Not so fast Savant — with the help of correspondent input, DVD Savant presents more information on David Swift’s adaptation of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying — correcting and modifying some assumptions in my first review. Don’t worry — it’s good reading.
A Savant article
This is an odd circumstance. I routinely update, modify, correct and de-stupidify DVD Savant reviews, but this time I’m taking a more radical step. In my March 25 coverage of Twilight Time’s Blu-ray of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, I made a big point of the fact that David Swift’s film adaptation had not made many changes. Several songs were dropped, but that would seem the right thing to do considering that the movie wasn’t planned as a Road Show — it’s only 121 minutes in duration and has no break for an intermission. The much missed...
A Savant article
This is an odd circumstance. I routinely update, modify, correct and de-stupidify DVD Savant reviews, but this time I’m taking a more radical step. In my March 25 coverage of Twilight Time’s Blu-ray of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, I made a big point of the fact that David Swift’s film adaptation had not made many changes. Several songs were dropped, but that would seem the right thing to do considering that the movie wasn’t planned as a Road Show — it’s only 121 minutes in duration and has no break for an intermission. The much missed...
- 4/1/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Broadway’s delightful — but wickedly accurate — satire of big business was brought to movie screens almost intact, with the story, the stars, the styles and dances kept as they were in the long-running show that won a Pulitzer Prize. This is the place to see Robert Morse and Michele Lee at their best — it’s one of the best, and least appreciated movie musicals of the 1960s.
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1967 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 121 min. / Street Date March 14, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Robert Morse, Michele Lee, Rudy Vallee, Anthony Teague, Maureen Arthur, Sammy Smith, Robert Q. Lewis, Carol Worthington, Kathryn Reynolds, Ruth Kobart, George Fennemann, Tucker Smith, David Swift.
Cinematography: Burnett Guffey
Film Editor: Allan Jacobs, Ralph E. Winters
Original Music: Nelson Riddle
Art Direction: Robert Boyle
Visual Gags: Virgil Partch
From the play written by Frank Loesser, Abe Burrows,...
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1967 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 121 min. / Street Date March 14, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Robert Morse, Michele Lee, Rudy Vallee, Anthony Teague, Maureen Arthur, Sammy Smith, Robert Q. Lewis, Carol Worthington, Kathryn Reynolds, Ruth Kobart, George Fennemann, Tucker Smith, David Swift.
Cinematography: Burnett Guffey
Film Editor: Allan Jacobs, Ralph E. Winters
Original Music: Nelson Riddle
Art Direction: Robert Boyle
Visual Gags: Virgil Partch
From the play written by Frank Loesser, Abe Burrows,...
- 3/25/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Dean Jones: Actor in Disney movies. Dean Jones dead at 84: Actor in Disney movies 'The Love Bug,' 'That Darn Cat!' Dean Jones, best known for playing befuddled heroes in 1960s Walt Disney movies such as That Darn Cat! and The Love Bug, died of complications from Parkinson's disease on Tue., Sept. 1, '15, in Los Angeles. Jones (born on Jan. 25, 1931, in Decatur, Alabama) was 84. Dean Jones movies Dean Jones began his Hollywood career in the mid-'50s, when he was featured in bit parts – at times uncredited – in a handful of films at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer In 2009 interview for Christianity Today, Jones recalled playing his first scene (in These Wilder Years) with veteran James Cagney, who told him “Walk to your mark and remember your lines” – supposedly a lesson he would take to heart. At MGM, bit player Jones would also be featured in Robert Wise's...
- 9/2/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Maureen O'Hara movies: 2014 Honorary Oscar for Hollywood legend (photo: Maureen O'Hara at the 2014 Governors Awards) In the photo above, the movies' Maureen O'Hara, 2014 Honorary Oscar recipient for her body of work, arrives with a couple of guests at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 2014 Governors Awards. This year's ceremony is being held this Saturday evening, November 8, in the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood. For the last couple of years, Maureen O'Hara has been a Boise, Idaho, resident. Before that, the 94-year-old movie veteran -- born Maureen FitzSimons, on August, 17, 1920, in Dublin -- had been living in Ireland. Below is a brief recap of her movies. Maureen O'Hara movies: From Charles Laughton to John Wayne Following her leading-lady role in Alfred Hitchcock's British-made Jamaica Inn, starring Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara arrived in Hollywood in 1939 to play the gypsy Esmeralda opposite Laughton in William Dieterle...
