The Girl Most Likely - 1958
Jane Powell and the entire cast of this excellent and very enjoyable musical are completely wonderful. The cast just knocked themselves out in order to bring forth a really, really good romantic comedy.
I was very impressed with the way the movie made me feel, which, after all is one of the considerations as to why someone would want to see it. This has the most charming song sequences. I was particularly enamored with the lyrics of the songs, as well as the terrific choreography of Gower Champion. A few of these songs were Jane Powell's character Dodie's daydreams, which are meant to be sparked with humor and fantasy. Several songs are hilarious exaggerations of how someone might daydream when they are trying to crystallize into words, the deepest feelings that they are searching to understand. In light of this, I find the lyrics to be superb. If you see the movie several times, you just have to marvel at the complexity of the way each song is staged, and yet how smoothly the scenes of each song are all put together. These scenes are genius.
When this musical was released, rock and roll was grabbing people's attention, so it did not get the attention that I feel it deserves. In looking back on it, I think that it is one of the most fantastic of productions. The cast, the directing, the staging, and the continuity of the film is something simply amazing. The character, Dodie, was someone in her 20's and so was the actress when she portrayed this role. In the 1950's when this was made, many young women that worked still lived at home until they married, so it is typical of family life in those times. Some were going to college and some were not. The plot does not say that she had not been to college, it simply was not mentioned. All we know is that she was of marriageable age. I love this movie and every thing about it.
Jane Powell and the entire cast of this excellent and very enjoyable musical are completely wonderful. The cast just knocked themselves out in order to bring forth a really, really good romantic comedy.
I was very impressed with the way the movie made me feel, which, after all is one of the considerations as to why someone would want to see it. This has the most charming song sequences. I was particularly enamored with the lyrics of the songs, as well as the terrific choreography of Gower Champion. A few of these songs were Jane Powell's character Dodie's daydreams, which are meant to be sparked with humor and fantasy. Several songs are hilarious exaggerations of how someone might daydream when they are trying to crystallize into words, the deepest feelings that they are searching to understand. In light of this, I find the lyrics to be superb. If you see the movie several times, you just have to marvel at the complexity of the way each song is staged, and yet how smoothly the scenes of each song are all put together. These scenes are genius.
When this musical was released, rock and roll was grabbing people's attention, so it did not get the attention that I feel it deserves. In looking back on it, I think that it is one of the most fantastic of productions. The cast, the directing, the staging, and the continuity of the film is something simply amazing. The character, Dodie, was someone in her 20's and so was the actress when she portrayed this role. In the 1950's when this was made, many young women that worked still lived at home until they married, so it is typical of family life in those times. Some were going to college and some were not. The plot does not say that she had not been to college, it simply was not mentioned. All we know is that she was of marriageable age. I love this movie and every thing about it.