Anyone make it past the opening?
I fell asleep during the opening. To me this whole movie was a bunch of orchestral hits, a screen that would slowly change colors, and a bunch of random vertical black lines.
shareSo far, no one has mentioned the reason for that part of the film.
Roadshow movies (exclusive reserved-seat premiere engagements) usually had an overture, whether or not the movie was a musical. It would play with a black screen, and the curtains would be closed. Roadshow presentations were usually strict about the exhibition, like when the lights would go down, when the curtain would open, etc.
70mm Roadshow prints of West Side Story had 6-track sound, with some of the speakers behind the screen (I guess two or four?). So at one point before or during production, Robert Wise asked, "Can we have the curtains open for the overture so that the sound isn't muffled by the curtains?" and he was told that the curtains couldn't be opened unless there was some visual being projected, and that's why he had Saul Bass design that sequence with the abstract image of Manhattan (which looked so exciting and modern at the time).
So, if Robert Wise hadn't minded the slightly muffled sound of the overtures of other roadshow movies, then the West Side Story overture would have played with the curtains closed and no one would pay it much attention, and then it would probably never have been heard again until the advent of DVDs, where you usually have the roadshow overture presented with some visual on the screen.
When people watch Doctor Zhivago on DVD, or How the West Was Won or whatever, do they get impatient with that section in the same way? Do they skip it? Is it different because usually that visual on the DVD says OVERTURE throughout the whole thing (and INTERMISSION and EXIT MUSIC, if those are included also). I just don't see how West Side Story on DVD is any different from those.
I don't know if it's "really wacky," but your French is coming along.