Good suggestion, Moriah, about picking stuff upcoming on AMC/TMC – but, as Eureka pointed out, not all of us have cable. I don’t, for instance. We’ll have to work this out as we go along – but the three-week lag between announcing a title and starting discussion is intended to give everyone as much a chance to track down a copy of the movie as possible. Not everyone is going to be able to find every single title, probably – not unless we limit ourselves to “The Sound of Music” and “West Side Story” – so all we can do is try to pick stuff that’s more or less available and give people a chance to figure out their own strategies for finding it. It sounds like local libraries are a good source, and that having a sweetie-pie SO is also a big help.
Yes libraries can be a good resource, especially if the movie has not been released on DVD. Am going to fire up my VCR later and watch. My choice will be on dvd though. I just love all the extras available. Two of my favorites on DVD are The Wizard of Oz and My Fair Lady. The Wizard of Oz has oodles of extras. My Fair Lady has the soundtrack that Audrey Hepburn sang when she tried to convince the studio to allow her to sing the part in the movie. Such a pretty strong voice too. She may be no Marni Nixon, but she could have done a wonderful job!
I’m interested in joining the group to the extent that I can. I’m new to this discussion group thing and don’t know what if anything that I might contribute but I’ll be lurking and hope to learn a thing or two about the group and the musicals. Having seen only a handfull of musicals I pass on the opportunity to name a title to view / discuss.
Ok am dithering a bit here about my next choice. I have a question for the society in general. What rules do we have about what makes a movie a musical? I have a movie in mind with plenty of music sung by the cast, but not necessarily in context with the movie itself. It is definitely not my only choice, but I thought I should ask first. .
My mind’s awhirl, trying to figure out what movie you’re thinking of.
I think it’s quite possible that “is this movie a musical or not” would be a completely legitimate question for us to discuss about a movie we’ve all seen. Certainly if a movie has “plenty of music sung by the cast, but not necessarily in context with the movie itself,” it might be something you could go ahead and pick and then we have a lively debate about whether it “counts” or not. This is, after all, the Straight Dope Musical Lovers’ Salon and Debating Society. Note that “Straight Dope” and “Debating” both appear in the name of the group.
(Oh c’mon, I realize you don’t want to tip your hand – but could we have another hint, pls.? )
Twickster, am going to try and get Jayjay to watch the movie with me. I may have to leave a trail of bbq pork rinds and french onion dip in my trap on the sofa. It should be an interesting evening for sure…lol. Hmmm maybe I can use his knitting to hypnotize him.
I just moved into MY NEW HOUSE on Sunday, so as soon as I find my VCR, I’ll be in business. If I dont get to watch this time, I’ll still lurk to read all the about the movie and watch it when I can.
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That’s Entertainment* is a GREAT thing for all musical lovers to watch. Good job recommending that, Ilsa I woudn’t have thought of that one.
Congrats on your new house, ThatDuckIsEvil! Now just make it feel like home by popping some corn and settling in on the sofa to watch a nice musical…
On supervenusfreak’s question – I think my preference would be (and I’ve been hanging back because I don’t want this to turn into the TwicksFilmSociety) to get some of the great ones out of the way first. I just had one of those five-minute mini-mental-vacations while standing at the photocopier, thinking, “Geez, I hope someone picks Victor/Victoria, Bye Bye Birdie, All That Jazz, Hedwig and the Angry Inch etc. etc. etc.”
What does everyone else think of “movie about music, but not really a musical”?
I once had a marathon of all three “That’s Entertainment” movies running on TCM. It was one of the best damn afternoons I ever spent.
And as for you twickster…no more guessing! . I love all of the movies you listed and more. I will defintiely go with a more straightforward musical as my choice.
I’ll echo Ilsa Lund and urge you to see **That’s Entertainment III, ** one of the most fascinating documentaries ever made, let alone documentaries about movies. They really dug deep for this one, and show alternate versions of various scenes–things like a split screen Joan Crawford and Cyd Charisse lip-synching to the same track, in two utterly different sequences. Many of the clips have never seen the light of day before (including the Cyd Charisse clip mentioned above).
It’s worth it just to see Joan Crawford parading around in that Two-Faced Woman get-up. One of the most horrifyingly campy things I’ve ever seen.
Other highlights include Judy Garland’s first appearance in the half-tuxedo, in a number cut from Easter Parade(Irving Berlin’s Mr. Monotony), and Lena Horne singing in her bubble bath, cut from Cabin in the Sky..
Hmmm I may just have to settle in and watch alot of musicals this week. “Victor/Victoria” is one of my all time favorite movies and gets a viewing at least once a month. Am lucky here that soemtimes I have alot of down time at work and can actually watch then too. But I am definitely going to have to watch “Neptune’s Daughter” this week too. It must go back to the library next week. But this weekend am going to a gay bear retreat and taking along my copy of the Bette Midler version of “Gypsy”. She was born to play Rose.
Went by the video store tonight on my way home – if anyone’s still looking, the Hollywood Video in Roxborough has Neptune’s Daughter on the shelf. Alas, they didn’t have That’s Entertainment III – only I and II.
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