I agree. One critic at the time, and I don't recall who it was, described Marvin's rendition as eloquent and perfectly in keeping with his character. Ben Rumson was not a Met star or a Broadway musical actor...he was a rough, under-educated and flawed man.
My favorite two moments in the film are the simply beautiful "A Million Miles Away Behind the Door" and Lee Marvin's touching rendition of "Wand'rin Star". Both those songs captured moments that the rest of the film should have aspired to match, but didn't.
This film is one that instantly brings back my childhood pleasures in seeing a great story told wonderfully well. I saw it on televison, yes. Maybe just once before it was ever released on DVD, but it stuck with me. I also enjoyed the Disney version with Sean Scully playing both roles and Guy...
He was hysterically funny as the straight young detective Michael Brick hired to find Jack Weston's Gaetano Proclo in some sort of compromising situation in "The Ritz".
Thanks to Warner Archives, I have enjoyed discovering Kay Francis over the years.. This is a particularly excellent film. Never thought of it as a comedy. I think we are lucky to have a film with both Francis and Powell.
Not many film lovers these days realize she was one of the, if not THE...
One of the all-time great scenes in any star-making film was that of Turner in her final staircase descent. Even though she was ill, she was determined to see a follies review. After a while, she felt too ill to stay and started to leave. But, as she reaches the stairs, one of the songs from...
Chief among the craftsmen who made this musical the joy it is was master composer/conductor/arranger Alfred Newman who had done such beautiful adaptations for “Carousel”, “The King and I” and “South Pacific”. He and choral associate Ken Darby were Oscar-nominated for music adaptation for this...
This was shot during the pandemic and the company was unable to shoot in Egypt, if I correctly understand what I have read about the production. They recreated Egypt in the UK. But I do believe CGI can make things look "real" instead of what we got.
I am very sorry to say that this film was a complete miss for me. I love Agatha Christie. I love the original movie starring Ustinov, Niven, and a cast of stars who remain memorable in their roles. The movie was true to the era Christie set her tale in.
Branagh's "Death on the Nile" is...
This gem is one of my favorite musical films. It's notable that Eleanor Powell's voice is her own. In previous films she was dubbed as studio head Louis B. Mayer preferred more cultured, operatic voices from his female singers, Powell had sung on Broadway prior to her film career, so it's...