HELLO DOLLY!: Blu-ray (2oth Century-Fox, 1969) Fox Home Video
1969 was hardly
a banner year for movie musicals. But it yielded a magnificent showstopper in Hello
Dolly! – an old-fashioned, lively and luscious entertainment. Dolly’s
pedigree is impeccable; Gene Kelly to direct, Gower Champion staging the musical
numbers, and, Michael Kidd to choreograph. Better still, 2oth Century-Fox
assigned its master builder, John DeCuir to design the lavish turn-of-the-century
sets. His magnificent recreations of New York at its zenith, complete with a
fully-functional elevated train, and mind-boggling sumptuousness at the
red-carpeted Harmonia Gardens restaurant are a veritable feast for the eyes,
lovingly lensed by cinematographer, Harry Stradling. And then, of course, there
is the virtue of Jerry Hermann’s plush score; one outstanding song and dance
layered upon the next; virtually all of them belted to perfection by the
biggest star then in Hollywood – Barbra Streisand. That all this pixie dust and
starlight should come to not at the box office was a genuine disappointment for
all concerned, and a real strain on Fox’s bottom line. In truth, the fault was
not in the film but the changed mood of cinema goers, having migrated their
tastes to more gritty, dark and ‘realistic’ pursuits. Lest we forget, 1969 was
the year the X-rated Midnight Cowboy took home the Best Picture Oscar. By
comparison, Hello Dolly! must have seemed ever more the quaint and
retiring relic from another bygone era in film-making, with a faint whiff of
formaldehyde permeating around the corners. Yet, unlike most over-produced and
undernourished musical spectacles from the mid-to-late sixties, Hello Dolly!
is hardly a weighty thing, and definitely, never boring, even if it proved
Herculean in its execution.
Johann Nestroy’s
German play ‘Ein Jux will er sich machen’ had been the impetus for
Thorton Wilder’s ‘The Matchmaker’ from whence Michael Stewart later
created the musical show. On stage, Dolly – a dowager in her regal dotage – was
played by such Broadway luminaries as Carol Channing, Ethel Merman and Ginger
Rogers. So, the casting of Streisand, then barely 27, raised more than a few
eyebrows, and, became the lingering point of contention among critics of
the day, whose aversion to youth then is, today, quite laughable. Yet, with
blind ambition and all the professionalism of a seasoned veteran double her
years, Streisand’s Dolly achieves the unthinkable. What, on stage seemed a
gargantuan, oft joyously overblown caricature of this delightful dowager,
instead, on celluloid translated into a woman of genuine flesh and blood;
street-savvy, bright-eyed and enterprising to a fault. The Broadway original -
a smash that seemed to run forever – captured the hearts and minds of theatergoers
with tickets sold months in advance, thus preventing any filmic adaptations from
being made for more than a decade. But then came the socially conscious
morality musicals of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein III and Dolly’s
Broadway luster seemed to pale by comparison. Indeed, if any criticism can be
heaped upon the stage show and its filmic equivalent it is that the plot – a mobile
of complications around which the widow Levi must choose, either to pursue love
this second time around after the death of her beloved first husband, Ephrem,
or remain forever ‘loyal’ to his memory – is wafer thin; barely an excuse to
hang the rest of the show’s elegant trappings. Yet, the glory days of the
Hollywood musical had relied on far less to sustain their show magic for
audiences. Better still, Fox had experienced a musical renaissance with the
resounding success of The Sound of Music in 1965. So, green-lighting Hello
Dolly! was not entirely without merit.
As pre-production
began, director, Gene Kelly built himself a plush cocoon of time-honored
artists both in front, and, behind the camera who knew their way around the
musical genre blindfolded. Their craftsmanship would ensure Dolly!
came across bigger and brassier than ever, and in hindsight, the movie achieves
its gorgeous period reincarnations in spades. Hello Dolly! looks the
part, all bounce and sparkle from start to finish. And, under Kelly’s command,
it remained a ‘one woman’ extravaganza, given new life by the only actress/singer,
then, who could do this material justice. Barbra Streisand, in her lightning
rod reprise of the stage role as Fanny Brice in William Wyler’s Funny Girl
(1968) – her movie debut, had catapulted to super-stardom overnight, earning a
most-deserved Best Actress Oscar along the way in a year where she tied with no
less than Kate-the-great Hepburn’s performance in The Lion in Winter for
the top spot. That Streisand would eventually evolve her innate talents to
exhibit other strengths in the film-making process – including directing – was,
as yet, unknown. So, Streisand approached Hello Dolly! with great
exuberance as yet another showcase for her formidable singing talents. Tragically,
her optimism was to be repeatedly dampened by co-star, Walter Matthau, having
taken an immediate dislike to her, and, at one point shouting for all to hear, “You
haven’t the talent of a butterfly’s fart…and stop trying to be the whole show!”
to which Streisand politely reminded Matthau the picture was not called ‘Hello
Walter!’ Remarkably, none of this intense animosity surfaces on the screen,
though it all but derailed Gene Kelly’s pleasure to pursue the project. He had
come to Hello Dolly! eager to work with Streisand and Matthau, both of
whom he held in very high regard. By the end of each day’s shoot, having played
ringmaster between these two angry lions, Kelly could barely wait to get off
the set.
