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When Joseph L.
Mankiewicz’s Guys and Dolls (1955)
had its world premiere the New York Post declared it to be “the top musical of this year or any year!” Indeed, time has done
very little to diminish the contrived impressionist elegance and stylized
acting tradition inherent in the original stage show, as lovingly – if not
entirely – preserved for the motion picture camera. Produced on a grand scale
by Samuel Goldwyn with his usual hallmark of impeccable showmanship, Guys and Dolls had its aegis in a short
story by Damon Runyon, later fleshed out by Abe Burrows, Jo Swerling and Frank
Loesser into a smash Broadway extravaganza.
Runyon’s
characterization of the loveably low class, who speak in punctuated, ever so
slightly backward English – presumably to confuse and confound the local law
enforcement that is ever vigilant to expose their illegal activities – creates
a patina of déclassé charm for these underworld reprobates; miraculously transformed
into cuddly, warm hearted friendly folk who occasionally just happen to settle
their differences at the point of a gun.
For Goldwyn,
the film was a crowning artistic achievement in a career justly celebrated
today as perhaps the greatest of all independent producers: no small feat
during an era when Goldwyn – after being ousted from sharing in the profits of
the newly amalgamated MGM in 1922 – went on to make such iconic masterpieces as
Wuthering Heights, Ball of Fire, The
Little Foxes, The Bishop’s Wife and, of course, The Best Years of Our Lives, to name but a handful. But Guys and Dolls was by far his most
impassioned project; a grand and glorious, big time splashy musical
extravaganza that had all the trappings to make it an even bigger success (but
also quite possibly a garish failure) on the big screen.
Like all movie
moguls of his ilk and time, Samuel Goldwyn was a gambling man; a necessary
ingredient for making cinema art during Hollywood’s golden age. For Goldwyn, Guys and Dolls became a bittersweet success
– undeniably asserting his eminence in an industry he thoroughly enjoyed, but
putting a decided period to his great glories of the past. He could have done
worse. Damon Runyon, who had toiled his whole life creating thinly veiled
fiction of his own encounters with the ‘less than common folk’, had barely begun
to see his vintage works translated into classic films throughout the 1930s and
40s before succumbing to throat cancer in 1944. As such Guys and Dolls – arguably the greatest of all his accomplishments –
was a success he would never enjoy.
With the
overwhelming triumph of Guys and Dolls
it is easy to forget today that the
original premise for the show as put forth by producers Cy Feuer and Ernest
Martin was to make a morality ‘message’ musical from Runyon’s story, roughly
cut out of the same artistic cloth as Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific – then, the outstanding
stage success. Yet this template did not suit the material at all, as Feuer and
Martin quickly realized. After auditioning a slew of librettists, the producers
abandoned their concept of writing a serious romance in favor of crafting a
lighthearted musical comedy instead. The
rest, as they say, is history.
In
transforming the play into a movie Goldwyn spared no expense, outbidding MGM,
Columbia and Paramount to produce it for a cool $1 million. Although Frank
Sinatra aggressively campaigned to play the part of Sky Masterson – the elegant
rake who seduces a wallflower missionary, only to be lured in by her innocence
to reform his own ways – the role was never his for the asking. Goldwyn had
hoped to cast Gene Kelly. But the old wounds with MGM remained fresh and the
studio refused Goldwyn his loan out. Clark Gable and Robert Mitchum were then
briefly considered, as was – ironically – Bing Crosby, before Goldwyn convinced
Marlon Brando to accept the part.
