Comments on: Tonight on TCM: Stanley Donen-Gene Kelly Collaborations

By: Medusa

Medusa — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 21:50:26 +0000

Great post, HighHurdler!I've always looked forward to It's Always Fair Weather, one of my favorite musicals, probably because of the weary, almost bleak, tone of some of the movie. It also has some (maybe corny, maybe brilliant) exuberant moments like the dance of the three guys with the trash can lids (which I think is adorable) and Kelly's roller skate number. There's also something wonderfully brash and cynical that makes the movie perhaps less than the sum of its parts but entertaining nevertheless. And it's always good to see a parody of TV, which obviously hasn't changed a bit in its exploitation of sentimentality and crap, not in the fifty years since the movie was made. Plus it's always interesting to watch Dan Dailey and imagine him in a dress, which allegedly was his secret vice. Also nice to see Michael Kidd onscreen, and Dolores Gray is a mighty presence, too. When I used to watch this on local TV thirty years ago, it was always panned-and-scanned, so I never got to see the edges of the triple-screen dances; thank goodness for letterboxing!

By: MDR

MDR — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 19:57:46 +0000

Apparently so (though I've not seen it). In fact, there is a brief clip of Kelly's construction site dance included in the trailer available in TCM's Movie Database:www.tcmdb.com/title/title.jsp?stid=280You might also be interested to read an article about the film written by Frank Miller on tcm.com which includes:"Kelly and Donen staged a romantic duet for the courtship scenes with McDonald, a comic dance with a dog who, like Kelly, has been rejected by the leading lady, and a lengthy sequence in which Kelly seemingly improvises an athletic dance to entertain some children while he's building a house."

By: MDR

MDR — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 19:52:54 +0000

Apparently so (though I've not seen it). In fact, there is a brief clip of Kelly's construction site dance included in the trailer available in TCM's Movie Database here:http://www.tcmdb.com/title/title.jsp?stid=280 You might also be interested to read an article about the film written by Frank Miller on tcm.com which includes:"Kelly and Donen staged a romantic duet for the courtship scenes with McDonald, a comic dance with a dog who, like Kelly, has been rejected by the leading lady, and a lengthy sequence in which Kelly seemingly improvises an athletic dance to entertain some children while he's building a house."

By: MDR

MDR — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 19:47:48 +0000

By: Moirafinnie6

Moirafinnie6 — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 18:57:14 +0000

"Living in a Big Way (1947), which also features Kelly dancing Donen-designed sequences"Thanks for the reminder about the Donen interview being rebroadcast on the 27th of this month. Could you please tell me if Living in a Big Way is the film that features that wonderful sequence in which Gene Kelly dances all over a construction site? I've seen it once and never forgotten it. Thanks in advance for any info that you may have about this otherwise almost forgotten film.