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Rating:  -
There's nothing wrong with good, clean fun. Plot is easy and even amuses my kids. Song and dance numbers are great to show the new generation.
Rating: -
Just think, 58 years ago, a few years after a horrible war ended, and a new "Cold War" was beginning, MGM decided to do a full color musical about 3 over-age sailors hitting the town (NYC) for a short 24-hour leave! Today, it's hard to imagine any studio making such a terrific song and dance flick, one that is as close to perfect as you can get. You have Ann Miller, stealing the show singing and tapping, and amusing everyone in an unbeatable role for the ages! Vera Ellen almost as good, and perfect in the "Miss Turnstile" act knocking down even the toughest guys! A tough girl cabbie brassing it out with none other than the #1 Star of all time (Frank, if you need to ask) here playing a thoughtful near- straight man, along with the 3 Stooges-like (think a slim Curlie) Jules Mushin, and a typically loud and flamboyent Gene Kelly. All the song& dance acts are top of the line, the scenery is great, the whimsy tough to beat, with just a very few dated routines (mainly with the rather sad roommate). And the Empire State act with Mushin "hanging out" actually gave me a slight case of vertigo! But I could fly through the incredible primitive man act at least omce a month and still not get bored, corny or not!
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New York, New York, a helluva town.
The Bronx is up, but the Battery's down.
The people ride in a hole in the groun'.
New York, New York, it's a helluva town!
On The Town let MGM showcase some of their very finest talents: Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly and Jules Munshin play three sailors who get a 24 hour pass to see the city. These men play their roles as Chip, Gabey and Ozzie magnificently. They sing and dance with three wonderfully talented ladies: Betty Garrett plays Brunhilde 'Hilde' Esterhazy, Chip's love interest; Ann Miller portrays Claire Huddesen, Ozzie's flirting partner for the day and Vera-Ellen plays Ivy Smith, or "Miss Turnstiles," who is chased after by Gabey.
The movie plot is not very sophisticated; the idea of three sailors on shore leave to see the New York City and find some girls to celebrate with does not require much imagination. However, this remains a classic musical from "The Dream Factory" even today. The song and dance numbers impress me and the campy dance number in the archeological museum amused me and impressed me both at the same time.
The Technicolor cinematography is excellent; and it is my understanding that this was one of the first films, if not the first, to ever be filmed at least partly on location in New York City. The choreography will never cease to amaze you and hold your attention; I couldn't believe how fast Ann Miller could spin around like a top as she danced her way through one of several gigantic and splashy song and dance routines. Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin shine as they dance; and Vera-Ellen dances to perfection as well. Wow!
MGM wanted to inject some humor and some mild suspense into the plot so there is the scene in the archeological museum where an exhibit is destroyed and of course the cops begin the chase for our heroes. The car chase scene reflects careful planning and much forethought.
I completely agree with the reviewer who writes that the film allows the actors to play parts that they could excel at before they became famous for performing other types of roles. For example, Frank Sinatra DOES play a somewhat introverted soul instead of the much rougher guy or "a heavy" as he did in his later years.
Betty Comden and Adolph Green wrote magnificent lyrics for the songs; and the music by Leonard Bernstein could not be any better. Top notch talent!
The DVD does not come with many extras. The best "extra" really is the three minute theatrical trailer for the movie. You can access scenes one at a time or just view the whole movie straight through as I did. There are French subtitles, too.
Despite the many years since On The Town was filmed, this movie remains a classic musical from "Hollywood's Dream Factory," MGM. I am confident that On The Town will remain a classic musical for quite some while to come as well. The dancing, the singing, the filming on location and the superlative cast all make for a timeless and somewhat sweetly sentimental masterpiece.
I highly recommend this film for fans of classic movie musicals. People who enjoy MGM musicals in particular will forgive the thin plot and love this musical forever. Great job, everyone!
Rating: -
While 1952's "Singin' in the Rain" is definitely the more accomplished musical film, I think this buoyant 1949 classic best typifies what MGM produced during Hollywood's golden era when talents were at their peak. Co-directed by Gene Kelly and a 25-year old Stanley Donen in his feature film directing debut, the movie has a consistently propulsive energy thanks mainly to the remarkable choreography by Kelly and Donen, the seamless blend of Leonard Bernstein's familiar music with studio tunesmith Roger Edens' original compositions, and the sheer ebullience of the performers.
