On a Clear Day You Can See Forever

On A Clear day You can See Forever is truly a wonderful, feel good movie. Barbra Streisand's portrayl of Daisy Gamble is absolutely endearing. The character of Daisy is so sweet and child-like, and at the same time cooky and hysterically clumsy. In the very same movie she also portrays a sophisticated seductress of Brittish decent from the 19th century. Completely the opposite of her Daisy Gamble character. Daisy goes to see a doctor to help her quit smoking and while under hypnosis reveals the personality of Melinda, the Brittish seductress. Her doctor falls for Melinda, but is not in any way interested in Daisy in a romantic way. However, Daisy thinks the doctor is falling in love with her, and she certainly is falling in love with him. It is this plot, combined with the movies vivid color and great songs, as well as Barbra's wonderful dimmensions of acting in this film, and a terrific supporting cast, that make it such a treat to watch. By the end of the movie, you TRULY, REALLY "FEEL" Daisy's sense of feeling better about herself and loving herself for who she is. Although I have enjoyed Barbra's other musicals,(some more than others),this one is the only one that, I feel, truly leaves you with a sense of wonderment. On A Clear day You Can See Forever is an EXCELLENT, WONDERFUL movie. A visual and audial treat. Enjoy it.

This is one of those musicals that rarely gets talked about. Even the original stage version is not as well known as say, "Oklahoma!" or "West Side Story", but it should be. It has some wonderful music and an intriguing story.

However, comparing the stage version of this show with the film would be pointless, because all filmed musicals of Broadway shows usually change in more then a few ways. As for this film, it is a charming watch, and an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours. You don't need to be fans of either of the lead actors, but it does help if you are a musical fan and are somewhat interested in the science of ESP.

The songs in this film are all great, not one of them are what I would consider "filler". A few of the original songs from the stage show have been replaced here with different pieces, but they are good ones nontheless. My only complaint in them is Yves Montand's singing. It's difficult enough to understand his spoken word, but it's even worst when he sings. John Cullum's singing in the original Broadway version is so clear and strong, and Montand is just not at par with that. Still, the quality of the songs themselves, make up for this. The Technicolor is stupendous, lusch and vivid. It's a shame that the film was cut so badly before it was released. Not having seen that version, it's difficult for me to say whether or not it would have been an improvement over the finished product, but I doubt it. As it is, this is a decent, pleasant musical film, and worth watching if you are a fan of the genre.

On A Clear Day came at the end of the Movie Musical Cycle that started strong from MY FAIR LADY. Once the market became supersaturated with musicals (Half A Sixpence, Dr. Doolittle), the beauty of the movie musical wore off.

On A Clear Day started life as the next go-round for Richard Rodgers. After he retired working with Oscar Hammerstein, he partnered with Alan Lerner and they started to write this musical. Rodgers backed out of the project but the show made it to Broadway with Barbara Harris in the lead. It was respectfully received but never did blockbuster business. In fact, if it weren't for the song "What Did I Have?" it would almost be forgotten.

Enter Vincente Minelli and Ms. Streisand. Together, they took the idea and ran with it until it became a big, bright, lovely movie. The old songs (the title song and "What Did I Have") are rendered priceless by Barbra who sings them as emotional tour-de-forces. The new songs (a cute duet "Go To Sleep" and "Love With All The Trimmings") are wonderful. In fact, the latter was filmed a la Tom Jones. In short, everything about the film worked.

Originally it was three hours long and intended as a road show production (tickets ordered in advance; two shows a day). Paramount went for the fast buck and they trimmed it to under two hours. Yes, what is left is priceless and wonderful but I wish they would release the Director's Cut of this musical. If what we see today is still excellent, I can't help but wonder about what they took out.

Just saw it, and I loved it! What struck me was the beauty of the writing; truly intelligent and exciting dialog, solidly worldly and then suddenly transcendent. There was this one moment near the end where Montand is giving Daisy his impassioned pep talk, leading to a capstone pronouncement. He pauses.... And I knew exactly what he was going to say before he said it; and not because it was melodramatically predictable, but rather because it was magnificently true.

My only qualification is a "drat it" regret that not all the songs were great. Half were well crafted, and the other half are poor-to-middling, with one having truly cringe-inducing lyrics. That's too bad; dropped the ball there. But the blockbuster songs are excellent. I'd always wanted to hear more Montand, and there he was giving the songs the timing and smooth delivery one expects from a great entertainer.

I can see why some folks think of this as a lesser period piece. But, like I said, I feel the writing lifts this out of the period and invites us to listen and watch with everything we have. And isn't that what art is supposed to do? Watch it.

On A Clear Day improves and is more enjoyable for each viewing. The first time I saw it was such a huge elephant of a movie, a baffling entertaining jumble. So many ideas propped into one movie to make it popular and a box office hit in a time of change and when the big movie companies were desperately seeking hits to save themselves from ruin.

So this movie is crammed when ingredients that had proven successful in earlier movies in the 60´s : Barbra Streisand and a musical score (Funny Girl), gigantic sets and costumes in 19th century style (My Fair Lady), 60´s mod clothing, a big European star for the overseas market (Montand), new young stars (Nicholson) for counterculture hippy flavor, student riots (very 'now' then), reincarnation and telepathy (sci-fi), british accents both snobby and cockney (swinging London)…

Barbra is one of the biggest talents of the 20th century and was born a little too late. Those huge musicals she stars so well in where dated then and she would have been better off in the 40s or 50s. She is very beautiful, womanly and sexy when she is in period costume. In the modern scenes she is fascinating and a little annoying when she´s trying to be a kooky 60´s chick à la Twiggy.

Yves Montand is miscast even though he has earthy European charm. He is unbelievable because he cannot pronounce the dialouge!!!!! His diction is a disaster and didn´t do the film any favors. Was there really no other singer for the male lead?

The songs are very good and underrated. Why does one never hear them as other musical classics? The direction from Vincente Minelli works since the film is very lush and enthralling. The period costumes by Cecil Beaton are beautiful without being too much and look great on Babs. The snazzy Scaasi mod clothes are a hoot!

It is very ambitious combinig so many elements and hope it works. Despite it all the film does have charm and one is drawn into 2 hours of pure Hollywood entertainment and at the same time it is fascinating to see one of the very last old time Hollywood productions. (It was already outdated when it was released 1970. Bad timing; the movie must have seemed as ancient as a dinosaur. It was apparently longer. There was supposedly a scene with Babs, Jack and 'Warren' at a disco but it got cut…I would LOVE to see the original version!!!!! This is good fun to watch on rainy day…forever