One of the last big MGM musicals, and who expected they would return to the 1929 early talkie format?...nail the camera to a seat in the 10th row, have people stand around and talk--and then move over here and talk some more, don't edit out anything no matter superfluous or expendable it is, let everyone give hammy Vaudeville performances, and stage completely static musical numbers (there's even a pageant...like out of an old Ziegfeld show). It's as though there had been NO advances in film-making in the previous 20 years.
On the upside...the score is excellent, and if you rent the 2008 DVD (contained in "Musicals from The Dream Factory Vol 3"), you will get a sense of what real, movie palace stereo used to sound like. Also, like most early Cinemascope movies, it is super duper wide, which is always thrilling to look at on a widescreen TV (even if the subject matter is as anemic as this). Note the gaudy costumes...designed by none other than Tony Duquette, the famed interior designer.
On the upside...the score is excellent, and if you rent the 2008 DVD (contained in "Musicals from The Dream Factory Vol 3"), you will get a sense of what real, movie palace stereo used to sound like. Also, like most early Cinemascope movies, it is super duper wide, which is always thrilling to look at on a widescreen TV (even if the subject matter is as anemic as this). Note the gaudy costumes...designed by none other than Tony Duquette, the famed interior designer.