Written by the estimable team of Betty Comden and Adolph Green, the threadbare plot is simply about three sailors - Gabey, Chip and Ozzie - on a 24-hour leave in New York City and the women they meet and romance. Based on a subway poster, womanizing Gabey falls for Miss Turnstiles and spends his time searching for her. Phobia-ridden Ozzie finds romance with anthropology student Claire, while timid Chip is focused on sightseeing in spite of the persistent attentions of aggressive lady cab driver Hildy. The closest the story comes to dramatic tension is in the deceptions around Miss Turnstiles, who is not the big-time celebrity Gabey assumes she is but an aspiring ballerina named Ivy, who has to work nights as an exotic dancer in Coney Island.
The film is obviously at its best when it's focused on the musical sequences - beginning with the actual locations used for "New York, New York" in establishing the sailors' energetic arrival, continuing with the elaborate "Prehistoric Man" number at the Museum of Natural History and bouncing through the title tune ensemble with all six principals singing and dancing their way down from atop the Empire State Building. Everyone gets a chance to shine, though as Gabey, Gene Kelly clearly dominates with his graceful athleticism. As Chip, an overshadowed Frank Sinatra mainly gets to sing to Betty Garrett, who admirably contains her brassiness as Hildy.
Though hardly believable as an academic type, Ann Miller gets to tap impressively during "Prehistoric Man", and rubber-faced Jules Munshin provides mostly comedy relief as Ozzie. When dancing rather than acting to deceive Gabey, Vera-Ellen dazzles as Ivy from the fantasy-laden "Miss Turnstiles Ballet" to her superb duets with Kelly on "Main Street" and "A Day in New York Ballet". The only sour note is the patronizing attitude toward Hildy's squawk-voiced roommate Lucy (played with gumption by the original Gladys Kravitz from "Bewitched", Alice Pearce). Harold Rosson's color-saturated cinematography has been maintained quite well in the print transfer on the 2000 DVD, though the only extra is the now-battered theatrical trailer.
Rating: -
Even though this is not the musical in which Gene Kelly dances with Jerry the mouse, the 1949 film ON THE TOWN still has much that is cartoonish about it--and that's not a bad thing. It is cheerfully outlandish, in the way all the best animated cartoons of the era were. It's one unlikely or downright absurd event after the other, and like a good Bugs Bunny short, the audience knows that suspension of disbelief goes without saying. We delight in the absurdity.
The story of three sailors on 24-hour leave and the NYC gals they pick up during their various misadventures should logically be fast-paced, which the film certainly is, or even a little frenzied, which it is not. Despite the crawling time-line, which should theoretically make the viewer feel as though time's a-wastin', the action almost seems suspended in time, rather than weighted down by it. It's the old romantic notion of one day lasting forever. And in such a magical setting, who needs to sleep? And there can't possibly be truly serious consequences for a lady cab driver failing to turn in her car for the next shift or for that matter for destroying a dinosaur at the Museum of Natural History.
All that absurdity opens up a world of anarchic fun--just as in the best cartoons--and even the most staid of audiences can briefly escape into this loony world of antics with no consequences and true love found at the drop of a sailor's cap.
And it's all done to a great Comden-Green and Bernstein score (much taken from the Broadway play of the same name on which it is based) and handled with aplomb by its talented cast. The casting is near perfect, with Kelly and Frank Sinatra heading an able cast of singers, dancers and comic actors. Ann Miller and Vera-Ellen shine in their dance numbers, and Betty Garrett and Alice Pearce are remarkable for their comic--as well as their musical--timing. Probably the only disputable casting would be that of Sinatra as a somewhat nerdy, control freak. But it's nice to see him out of the "ring a ding ding" mode for once.
ON THE TOWN's great entertainment--and like so much of the entertainment of the era expresses a joy and optimism that now seems (sadly) naive to us today.
A previous reviewer noted, in fact, that the film was emblematic of the post-WW II optimism that dominated American culture in the late 40s and early 50s. That's for sure. This is a world in which sailors can get in a bit of trouble (on leave) but are not about to get blown up (on duty). And it's also a world, in which invoking military honor and sacrifice can get excuse a bit of nautical mischief.
Probably the sole bit of sobering realism is the fact that when the gobs and the gals say goodbye at the dock the next morn, they don't promise to stay in touch. Not even Gene and Vera, who have declared true love.
The audience members can draw their own conclusions. But with all this free floating optimism how can they conclude anything other than a romatic reunion--for all three couples?
We can suspend our disbelief on that point too.
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