- 11/9/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
With Joss Whedon’s recent announcement that super-powered twins Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch — established in the X-Men comics as Magneto’s children — are set to join The Avengers 2, we started thinking about which other cinematic siblings have stood the test of time.
There are obviously a number of famous families littering cinema history, whether it’s the Von Trapps, the Tenenbaums or the Incredibles, but this article is more interested in the few brothers and sisters, twins and triplets that have stood out from their more often than not bickering broods.
Winifred, Sarah and Mary Sanderson – Hocus Pocus
Should you find yourself home alone on this or any other Halloween night, chances are a perusal of the television schedules will reveal at least one channel showing Disney’s 1993 family fantasy/horror/comedy Hocus Pocus.
The film pits teenager Max against the Sanderson sisters — played by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker...
There are obviously a number of famous families littering cinema history, whether it’s the Von Trapps, the Tenenbaums or the Incredibles, but this article is more interested in the few brothers and sisters, twins and triplets that have stood out from their more often than not bickering broods.
Winifred, Sarah and Mary Sanderson – Hocus Pocus
Should you find yourself home alone on this or any other Halloween night, chances are a perusal of the television schedules will reveal at least one channel showing Disney’s 1993 family fantasy/horror/comedy Hocus Pocus.
The film pits teenager Max against the Sanderson sisters — played by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker...
- 8/6/2013
- by Steven Neish
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The Parent Trap
Directed by Nancy Meyers
Written by David Swift, Nancy Meyers, and Charles Shyer
Starring Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid, Natasha Richardson
Who is The Parent Trap for, really? The more I think about the plot structure of the 1961 and 1998 films from Walt Disney Pictures, it all starts to unravel. Not so fast, you say. The movie’s for kids! And why wouldn’t it be? Both films are about two preteen girls, one from American and one from London, who discover while at a summer camp getaway that a) they’re identical twins who’ve never met until just now and b) it’s up to them to reunite their estranged parents. The movie’s for kids. That’s that. Right? But think about the second half of each film, which shifts the focus from the kids to the parents. In the original, the parents are played by...
Directed by Nancy Meyers
Written by David Swift, Nancy Meyers, and Charles Shyer
Starring Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid, Natasha Richardson
Who is The Parent Trap for, really? The more I think about the plot structure of the 1961 and 1998 films from Walt Disney Pictures, it all starts to unravel. Not so fast, you say. The movie’s for kids! And why wouldn’t it be? Both films are about two preteen girls, one from American and one from London, who discover while at a summer camp getaway that a) they’re identical twins who’ve never met until just now and b) it’s up to them to reunite their estranged parents. The movie’s for kids. That’s that. Right? But think about the second half of each film, which shifts the focus from the kids to the parents. In the original, the parents are played by...
- 9/1/2012
- by Josh Spiegel
- SoundOnSight
The Parent Trap
Directed by David Swift
Written by David Swift
Starring Hayley Mills, Maureen O’Hara, David Keith
Maintaining, or even attempting, realism in a Disney movie is a Herculean task, far more than being realistic in a movie that isn’t tied to the Mouse House. People don’t demand realism from Walt Disney; they expect or demand the exact opposite. The reason why the Disney theme parks do so well is because of their heightened version of reality, from a turn-of-the-century small town in middle America to its retro vision in the future. And Disney movies aren’t typified by kitchen-sink realism. The first think people think of in regards to Disney movies is their animated output, which is populated mostly by talking animals. Even when there aren’t talking animals at the forefront of their movies, Disney and realism don’t mix, and rarely try to.
