Guys and Dolls (1955)
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 149m
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast: Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Jean Simmons, Vivian Blaine
Synopsis:
In need of $1000 for his floating crap game, Nathan Detroit bets Sky Masterson he cannot take a Salvation Army sergeant out to dinner. However, a lot more hangs on this bet than either of them imagines.
Review:
Goldwyn's classy production of Loesser's hip, jazzy show based on Damon Runyon had, one might think, less than ideal casting. The producer wanted the hottest properties around and, despite the fact that they all sing their roles, is vindicated by the results. True, Brando is a little underpowered, but makes up for it in character, but Sinatra acquits himself professionally, albeit seething at not getting the role he wanted, and Simmons sizzles in the Cuban section, also singing remarkably well, while Blaine, importing her act wholesale from the stage show, is a perfect foil for Sinatra's more realism-inflected diffidence. The supporting cast is a cinch, and the Goldwyn Girls are perfect for the Hot Box numbers; the otherwise unoccupied studio soundstages afford perfectly stylised Broadway exteriors, and Michael Kidd's choreography makes for some peerless ballet sequences. Standout numbers, such as 'Luck, be a lady' and 'Siddown, you're rocking the boat' are relative lowspots in an otherwise polished movie which does full service to the book's peculiar New York vernacular, even if it could have done without widescreen placing the characters at arm's length.
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 149m
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast: Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Jean Simmons, Vivian Blaine
Synopsis:
In need of $1000 for his floating crap game, Nathan Detroit bets Sky Masterson he cannot take a Salvation Army sergeant out to dinner. However, a lot more hangs on this bet than either of them imagines.
Review:
Goldwyn's classy production of Loesser's hip, jazzy show based on Damon Runyon had, one might think, less than ideal casting. The producer wanted the hottest properties around and, despite the fact that they all sing their roles, is vindicated by the results. True, Brando is a little underpowered, but makes up for it in character, but Sinatra acquits himself professionally, albeit seething at not getting the role he wanted, and Simmons sizzles in the Cuban section, also singing remarkably well, while Blaine, importing her act wholesale from the stage show, is a perfect foil for Sinatra's more realism-inflected diffidence. The supporting cast is a cinch, and the Goldwyn Girls are perfect for the Hot Box numbers; the otherwise unoccupied studio soundstages afford perfectly stylised Broadway exteriors, and Michael Kidd's choreography makes for some peerless ballet sequences. Standout numbers, such as 'Luck, be a lady' and 'Siddown, you're rocking the boat' are relative lowspots in an otherwise polished movie which does full service to the book's peculiar New York vernacular, even if it could have done without widescreen placing the characters at arm's length.
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 149m
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast: Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Jean Simmons, Vivian Blaine
Synopsis:
In need of $1000 for his floating crap game, Nathan Detroit bets Sky Masterson he cannot take a Salvation Army sergeant out to dinner. However, a lot more hangs on this bet than either of them imagines.
Review:
Goldwyn's classy production of Loesser's hip, jazzy show based on Damon Runyon had, one might think, less than ideal casting. The producer wanted the hottest properties around and, despite the fact that they all sing their roles, is vindicated by the results. True, Brando is a little underpowered, but makes up for it in character, but Sinatra acquits himself professionally, albeit seething at not getting the role he wanted, and Simmons sizzles in the Cuban section, also singing remarkably well, while Blaine, importing her act wholesale from the stage show, is a perfect foil for Sinatra's more realism-inflected diffidence. The supporting cast is a cinch, and the Goldwyn Girls are perfect for the Hot Box numbers; the otherwise unoccupied studio soundstages afford perfectly stylised Broadway exteriors, and Michael Kidd's choreography makes for some peerless ballet sequences. Standout numbers, such as 'Luck, be a lady' and 'Siddown, you're rocking the boat' are relative lowspots in an otherwise polished movie which does full service to the book's peculiar New York vernacular, even if it could have done without widescreen placing the characters at arm's length.