What makes me groan the most is the slowed-down romanticized version of "76 Trombones". (You know..."Sweet dreams be yours dear if dreams there be", etc.) Is that properly titled "Goodnight my someone"? I'm not sure -- I'm seeing that listed among the Favorite Song? board here.
"Gary Indiana" -- just tripping around on the scale -- not my idea of good melody writing.
"Marian the Librarian" -- maybe it's rhythmic redundancy as well as tedious melody.
Some of the perkiest stuff works just fine, though, such as "Wells Fargo Wagon" and "Trouble".
I do need to see this movie again, it's been awhile for me. I'll never be nuts about the score, but I'll try a little harder to find its merits. Just looking at the cast list...What a great roster of character actors...Pert Kelton, Hermione Gingold, Mary Wickes, Paul Ford, Buddy Hackett.
Though I'm a classical musician, I do appreciate the simplicity of a good tune, and I enjoy musicals. Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers are tops in my book.
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irishm
8 years ago
"Marian the Librarian" -- maybe it's rhythmic redundancy as well as tedious melody.
This is my least favorite piece in the whole movie. It feels like it's going to go on forever. Most everything else, I really like.
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nannyjo
8 years ago
I agree with "Marian the Librarian" it lasts way too long, in my opinion. In the beginning it is quirky rhyme and kind of catchy once or twice.... after the third time it should have just end.
... and DARN! the "Gary, Indiana" song! I work for a national company and every time I see Gary,In. in an address I get that stupid song stuck in my head for hours!
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phantom2-2
8 years ago
I agree with "Marian the Librarian" it lasts way too long, in my opinion. In the beginning it is quirky rhyme and kind of catchy once or twice.... after the third time it should have just end.
as an independent song...maybe (i like it just fine, and don't think it goes on too long)
as an integral part of an elaborate dance routine, any shorter and it'd cut short an excellent scene.
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BoMar5353
8 years ago
Not sure how old you are or how much you know about musical Theater history but I would suggest you do some investigating of the 'Golden Age' of Broadway, Broadway history, comparisons of different musicals from the last 100 years of Musical Theater- not just film. The songs in this musical are part of a theatrical presentation, part of a musical play and may have other functions within that presentation other than just being a "song". While this film is a very good record of what was created upon the stage it is not perfect.
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almostfm-1
8 years ago
Some of the musicals I've played in, a song that seems to go on for ages is to allow time for costume changes. And some (especially older) theaters don't have a significant backstage area, so if people leave the scene stage left but enter at the beginning of the next scene stage right, you've got to give them time to go out a side door, run around the back of the theater, and come back in the side door on the other side. One of the theaters I've played in had exactly that problem before they remodeled it.
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movieghoul
8 years ago
Yes, practicalities of staging a live production can affect the content. One example is why the original stage version of My Fair Lady had the embassy ball at the end of Act 1 (making that act quite long) instead of the opening of Act 2 (as in the film and later staged versions). The answer is they couldn't change the scenery from one full stage scene to the next (in Higgins's study). All the large scenes had to alternate with scenes in front of a backdrop.
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