dated, but interesting because of that. The conventions of 1960 as sometimes funny, sometimes ridiculous. Note that the men from Vice equate modeling and a red dress with prostitution, though film standards prevent them from using that word. New York City is caricatured as an emotionally cold city, where buildings from the past are destroyed to make way for buildings of steel and neon lights. It was probably totally believable because it was partially true.

I noted the movie sign for "Gigi", which--like this film--was an Arthur Freed production.

Frank Gorshin got to use his Brando impersonation, delightfully, in his role as the aspiring actor Blake Barton.

Some of the off-screen voices that Ella converses with sound like they could have been voiced by Judy herself.

I thought I detected similarities to "Guys and Dolls" (1955) and "Li'l Abner" (1959)), which is no criticism, just an observation. And Judy's performance makes me wonder if Streisand ("Funny Girl" in 1965) might have seen her performance.

I read elsewhere online that one viewer thought the dance in the park by Martin and Holliday was the best part of the film. For me, the number was painful to watch, in part due to their lack of emotional attachment, in part because it seemed so contrived.

Colorful cinematography, excellent story line along the lines of a modern day Cinderella in which Judy Holliday plays a telephone operator for an answering service while she gets to know some of her clients, especially Dean Martin who is a struggling playwright that Judy falls in love with.

It has a great supporting cast too but no one can hold a candle to Judy Holliday, including Dean Martin.

It was very unfortunate that we lost Judy to her battle with cancer far too long. She would have been making more entertaining films well into her 80's otherwise. She was one of a kind.

I give the film a 7 out of 10 IMDB rating. I would have rated it higher if some of the songs in this musical were more memorable.

I'm a big Dean Martin fan, but this movie is annoying to listen to and even harder to watch. I kept thinking it would get better, but it actually got worse as it went along. I can't believe I held out watching it until the end, but I thought I might as well give it the old college try. Sorry, but this movie is a great big thumbs down for me. 👎🏼👎🏼

Arthur Freed's final musical production for MGM was this very bright musical comedy from Jule Styne-Betty Comden-Adolph Green, Bells Are Ringing. Sadly this was also the farewell film performance of Judy Holliday who was playing the role of Ella Peterson which she had created on Broadway.

Bells Are Ringing ran for 924 performances on Broadway from 1956 to 1959 and won a few Tony Awards including one for Judy Holliday as Best Actress. I'm sure the Tony went well with the Oscar she won for Born Yesterday up on her mantel.

According to a book about Arthur Freed and the films he produced at MGM, Bells Are Ringing was not an easy shoot. Judy Holliday was suffering a lot of health problems with bladder and kidney. In that sequence where she goes on a blind date and her dress catches on fire, Holliday was actually burned. And she had a constant battle with her weight.

Her leading man on Broadway was Charlie Chaplin's son, Sydney who also won a Tony Award and with whom she was involved with. MGM wanted a name with a bit more box office to it, so Dean Martin was cast as playwright Jeffrey Moss. Holliday got along with Dean, but she felt him to lackadaisical in his attitude. That might have been a problem later on, but certainly not here. I'm sure she'd have preferred Sydney Chaplin to work with again.

With the advances in telecommunications, Bells Are Ringing at this point has an almost quaint nostalgic look to it. I'm sure young viewers now who use cellphones and text messaging and have automatic answering systems built in to phones wouldn't even understand what an answering service was all about.

They certainly all weren't like Susanswerphone which is run by Jean Stapleton and employs two other people including Judy Holliday. Despite warnings by Jean to just take messages and a visit by police inspector Dort Clark who misreads what's going on at the Susanswerphone switchboard, Judy is a compulsive do-gooder who insists on meddling in the lives of her customers.

But she does it in such a sweet and winning way, Holliday creates one of the great screen characters and like Billie Dawn from Born Yesterday, one that originated on the stage. In one way Bells Are Ringing is a modern story, it's almost like an internet chatroom with Holliday running the board.

Besides Judy, Jean Stapleton, Dort Clark, and Bernie West who plays the frustrated songwriting dentist all repeat their roles from the original Broadway cast. Freed and director Vincent Minnelli pulled off some real casting gems for some of the other parts. Fred Clark as the producer who's trying to get a play out of Dino, Eddie Foy, Jr. as the dapper conman/bookie who is romancing Stapleton and whose activities arouse the police suspicions in the first place, and Frank Gorshin who I love best playing a second rate Marlon Brando imitator of a method actor.