It is oft
suggested, out of great chaos emerges even greater art. Undeniably, the case
could be made for Hello Dolly! – one humdinger of a musical, whose
longevity has since reached from the proscenium into touch our hearts; even, as
an excerpt, appearing in Disney/Pixar’s Wall-E (2008). Ernest Lehman’s screenplay stays relatively
faithful to the original stage show. Dolly Levi is matchmaker extraordinaire to
half of Manhattan – the woman who can ostensibly ‘arrange’ anything. At
present, she has set her sights on Yonkers’s most affluent – though very stuffy
– hay-and-feed tycoon, Horace Vandergelder (Walter Matthau) – who, thanks to Dolly’s
finagling, has practically set his cap to wed the milliner, Irene Malloy
(Marianne McAndrews) instead. It is
Horace’s wish Dolly should take his pint-sized niece, Ermengarde (Joyce Ames)
to New York to get her away from Ambrose Kemper (Tommy Tune), the seven-foot-tall
penniless artist with whom she is desperately in love. Dolly willingly agrees
to these terms – for a fee. After all, visiting New York will put her in even
closer proximity to Horace and Irene. Dolly, however, has ulterior motives.
Seizing the opportunity to eavesdrop on a conversation between Horace’s two
disgruntled clerks, Cornelius Hackell (Michael Crawford) and Barnaby Tucker
(Danny Lockin), Dolly encourages the former to pursue Irene, while coaxing the
latter to settle on Irene’s rather precocious assistant, Minnie Faye (E.J.
Peaker). Cornelius and Barnaby find their way to the millenary and quickly make
a damn nuisance of themselves with the ladies. Despite his rather transparent
lack of finesse, Irene finds Cornelius endearing. Thus, when Horace arrives, he
is confronted by a lady most awkward and marginally unwilling to accept his proposal
of marriage.
Suspecting Irene
has men hidden in her backroom, but too proud to pursue the matter, Horace
instead storms off to join his regiment, marching in the 14th Street Parade.
Dolly flirts with Horace throughout the parade, but is unable to break his
resolve. Instead, she finagles a blind date for Horace at the Harmonia Gardens
with Gussie Granger (Judy Knaiz); a lowbrow gal whom Dolly has rechristened as
the Countess Ernestina Simple. Dolly further complicates matters by encouraging
Ambrose to take Ermengarde to the Harmonia Gardens for dinner and to enter the nightly
polka contest for a gold cup and some prize money. She also, coaxes Barnaby and
Cornelius to do the same with Minnie and Irene. Abuzz with news of her planned
arrival, the restaurant’s Maître d’, Rudolf Reisenweber (David Hurst) puts on quite
a show with his red-coated wait staff performing a spirited gavotte – a preamble
to Dolly’s arrival. Having already timed the orchestrated implosion of Horace’s
latest date, Dolly makes her entrance and is given a royal welcome by all of
the staff and patrons. Presumably there to oversee Horace’s budding new romance
with Ernestina, Dolly has actually come to ensure Horace’s well-ordered life
comes crashing down around his ankles, thereby allowing her to step in and save
the day, offering herself as a marital martyr.
As Ernestina’s
haughty ways have left him cold and alone in the middle of dinner, Dolly
suggests Horace sup with her instead. Next, she goads Horace into paying
attention to the dance competition Ermengarde and Ambrose have entered. Seeing
his niece in Ambrose’s arms an enraged Horace attempts, rather violently, to
dissolve their embrace once and for all. His blundering results in a mishap with
another guest, and, before long, the entire restaurant is transformed into a
chaotic food and fist fight. This ends with a humiliated Horace cast from the
establishment with Dolly instructing Rudolf to send the bill for damages to
Horace. Swearing off women entirely, Horace is stunned when Dolly first
declares she has had quite enough of him. With little provocation, she leaves a
bewildered Horace standing on the street corner with her feathered boa as a
reminder of all that is lost to him from now on. The next day in Yonkers, Horace finds himself utterly
alone in his hay and feed store. Without Ermengarde to fix his breakfast, or
Cornelius and Barnaby to boss around, he is a bitter and lonely man. But all is
not lost. Dolly arrives with Ermengarde, Ambrose, Cornelius, Barnaby, Irene and
Minnie in tow. She tells Horace the boys have come to collect their salary to start
their own hay and feed concern in town. Infuriated, Horace reluctantly agrees
to give Barnaby and Cornelius their salaries. But Dolly has a better suggestion.
Why not make Cornelius and Barnaby full partners in his store instead. That way
everyone can dance at Ermengarde’s wedding to Ambrose. Brought to heel by what
he perceives as ‘the fate of all fools’, Horace relents to each of their
requests, at last proposing to Dolly in a manner befitting her wildest dreams.
The movie concludes with their lavishly-appointed nuptials.
