bbmtwist
Joined Jan 2008
Welcome to the new profile
Our updates are still in development. While the previous version of the profile is no longer accessible, we're actively working on improvements, and some of the missing features will be returning soon! Stay tuned for their return. In the meantime, the Ratings Analysis is still available on our iOS and Android apps, found on the profile page. To view your Rating Distribution(s) by Year and Genre, please refer to our new Help guide.
Badges4
To learn how to earn badges, go to the badges help page.
Reviews157
bbmtwist's rating
HOW TO SUCCEED (film review)
HOW TO SUCCEED as a film is an odd critter. The Pulitzer Prize and muti-Tony Award winning Frank Loesser musical arrives on screen with the libretto pretty much intact, but with five of its thirteen songs excised. All three of Rosemary's songs (Happy To Keep His Dinner Warm, Paris Original, Cinderella Darling) are gone. All the character gets to sing is Rosemary (with Morse) and a short reprise of I Believe In You. Bigley's second number (Love From A Heart Of Gold) is gone. Even Coffee Break is missing, though it was recorded and filmed, but edited out during previews. It's still on the soundtrack cd.
This means that with the exception of one number (A Secretary Is Not A Toy), all of the songs involve Morse. The ego of J. Pierpont Finch leaks over onto the film version of his rise to the top. Oddly enough a year later Barbra Streisand would pull the same trick with FUNNY GIRL. Eight of the show's fifteen songs are missing. Of what remains, only one number (If A Girl Isn't Pretty) does not include Streisand. True, there are two new songs and two Brice standards that are added on to round out the score. I am just struck by the similarity in approaches to the two films (excise all but one of the original songs that does not feature the star).
What we have left is the original Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert's razor-sharp satire of big business and tactics of one determined to claw his way to the top, through guile, subterfuge, knowledge of personalities and downright innocence and charm (or a good imitation of the last two). Morse shines as Finch, and who is more adorable or innocent, even sucking his thumb at one point? He is perfect in his Tony Award winning role. Rudy Vallee reprises his role as J. B. Bigley. Ruth Kobart also reprises her role as Miss Jones.
A big help is the casting of Michelle Lee as Rosemary. She is lovely, charming and totally believable. The original Rosemary, Bonnie Scott, had a horrendous speaking and singing voice, very loud and very grating. It's a wonder she was cast in the first place. Charles Nelson Reilly's Bud Frump, nervous, desperate, insidious, is wonderfully replaced by Scooter (Anthony) Teague, who appeared as one of the Jets in the film of WEST SIDE STORY.
Despite the sparsity of musical numbers, the eight that remain are superbly performed and the show as a whole is wonderfully, bright, funny, still original after all these years, and thoroughly enjoyable. Highly recommended.
HOW TO SUCCEED as a film is an odd critter. The Pulitzer Prize and muti-Tony Award winning Frank Loesser musical arrives on screen with the libretto pretty much intact, but with five of its thirteen songs excised. All three of Rosemary's songs (Happy To Keep His Dinner Warm, Paris Original, Cinderella Darling) are gone. All the character gets to sing is Rosemary (with Morse) and a short reprise of I Believe In You. Bigley's second number (Love From A Heart Of Gold) is gone. Even Coffee Break is missing, though it was recorded and filmed, but edited out during previews. It's still on the soundtrack cd.
This means that with the exception of one number (A Secretary Is Not A Toy), all of the songs involve Morse. The ego of J. Pierpont Finch leaks over onto the film version of his rise to the top. Oddly enough a year later Barbra Streisand would pull the same trick with FUNNY GIRL. Eight of the show's fifteen songs are missing. Of what remains, only one number (If A Girl Isn't Pretty) does not include Streisand. True, there are two new songs and two Brice standards that are added on to round out the score. I am just struck by the similarity in approaches to the two films (excise all but one of the original songs that does not feature the star).
What we have left is the original Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert's razor-sharp satire of big business and tactics of one determined to claw his way to the top, through guile, subterfuge, knowledge of personalities and downright innocence and charm (or a good imitation of the last two). Morse shines as Finch, and who is more adorable or innocent, even sucking his thumb at one point? He is perfect in his Tony Award winning role. Rudy Vallee reprises his role as J. B. Bigley. Ruth Kobart also reprises her role as Miss Jones.
A big help is the casting of Michelle Lee as Rosemary. She is lovely, charming and totally believable. The original Rosemary, Bonnie Scott, had a horrendous speaking and singing voice, very loud and very grating. It's a wonder she was cast in the first place. Charles Nelson Reilly's Bud Frump, nervous, desperate, insidious, is wonderfully replaced by Scooter (Anthony) Teague, who appeared as one of the Jets in the film of WEST SIDE STORY.
Despite the sparsity of musical numbers, the eight that remain are superbly performed and the show as a whole is wonderfully, bright, funny, still original after all these years, and thoroughly enjoyable. Highly recommended.
In my earlier review of this film I only knew of three of Artliss' six silent films that had survived. In the three years since, it has come to light that all six survive, complete, in various archives the world over. These are documented on the Wikipedia pages for the five that are not as yet on dvd. As of this writing only THE DEVIL has been released to public on dvd.