Well, I’ve finally found the wonderful intersection of the growing number of “not available on Netflix so I should really, really watch these now” entries on my DVR, and my desire to watch every film featured in That’s Entertainment… Rose Marie!
I recently got into a bit of trouble with a joke I made in my review for Anchors Aweigh, in which I’d cheekily noted that my favorite film genre was “Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra as girl-chasing sailors on leave.” Of course, this is a “genre” that spans exactly two films–Anchors Aweigh and On the Town–so I felt bad when someone eagerly commented seeking a watch-list of other films they thought they had overlooked.
Give a Girl a Break is another of the films I’ve been catching up on from TCM that isn’t available on Netflix, but I’m slowly working through them–hopefully before the next big DVR-buster of a schedule pops up. Anyway, it’s a great example of the behind-the-scenes musical subgenre, with a familiar but cheerfully welcome set up.
I mentioned the other day that wartime sailor musicals are one of my newly discovered favorite subgenres of musicals, and in that spirit, I’ve identified another worthy subgenre from my explorations: Las-Vegas-based musicals from the 1950s and 1960s. Not only do you get the Rat Pack and Elvis Presley at their peaks, but as a whole, the city of Las Vegas was really a unique cultural institution in this era as well–and as a city of constant reinvention, it’s unlikely to replicate this particular blend of style, danger, and opulence again.
It didn’t take much to get me to peak excitement for this film: Rat Pack + Robin Hood set in 1920s Chicago, and I was pretty much sold. Even if it turned out to be not great, the pieces were already set to make for a great movie experience.
My first exposure to the Broadway Melody series was the fantastic Broadway Melody of 1940, starring Eleanor Powell alongside Fred Astaire, so I was thrilled to catch the 1936 edition on TCM this weekend–especially as it’s not available on Netflix, which has become my primary source for musical rentals. Compared to the Gold Diggers series (which I also love), I think the Broadway Melodies tend to be a little more technically focused on the business of being musicals, and they certainly deliver.