Most of the musical score remained intact here. Arthur Freed would have been lynched had he attempted to bring Bells Are Ringing to the screen without Just In Time and The Party's Over. The last has become an automatic item the way Goodnight Sweetheart used to be signaling the end of an evening's festivities. And I do so like the Drop That Name number, try to see how many celebrities get their named dropped in that song.

Despite the problems it had with shooting, Bells Are Ringing is certainly a fitting climax for Arthur Freed's career as a producer. Judy Holliday made no more films, but did have another Broadway show, Hot Spot which did not have a long run. What a terrible tragedy, one so talented left us at age 44.

Still her fans can treasure her memory and her art in watching among other of her films, Bells Are Ringing.

This is Judy's movie and she gives Dean a run for his money as she plays the bubbly telephonist who pries in other people's affairs with a helping hand. Sadly it was her last film. A talented woman who was not afraid to be unglamorous!

Admission: I did not complete the film, as I found it unwatchable. After a fairly strong start-largely driven by decent writing and Holliday's undeniable screen presence-it rapidly devolved into uninspired contrivance and lifeless musical numbers. A sad bookend to the perfection of "Born Yesterday"

Made late in the cycle of great MGM musicals, with the reliable producer-director combo of Arthur Freed and Vincente Minnelli, this is a fairly clunky adaptation of a Broadway hit. Despite some location filming, it looks stagebound, and the stylized playing and jerrybuilt musical-comedy plot look false as hell. Some excellent musical numbers from the original are badly truncated or left out entirely, and what's left is grotesquely over-orchestrated. One senses that Minnelli, in particular, didn't trust the material--look at how quickly he dispenses with the "Mu-Cha-Cha" number, seemingly embarrassed by its musical-comedy silliness--and the supporting cast seems to be playing to the second balcony.

That's the bad news; now we get, thank heaven, to Judy Holliday. Having played this part on Broadway for two years and toured with it longer, she looks amazingly spontaneous. Given her health problems at the time, she looks happy and healthy. And while we can't expect to experience her legendary warmth and charisma as stage audiences did, it's an incomparable performance. Every reaction, every inflection, every seemingly improvised movement rings true and lends depth and poignancy to a paper-thin character traipsing around in a contrived plot. What a lesson for any young actor in transforming everyday material into something memorable. My favorite moment comes early, when she's reclining on a sofa and looks up dreamily and starts singing, a capella and with perfect naturalism, "I'm in love..." I'm in love, too, Judy. We miss you.

A cute little musical. Judy Holliday's performance, charming nature, innocence and comedy are what really make this enjoyable. At the same time, the innocence she shows feels a bit too much a lot because she looks old for the part. I'm not saying she looks like an old lady, she looks absolutely stunning, but nearing 40, she doesn't look like she's in her early twenties, her face doesn't have the innocent young woman look and would suit more of a confident look. But considering the romantic movies of that time where 40-50-year-old men acted against 20-year-old women, this was a nice change nonetheless.

Bella Are Ringing (1960) : Brief Review -

Judy Holliday is magically gorgeous in Vincente Minnelli's call centre romantic musical. Okay, so somebody made a call centre romance film in 1960, and we call it a modern theme nowadays. Slow claps for us. Minnelli's Bells Are Ringing did it a long time ago and so exquisitely. It's a call centre romance with two of the most used themes: the tricked identity of the girl and someone falling in love by just listening to the voice (not seeing the face). Minnelli's film is based on the Broadway hit, so the credit goes to the musical play. The film is about a female operator of an answering machine who falls in love with a man suffering from depression. They meet, and the love story blossoms, but the girl can't reveal her true identity. At the same time, she becomes an angel for two other fellas and numerous others with whom she has been speaking through an answering machine for months. I doubt if Judy Holliday has ever looked so gorgeous in any of her films. A film like "Born Yesterday" (1950) or "It Should Happen To You" (1954) shows her less glamorous, as per the character's demand. Here, she is breathtaking from the first scene, and she is lonely too. That's a trick, you know. And that red gown scene is simply exhilarating. Judy has everything in the film, be it looks, comedy, romance, dance, and generosity. Dean Martin is better than a dream, as Mel/Ella says. The supporting cast has done well. There are some scenes that are rushed, while others have subtlety. That "Say Hello" scene was simple but subtle. Vincente Minnelli's flick is a mix of 3-4 themes, and that's why it's entertaining and interesting. However, the script isn't good enough to match the beautiful merger of themes and genres. Despite that, it's a fine, exciting, glamorous, and colourful watch. A must-see for Judy Holliday fans.