From start to finish,
Hello Dolly! is a deftly executed, charming musical farce. In
retrospect, Streisand’s performance is a curious amalgam of stereotyped Yiddish
meddling and a winning – if slightly devilish - lampoon of Mae West. Nevertheless,
it works. And Streisand is in exceptional voice here – warbling all but two of
the movie’s hit songs. Walter Matthau is perfectly cast as the malevolent
tightwad whose bark is much worse than his bite. Despite his backstage bickering
with Streisand, Matthau manages to muster a fair amount of believable sincerity
and affection for our heroine on the screen. The rest of the cast are really
window-dressing for what is essentially a ‘one woman’ show. Nevertheless,
everyone is up to snuff and the results are a sheer joy to behold. The minor
pairings in the subplot (Crawford and McAndrews; Lockin and Peaker; Tune and Ames)
are memorable enough to get by without stealing any of the spotlight. As on
Broadway, the movie version of Hello Dolly! belongs to Streisand, who
sings the hell out of her songs – from gusto-filled aplomb during ‘Put on
Your Sunday Clothes’ and ‘Before the Parade Passes By’, to poetic
romanticism for the ballad ‘Love is Only Love’ – a cast off from Mame,
perfectly inserted between the playful ‘Elegance’ and robust
ensemble piece, Waiter’s Gavotte. The musical numbers are all
brilliantly handled, as is to be expected, the most gargantuan undeniably being
‘Before The Parade Passes By’. Streisand warbles an intimate version of
the song just after she has thwarted Horace’s proposal to Irene. From here, the
camera wildly pans away to the false fronts on the Fox back lot depicting 14th
Street in all its glory. Thousands of extras line the street and hundreds more
are seen marching in an endless and meticulously choreographed sequence for
which nothing else compares. Yet, it is the film’s title song that, by far, remains
the most outstanding moment for Streisand; gilded in hand-stitched gold sequins
and beads, descending the blood-red carpeted stairs into the Harmonia Gardens while
serenaded by a gavotte of red-coated waiters and Louis Armstrong in his last
screen appearance. Earlier in the decade, Armstrong had recorded his own
inimitable jazz version of the title track and it had been a huge hit on the
radio. Including him in the film version was therefore a charming homage to this
success.
When the final reel
had been edited, Gene Kelly could be proud of the last musical he would ever
direct. Hello Dolly! was, and arguably remains, Kelly’s supreme achievement
as a director, and a truly mesmerizing entertainment besides. At just under 3-hours,
Dolly! extols all of the virtues of the Hollywood musical to
absolute perfection while managing to keep at bay the vices that plagued too
many musicals made during this decade. Unlike other Broadway to Hollywood hybrids
which – upon closer inspection – rigidly adhere to their stage origins, Hello
Dolly! is a cleverly ‘opened up’ cinematic experience. It moves like
gangbusters with a lilt and a grace that ought to have resurrected the big-budgeted
musical to prominence yet again. Instead, Hello Dolly! proved to be the
final nail in the movie musical’s coffin; its disappointing box office ensuring
fewer Broadway transplants would follow it. Time, however, does strange things
to movies in general, and Hello Dolly! in particular. It is truly one
for the ages. It sings and dances its way into our hearts as few musicals have
before or since and it remains a definitive last act in the history of Hollywood’s
golden-age movie musical entertainments; its results never to be duplicated.
Fox Home Video’s
1080p Blu-ray of Hello Dolly! is – in a word – gorgeous. Shot in 70mm
for its roadshow engagement, the DeLuxe palette of vintage colors looks
spectacular…with minor caveats. For starters, there are the main titles. As
much of the picture was shot on location, Fox had hired a weather prognosticator
to assess the best months to shoot outdoors. Alas, the climate guru was a bit
rusty this time out, inverting the picture’s schedule, only to suffer chronically
inclement weather, with heavy humidity and rain that threatened to push the
initial budget into the red. Hello Dolly!’s main titles are laid over a
series of breath-taking overhead master shots of a steam-engine-powered train
carrying Dolly to Yonkers. These, unfortunately are rendered with a slightly
soft and misty veil, darkening clouds clearly visible in the background. Apart
from the obviously less than stellar weather conditions, we also get some
built-in flicker here, and, that a little bit of massaging with digital image stabilization
would have corrected at minimal expense. Mercifully, moving into the body of
the piece; things greatly improve. Colors are radiant. For the first time anywhere
outside of its big screen debut, minute detail in fabrics, hair and skin abound.
The image is razor-sharp without any untoward digital manipulations applied. Age-related and digital artifacts are a
non-issue. The ‘wow!’ factor is definitely here. The Dolby DTS 5.1 is extremely
well turned out, with solid clarity, and great spatial separation during the
musical numbers. Extras disappoint. We
get a newly produced puff piece on Gene Kelly, with Kelly’s widow – and others –
affectionately waxing about the movie. There’s also a vintage featurette shot
in 1969 while Kelly was preparing to execute the mammoth parade sequence, plus
the original theatrical trailers. Bottom line: Hello Dolly! is a near
perfect musical entertainment. The Blu-ray is a must have/must see. It’s so
nice to have Dolly! back where she belongs!
FILM RATING (out
of 5 - 5 being the best)
5+
VIDEO/AUDIO
4
EXTRAS
1.5
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