Directed by David Swift
Written by David Swift
Starring Hayley Mills, Maureen O’Hara, David Keith
Maintaining, or even attempting, realism in a Disney movie is a Herculean task, far more than being realistic in a movie that isn’t tied to the Mouse House. People don’t demand realism from Walt Disney; they expect or demand the exact opposite. The reason why the Disney theme parks do so well is because of their heightened version of reality, from a turn-of-the-century small town in middle America to its retro vision in the future. And Disney movies aren’t typified by kitchen-sink realism. The first think people think of in regards to Disney movies is their animated output, which is populated mostly by talking animals. Even when there aren’t talking animals at the forefront of their movies, Disney and realism don’t mix, and rarely try to.
- 8/4/2012
- by Josh Spiegel
- SoundOnSight
Daniel Radcliffe Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Daniel Radcliffe, the star of the Harry Potter franchise, is returning to Broadway to sing and dance in a revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. The musical is scheduled to open in spring 2011. Radcliffe will play the ambitious young man who goes from the mail room to very corporate top. The Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, a humorous critique of American corporate culture, features a score by Frank Loesser, and book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert. Rob Ashford will direct and choreograph the new production. Robert Morse starred in the original back in 1961, and went on to reprise the role in David Swift’s 1967 [...]...
- 4/15/2010
- by Anna Robinson
- Alt Film Guide
Optimum, £15.99
Excellent screen version (directed by David Swift) of the Broadway musical, a satire on the world of big business, by the Guys and Dolls team of Abe Burrows (book) and Frank Loesser (music and lyrics). The original stage version won the 1962 Pulitzer prize for drama. Robert Morse recreates his stage role as the nebbish who uses the eponymous "How to" book to promote himself from window-cleaner to the president of a Manhattan corporation. The interwar crooner Rudy Vallee repeats his Broadway part as the eccentric boss.
Essentially it's a lite version of Billy Wilder's The Apartment. Superbly photographed by veteran Burnett Guffey (Oscar winner for From Here to Eternity and Bonnie and Clyde), it's furnished wall to wall with witty, melodic songs by Loesser, master of the monosyllabic lyric (eg, the song "A Secretary Is not a Toy" features the couplet: "Her pad is to write in/ Not...
Excellent screen version (directed by David Swift) of the Broadway musical, a satire on the world of big business, by the Guys and Dolls team of Abe Burrows (book) and Frank Loesser (music and lyrics). The original stage version won the 1962 Pulitzer prize for drama. Robert Morse recreates his stage role as the nebbish who uses the eponymous "How to" book to promote himself from window-cleaner to the president of a Manhattan corporation. The interwar crooner Rudy Vallee repeats his Broadway part as the eccentric boss.
Essentially it's a lite version of Billy Wilder's The Apartment. Superbly photographed by veteran Burnett Guffey (Oscar winner for From Here to Eternity and Bonnie and Clyde), it's furnished wall to wall with witty, melodic songs by Loesser, master of the monosyllabic lyric (eg, the song "A Secretary Is not a Toy" features the couplet: "Her pad is to write in/ Not...
- 1/3/2010
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
By Matt Singer
"He's Just Not That Into You" is a great title. Born from a "Sex in the City" episode, it's adorned a bestseller (by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo) and as a phrase has quickly wormed its way into the lexicon. Now it's got its own movie, too, opening this Friday and starring a slew of stars including Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, Ginnifer Goodwin, Scarlett Johansson and Justin Long. What it does not have, at least in book form, is a story. "Hjntiy" is a dating advice book, a guide for women who can't get it through their heads that the dude they're interested in isn't reciprocating. It's long on helpful tips and sarcastic quips, but not necessarily on plot or character developments. That's an extra-heavy burden for the film's screenwriters, Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein, who must fashion an entire story that can...
"He's Just Not That Into You" is a great title. Born from a "Sex in the City" episode, it's adorned a bestseller (by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo) and as a phrase has quickly wormed its way into the lexicon. Now it's got its own movie, too, opening this Friday and starring a slew of stars including Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, Ginnifer Goodwin, Scarlett Johansson and Justin Long. What it does not have, at least in book form, is a story. "Hjntiy" is a dating advice book, a guide for women who can't get it through their heads that the dude they're interested in isn't reciprocating. It's long on helpful tips and sarcastic quips, but not necessarily on plot or character developments. That's an extra-heavy burden for the film's screenwriters, Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein, who must fashion an entire story that can...
- 2/5/2009
- by Matt Singer
- ifc.com
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