RATING - 6.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

In the cinema firmament, this film is perhaps not a classic. It wasn't on the AFI 100 list, it isn't well-remembered by film critics. This is unfortunate. I watch this movie at least once a month. It reaffirms my belief in the magical. Dean Martin and Judy Holliday are fabulous, especially Judy in her last role, but this film is made by the supporting characters such as Jean Stapleton and Frank Gorshin. The way that Minelli was able to take a wonderful play and make it even more wonderful in a film is a testament to his genius. You feel like you're part of the world of Susanswerphone and you wish to remain so at the end of the film.

Judy Holliday & Dean Martin star in this 1960 film adaptation of Betty Comden/Adolph Green's (Singin' in the Rain) stageplay directed by Vincent Minnelli. Holliday works at an answering service (remember those?) where she inadvertently inserts herself in the lives of her clients when she feels she can give them advise for them to move forward. A couple of her minions are a dentist who wants to be a songwriter & an actor, played by Frank Gorshin (TV's Riddler from Batman), who is up for a role in a play w/the playwright himself, Martin, who hits a block in his writing which Holliday is more than happy to help fix making this a variation on Cyrano De Bergerac where Holliday's on call persona & who she is in person are treated as different entities since she feels (once Martin starts to woo her) she's not up to snuff to engage w/the jet set in celebrity circles. Also in the mix is a betting outfit using the answering service to take bets over the phone (using a record buying technique) which doesn't help since the police already think Holliday's firm is actually a call girl out service. Holliday's performance as always sneaks up on you (I never knew she could carry a tune) as she belts her songs out w/the best of them (she only originated the part on the stage) w/Martin following suit (I didn't buy his role as a writer but as a smoking drinker, he excelled). Nice meta touch in the song "Drop that Name" when Minnelli's name is mentioned in the tune. Co-starring Jean Stapleton (Edith Bunker from TV's All in the Family) as Holliday's co-worker.

The question to ask when you are watching this musical is how well the humor holds up, since more time is spent on getting laughs than singing songs. Judy Holliday's vulnerable/meddling character and Dean Martin's debonair/immature counterpart seem like an unlikely romantic combination. In this translation of a long-running Broadway show to film, Holiday stars as a Brooklyn telephone answering service operator who falls for a client. This gets complicated---and contrived---but creates many opportunities for Holliday and Martin to sing great songs by Jule Styne, with lyrics by the incomparable Betty Comden and Adolph Green, including the 20th century classics "Just In Time" and "The Party's Over." Production numbers like the one in which Eddie Foy Jr. explains how an undercover racetrack betting system will work, "It's a Simple Little System," actually are more watchable than the ongoing intrigue over the lead characters' love lives. This film does not adequately convey Judy Holliday's enormous appeal as a stage performer, but, if nothing else, it is a marvelous record of what telephones meant in people's lives before they were wireless. ---from Musicals on the Silver Screen, American Library Associaton, 2013

I had high hopes for this when I saw it on TV, a Comden/Green musical directed by Minnelli and staring Judy Holliday, but I found this disappointing. It begins great, and can be very funny, but even by the standards of 50s musicals the story is too contrived, and the thing with the detectives is just so utterly dumb (it would not have been that difficult to come up with something a bit more convincing). The songs are generally mediocre, although it does have The Party's Over (unfortunately, Judy is great for comic songs but fails to really bring home this serious one). There are some really good moments throughout, and Judy gives a terrific performance, but overall I found this dumb and a little dull.

Ella (Judy Holliday) is an answering service operator (this was way before answering machines existed). She unwisely gets involved in the personal lives of her clients. She gets most involved with playwright Jeffrey Moss (Dean Martin) and ends up meeting him. However she tells him her name is Millicent Scott and they fall in love with each other...but she feels guilty for lying to him. Will their love survive? Well--it's an MGM musical. What do you think?:)

It's too long, there's some terrible overacting (especially by Frank Gorshin), it moves too slowly and the awareness that this was Holliday's last film (she died of cancer 5 years later) casts sort of a pall over this film but it's worth seeing. The songs are good, it's wonderfully directed by Vincente Minnelli and is in bright vivid color. However the main attraction here is Holliday. She played this role on stage and won a Tony for it and they (wisely) kept her in the film. She was sick when she did this but you would never know it. She was beautiful, bright and full of energy. In her music numbers she gives all she's got and comes roaring off the screen. Also it's her only color film. Worth seeing just for her.

Remember "paint by numbers" in the '50's? An art form even less "artistic" than black velvet paintings? "Bells Are Ringing" is paint-by-numbers applied to the Broadway musical. It opened in New York in 1956 and ran for 924 performances, solely on the audience's love of Judy Holliday. But it was already a decade late on opening night. Every tired cliché represents the nadir of its creators.

