What Movies Have Been Playing On Your DVD/Video Lately?

ROBERT M. · Post by **ROBERT M.** » Wed May 06, 2009 10:56 pm

Watched Rogers and Hammersteins musical Oklahoma yesterday, it is not my favourite R&H musical by any means. I do think that Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones make an ideal musical couple though

but Oklahoma does not excite me like South Pacific does. South Pacific has tremendous songs, beautiful scenery, terrific actors (Mitzi Gaynor

) and has sumptuous musical arrangements

whereas Oklahoma just seems to plod on and on, without much of a storyline too

the songs too are a little disappointing, with maybe just 2 or 3 standout songs, namely Surrey With the Fringe on Top and the title track, the very singalong Oklahoma. I will have to watch Marians favourite Carousel next time to compare, but Oklahoma was sooo slow to watch, much slower than I remember, but I am comparing it to the wonderful South Pacific.

mariana44 · Post by **mariana44** » Thu May 07, 2009 12:25 am

I do not know how you can say that "Oklahoma" only has one or 2 standout songs---how about "People will say we're in love" "Out of my Dreams" "Many a new day" "I'm just a gal who cain't say no".
"Kansas City" "All or nothing" , along with the 2 you mentioned.

Perhaps the storyline was not that strong--mostly about the feud between Curly and Jud over Laurie, but a lovely film nevertheless, with a terrific soundtrack.

ROBERT M. · Post by **ROBERT M.** » Thu May 07, 2009 12:48 am

I did say 2 or 3 songs Marian

maybe I missed a couple of good songs from my list

but compared to South Pacific and Carousel, it did seem to go by very slowly

but Shirley and Gordon were a made to be together

Gray · Post by **Gray** » Thu May 07, 2009 6:05 am

I love Oklahoma!, Robert.
I'm a big fan fan of it.

ROBERT M. · Post by **ROBERT M.** » Tue May 12, 2009 11:29 pm

Well I watched Carousel today for the first time in a couple of years, and I absolutely love it

a couple of times during the movie I welled up and had a lump in my throat (firstly when Billy died, and then again when Billy came back down to earth to see his daughter Louise) the latter was such a wonderful segment in the film

all the songs in Carousel are truly magical as were the cast, which included the lovely Barbara Ruick and Cameron Mitchell, later seen in the TV series the High Chapparell. No wonder you love this beautiful and very moving film Marian

the two hours just flew by. Gordon MacRae's voice truly shone in Carousel, the role of Billy Bigelow was dream come true for him, as he had alway's hoped Frank Sinatra would pull out of the film, so he could take his rightful place in the lead role, having played Billy many times on Broadway...............Gordon did not disappoint

one final thing I noticed, was when the characters stood to the left on the screen, their voices came from the left speaker, when they were on the right hand side of the screen, their voices came from the right speaker, and when they appeared in the midlle of the screen, their voices came our of both speakers. A couple of times the main characters walked from one side of the screen to the other and their voices moved from speaker to speaker with them.

Gray · Post by **Gray** » Wed May 13, 2009 6:27 am

Hi Robert

The film was shot in Cinemascope 55 and the mixing of the sound is no accident, I'm so pleased you noticed the mix.
6-track stereo for the premiere, 4-track stereo on general release prints.

Glad you enjoyed the film, as you probably know, I love Gordon MacRae's voice.

ROBERT M. · Post by **ROBERT M.** » Wed May 13, 2009 9:52 pm

Going back to Carousel, the lovely Barbara Ruick (who played Carrie, who became Mrs Snow), was another who passed away far too early, at the young age of 43

what a shame....................what a waste.

ROBERT M. · Post by **ROBERT M.** » Wed May 13, 2009 10:00 pm

Watched the DVD Frank Sinatra at the Royal Festival Hall earlier tonight

FS has such a magnetic aura about him when performing on stage. One thing though, Frank cannot sing the ballads like our Matt does, Franks voice is good for the more upbeat numbers, but not for ballads

but saying that..............he did sing I Have Dreamed to absolute perfection, he did put everything into that wonderful song

.................we mentioned Paul and Barry Ryan on here the other day, well Frank sang a new song called I Will Drink the Wine during the concert, which was a new composition, written by Paul Ryan

................if anyone has the DVD or video of the concert, our Matt is seen in the audience right at the very end

Marian · Post by **Marian** » Wed May 13, 2009 10:33 pm

I have a very brief interview David Jacobs did with Matt following the concert Robert.

Gray · Post by **Gray** » Thu May 14, 2009 5:58 am

How very interesting.
What year was the concert, please?

ROBERT M. · Post by **ROBERT M.** » Fri May 15, 2009 10:26 pm

The year was 1971 Gray

the introduction of the concert was given by Princess Rainier of Monaco (Grace Kelly).

Going back to Carousel, I read that Gordon MaCrae started drinking very heavily during the 50's and 60's, becoming an alcoholic, and he was indeed arrested for drunk driving while shooting Carousel

mariana44 · Post by **mariana44** » Fri May 15, 2009 11:45 pm

I did not know that Barbara Ruick had died-especially so young--and although I had seen something about Gordon Macrae's drinking problems, I had not realised it was at that time.

I have to say that I could not imagine Frank Sinatra playing the part of Billy Bigelow. I think the most moving part of the film is right at the very end, when everyone is singing, and the ghost of Billy, stands by Julie and says to her "Know that I loved you, Julie"--and her face lights up as though she really heard him and realised that despite everything , Billy had always really loved her.

john · Post by **john** » Sat May 16, 2009 6:03 pm

Watched The Amityville Horror last night.

ROBERT M. · Post by **ROBERT M.** » Sat May 16, 2009 10:00 pm

Yes Marian, the whole final segment when Billy goes back down to earth is so moving

when he smack's Louise's hand, Louise says that it felt like a kiss on her hand instead of a smack, I think that is when Julie realises that Billy is in their presence, reminding of herself of when Billy smacked her previously. In that final sequence you mention Marian, the camera angle is wrong, because when Billy walk's past Julie you see his shadow go directly across Julie, which should not have occured (being a ghost), so maybe the camera should have been at a different angle for that shot

and yes maybe FS was not meant to play Billy Bigelow. He left because he thought they had to shoot each scene twice for 35mm and 55mm print's, but a couple of day's into the shoot they found a way of producing both the 35 and 55 print's from the same shot, meaning only one scene had to be filmed

Gray · Post by **Gray** » Sun May 17, 2009 9:52 am

1971 - thanks Robert.
Yes, thanks also for the info about Mr McRae's drinking, I was aware of that, it doesn't really change my opinion of him - only makes him human, I guess.
He has such a wonderful voice.

Really glad you enjoyed Carousel and that your posting has prompted so much discussion on Gordon McRae!

PS I watched 88 minutes last night, a new film to dvd with Al Pacino - quite enjoyed it.

John - was that the old or new Amityville Horror?