Brando’s star
had been on the ascendance with back to back success in The Men, A Streetcar Named Desire and his most impressive role to
date, that of Marc Antony in Mankiewicz’s
Julius Caesar. But Brando, for all his bravado and difficulties as a
personality on the set, was not altogether sure Masterson was for him. In fact,
in accepting the part he sheepishly confessed his inadequacies to both Goldwyn
and Mankiewicz about singing in the film. Undaunted, Goldwyn told Brando to be
himself and thereafter hired a vocal coach who diligently worked to hone Brando’s
voice for his performance. The results speak for themselves. Brando would never
be a threat to either Crosby or Sinatra. And yet his half spoken, half sung
interpretations of the Loesser score seem so right for the part. Rather than
belting these tunes out of the park, Brando interprets them as a two bit thug
and hustler might, with a naturalist’s integrity for the feel, instead of the
flair, in the lyric.
Bitter at
losing the part, Sinatra begrudgingly accepted the plum supporting role of
Nathan Detroit, then went off and cut a single of ‘Luck Be A Lady’ – Brando’s
signature tune in the film – that became an instant pop standard for him and a
regular part of Sinatra’s later Vegas nightclub repertoire. Perhaps to
compensate Sinatra for his loss, embellish the musical portion of the show and deflect
the focus from Brando’s lack of innate musical ability, Goldwyn also commissioned
Loesser to write two new songs for the show; ‘Pet Me Poppa’ and ‘Adelaide’ –
the latter becoming a memorable showcase for Sinatra in the film’s last act.
Although there
are structural differences between the stage show and movie, the plot is essentially
the same. Gambler Nathan Detroit (Sinatra) is attempting to organize his next
floating crap game somewhere in New York. But Lieutenant Brannigan (Robert
Keith) has been keeping a watchful eye on Detroit’s activities and has all but
successfully intimidated anyone from furnishing a spot for the action. Nathan’s
faithful stooges, Nicely-Nicely Johnson (Stubby Kaye) and Benny Southstreet
(Johnny Silver) inform him that the owner of the Biltmore garage wants a thousand
dollars to take the risk; an unfair price, but one that needs to be met up
front if Nathan’s plan is to succeed.
Nathan has
even bigger problems with his fiancée, Miss Adelaide (Vivian Blaine); a
simpleton showgirl who is threatening to end their fourteen year engagement
unless Nathan gives up gambling and marries her. On the surface at least,
Nathan agrees to Adelaide’s demands. But behind her back he sets into motion a
plan to acquire the necessary funds to launch his next big fix. His trump card
is Sky Masterson (Marlon Brando); a high stakes gambler who is willing to bet
on virtually anything for a price. The bet Nathan comes up with involves
prudish ‘Save The Soul Mission’ Sergeant Sarah Brown (Jean Simmons). Sky must
get the sexually frigid Sarah to fly with him to Havana Cuba for an impromptu
dinner engagement or pay $1000 to Nathan as the forfeit.
Sky accepts
this bet without question and then suddenly realizes he’ll have to work
considerably harder than he thought to convince Sarah that he loves her. Unable
to lure Sarah to his side with charm, Sky pretends to admit that he is an awful
sinner who is in desperate need of her reform. He is only partly successful in this approach,
however, and next tells Sarah that if she agrees to accompany him to Havana he
will guarantee her a dozen sinners for her mission which has had no success in
convincing the downtrodden to join their order. Unable to find any legitimate
fault with Sky’s proposal, Sarah accompanies him to Cuba where she quite easily
loses her inhabitations and succumbs to Sky’s wily charm. But who is seducing
who?
Meanwhile,
confident that he has won the bet, Nathan gathers a who’s who of gamblers
together, fronted by rough trade, Harry the Horse (Sheldon Leonard) and Big
Jule (B.S. Pully) a hardcore Chicago mobster. Taking notice of this gathering,
Benny masks their real intentions from Brannigan by informing him that Nathan
and Adelaide have finally decided to tie the knot. Unable to finagle his way
out of this declaration, Nathan plays along but later collapses when he notices
that Sarah is not with her misson’s band.