"Guys and Dolls" did this better in 1950. Sky Masterson's "Luck be a Lady," sung amidst underground pipes beneath Times Square is a better number than the utterly copycat "A Simple Little System" sung on exactly the same set in "Bells." One can understand how "Bells" worked, sort of, on the Broadway stage. The audience was far enough away from the performers not to notice they were "posing" by the numbers instead of acting. "Head down, Judy -- to indicate Ella's sadness!" "Head up, Judy -- and flash that smile to the second balcony -- to indicate Ella's joy!" Every trick in the book was used to disguise that this musical was written for two stars who could neither sing nor dance. Captured on film, unfortunately, the tricks and lack of musical abilities are obvious. (Judy and Sydney Chaplin were in love at the time, and she insisted on his being cast opposite her on the stage.) Jerome Robbins direction and his and co-choreographer Bob Fosse's dance numbers could be performed by your grandmother, so simple and undemanding are they.

The hackneyed plot, already predictable in 1956, contains not one believable situation. But boy is it desperate to be "cute" at every turn.

Miss Holliday was a good actress. Vincente Minnelli a good director. Here, however, everybody forgot they were making a movie instead of a stage play. Holliday mugs almost as pathetically as Betty Hutton in her heyday. Dean Martin clearly couldn't wait to finish this production and move on with his career. At least he gets to sing, "Just in Time." But his laconic approach and Minnelli's lazy staging make that classic almost as forgettable as the rest of the songs in "Bells." Holliday's rendition of, "The Party's Over" suffers from the same pedestrian direction and her overacting robs the song of the haunted quality it has in the hands of, say, Judy Garland or Barbra Streisand.

One is grateful Holliday got the gig. She needed and deserved the money both for the Broadway production and the film.

The film's only value is the preservation of a third-rate Broadway musical as a curiosity piece. It's not a film so much as a record of a stagy relic. It was boring when it opened and it's even more so 50 years later.

"Talkin' Broadway's" review, by Thomas Burke, of the Broadway revival in 2001, noted, "Comden and Green's book has not stood the test of time," and called the show a "dreary mess."

Just like those equally lifeless "paint by number" kits back in the day that promised to turn amateurs into artists. A Broadway musical by the numbers proved equally mechanical, sadly.

Judy Holliday originated the role of Ella Petersen, the Susanwersphone switchboard operator, in Vincente Minnelli's adaptation of the Broadway musical, with music by Jules Styne and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Although filmed in 1960, this musical belongs to the conventions of the 1950's with a brassy orchestration, superfluous supporting cast for comic relief, and a Brando impersonator. That Holliday remains as the best thing about it, in spite of Minnelli's less flattering treatment of her than George Cukor, is a tribute to her gifts as an actress, in particular a Broadway performer with the subtlety to adapt for film acting.

Holliday's two solo numbers - It's a Perfect Relationship and I'm Going Back - are triumphs of personal charm, in spite of the director. Minnelli has trouble de-staging the switchboard environment and the film only comes to life after Holliday leaves it to meet Dean Martin, as her favourite client, in person. In the Better than a Dream number, where both Holliday and Martin sing oblivious to the other's reality, this is Minnelli finally presenting a musical sequence cinematically. This pattern continues with Martin's funny I Met a Girl, sung as he battles street crowds. Minnelli treats Holliday's plaintive ballad The Party's Over simply, if disappointedly in long and medium shot presumably since he thinks Holliday's voice doesn't deserve a closeup, in contrast to the botched Just in Time, the score's most lovely song, wretchedly staged. The Drop That Name number is probably more about Minnelli than Holliday, since he scores points off her, comparing her perceived frumpiness to the vacuous stereotypical 1950's society vamp.

Holliday and Martin play off each other well, overcoming the oddness of their union. Martin actually looks not at his best, which undermines the romantic appeal, and his solo reveals he shouldn't be given one. It's hard not to consider his character's fear of success without his partner and not have thoughts of Jerry Lewis, though believing Martin as a playwright is trouble enough. Thankfully there's Holliday. Far more likeable and individual than say a Doris Day, Minnelli's having her lower her head for pathos is the lowest appreciation of her potential. This wasn't considered a great musical to begin with, and the film is pretty hard to take whenever the supporting players take over, with excruciating bits featuring Eddie Foy and The Titanic record company, vice squad surveillance, and the mafia, however the songwriting dentist gave me a few chuckles.