Sky and Sarah
return to New York blissfully in love. He confesses that initially the whole
date was a bet, but she forgives him for his indiscretion then, because he is
sincere toward her now. Unbeknownst to Sky, Nathan and the boys have used the mission’s
back room for their crap game, the hoods now gathered inside for Brannigan’s
sake to profess their reformation – thus keeping up Sky’s end of the deal to
deliver sinners to the cause. But Sarah, believing that Sky knew about the game
all along, feels she has been duped and breaks off with him then and there.
Sky, who has
indeed been touched by Sarah’s goodness, decides to make restitution for his
shortcomings. He confronts Nathan and the rest of the gamblers in the sewer
they have transformed into their gambling hideaway. Lying to Nathan about
having taken Sarah to Cuba, Sky pays Nathan $1000 on the spot – money that must
go to cover his devastating loses against Big Jule. Sky then makes his boldest bet of all. He will
roll the dice a single time. If he loses he will pay each gambler $1000. But if
he wins, they must all march into the mission to attend one of Sarah’s prayer
meetings.
Sarah is
stunned when this entourage of notorious hoods come marching in, but ever the
skeptic, she remains bitterly unconvinced of their contrition until
Nicely-Nicely recalls a harrowing nightmare that supposedly caused him to
reconsider the error of his ways. Later, Sarah learns from Nathan that he
denied taking her to Cuba to preserve her reputation and she, realizes the
chivalry in his gesture, rushes off to make up with Sky. The next day Time
Square shuts down for the double wedding of Nathan and Adelaide and Sky and
Sarah; the couples escorted to their respective love nests in a paddy wagon
supplied by Lieutenant Brannigan with a full police escort.
Guys and Dolls remains an indestructible entertainment.
Director Mankiewicz, who also co-wrote the script, has wisely chosen to retain
the artifice in the exercise. The entire production is conceived inside sound
stages with Joseph C. Wright’s ultra-stylized recreations of New York –
beautifully photographed by Harry Stradling. These provide an impeccable
backdrop that compliments the obviousness in Runyon’s dialogue. And then there
are the performances; not a false one among them.
If he doesn’t
entirely sing to perfection, then Brando certainly acts with an uncompromised
conviction. Jean Simmons manages to sustain the tender balance of an
emotionally repressed spinster who suddenly rediscovers her own heart in the
love of this man. Sinatra is at the pinnacle of his powers – both vocally and
from an acting standpoint – perfectly complimented by Vivian Blaine’s
sympathetically comic turn as his ever devoted Miss Adelaide. The supporting cast all do their thing just
fine, particularly Stubby Kaye who is given, and excels at the standout musical
offering, ‘Sit Down You’re Rocking The
Boat’, during the third act. In all,
Guys and Dolls is an effervescent,
tune-filled, full blown extravaganza that will undoubtedly continue to tickle
and delight for many good years yet to come.
If this
release is any indication, then Warner Home Video’s recent acquisition of the
Goldwyn catalogue is welcome news indeed. After having to contend with lousy
DVD transfers from Fox/MGM, this newly minted Blu-ray exhibits a robust
Cinemascope image with eye-popping colors. Flesh tones lose their jaundice
appeal and look very natural. Contrast is bang on. The image leaps ahead in
fine detail with a good solid smattering of film grain naturally reproduced.
The DTS 5.1 audio is a sonic revelation, recapturing the vintage stereo in all
its six track supremacy with impeccable spatial separation and a hearty bass.
Extras are the only disappointment herein. Warner has imported the brief
featurettes on the making of the film and reflections on its impact that were a
part of Fox/MGM’s DVD. We also get a theatrical trailer but precious little
else. I’ve stated this before, but will again: that I could fault the studios
for their lack of reinvestment in more extra content on vintage titles. But
frankly, I’m so entirely pleased with the visual and sonic presentation of the
film itself that I find it impossible to poo-poo the matter any further. Warner
has packaged this glossy Goldwyn classic in an eye-catching shiny booklet that
will surely delight. Bottom line: highly recommended!
FILM
RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)
4
VIDEO/AUDIO
4
EXTRAS
2
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