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Guys And Dolls [VHS] [1955]
 
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Guys And Dolls [VHS] [1955]

VHS ~ Marlon Brando
4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

This CinemaScope treatment of Frank Loesser's hit Broadway musical Guys and Dolls is a deeply rewarding visual and musical experience. Frank Sinatra turns in one of his best screen performances running a close second to Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons, looking adorable and singing sweetly. In essence this is a piece of photographed theatre mounted on a handsome scale. The striking set designs and a brilliantly executed soundtrack are courtesy of two Broadway craftsmen Oliver Smith and conductor Jay Blackton. Photographer Harry Stradling brings a meticulous eye for detail when his camera stationed on the auditorium side of the frame, peers into Miss Adelaide's bathroom cupboard as she views the lines of medicine bottles in her celebrated "lament". Sinatra, in his vocal prime, sings a new number to Adelaide (Vivian Blaine)--arranged by Nelson Riddle--and Brando and Simmons strike chords in all their scenes from their opening duet "I'll Know" through to their evening out at a Havana bistro where she gets pie-eyed on a Bacardi milk-shake, tipsily wondering "If I were a Bell". Stubby Kaye also from the Broadway cast recreates the show-stopping "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat". Michael Kidd's choreography for "Luck Be a Lady" is razor-sharp and superbly captured in the CinemaScope format, though the formalised staging of the opening ought to have been rethought for this medium. The biggest pity is that Loesser amended some of his lyrics and replaced several tunes from his original score with inferior material.

On the DVD: The DVD trailer hosted by Ed Sullivan makes much of the $1,000,000 cheque producer Samuel Goldwyn paid for the rights and the previews of the picture he obtained for his weekly television show. There's no denying that the remastered stereophonic soundtrack captures the Broadway sound to thrilling effect without it being overglamorised. The picture looks splendid too--never settle for the compromise version we've endured all these years on television! --Adrian Edwards



Synopsis

Fast-moving musical trip through a fantasy city of gangsters, broads and street life. Good performances matched by many classic songs.
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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
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 (8)
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 (1)
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Average Customer Review
4.9 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Broadway - Great Movie, 16 Aug 2003
By Terry Foster (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Guys And Dolls [DVD] [1955] (DVD)
The first thing that blew me away with this DVD is the quality of the sound. It has amazing depth and punch; you'd never believe that the soundtrack is almost 50 years old! ...and then, the sumptuous colour; those wonderful, stylised sets; the choreography...never mind the quality of the original material. "Guys and Dolls" is indisputably one of greatest of Broadways shows and here it gets the best of Holywood treatment; a truly class act. The cast is stella and even those who aren't known for their dancing and singing are totally convincing.

The movie gives the impression of a filmed Broadway show - largely due to the wonderful sets - and it works beautifully. It is remarkably true to its Broadway origins only substituting a couple of new songs. For me, the cream of the crop is Vivian Blaine's portrayal of Adelaide. My only gripe is that the film cuts the reprise of her side-splitting "Lament". How could they NOT include the couplet "so much virus inside, that her microscope slide looks like a day at the zoo."?!!!

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22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars pure joy, 7 Feb 2003
By A. Craig "Amanda Craig" (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
I'm always looking out for videos to amuse both adults and children, and this is a jewel that my 10 year old adored. The dramatisation of Damon Runyon's classic short stories about small-time crooks, mobsters and chorus girls it starts with a long and very funny sequence tracking a pickpocket ambling through a crowded Times Square and getting away with tourists' wallets etc. The theme of "dolls" having the upper hand over "guys" made into a kind of ballet, and by the time three of the "guys" are gathered to give their illegal betting tips, a mood of 1950s liveliness and innocence established.
Nathan Detroit (Frank Sinatra) runs the "oldest floating crap-game in New York", but gambling is illegal and Brannigan, a cop, is makig life uncomfortable for him just as some big gamblers have flown into town. Nathan can hold his game in a garage only if he pays $1000 to the owner, but how to get the money? He spots Skye Masterson (Brando), who boasts all girls are the same, and bets him that even he can't succeed in getting the prim Salvation Army militant, Sarah Brown, to go out with him that evening. However, Skye succeeds in persuading her by promising to bring "a dozen hardened sinners" to her mission the following night. They go to Havana - only to fall in love. In order to make good his bet, Skye then has to pin his hopes on a single roll fo the dice...

The songs, dances, costumes and script crackle with old-fashioned glamour and wit. Brando can't sing for toffee, but it doesn't matter because he's got everything else. Jean Simmons is perfect - sweet and a bit coarse underneath, and Vivian Blaine as Miss Abigail a perfect combination of cat-like shrewdness and kittenish naivety. Ol' Blue Eyes typecast as a seedy low-lifer. Pure joy.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievable!, 8 Dec 2006
By The BlackFerret "Steve The BlackFerret" (Plymouth UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
Of the 4 leads in this musical,only Vivienne Blaine belongs in a musical, being a major vaudeville & Broadway singer & hoofer before this was made.

Despite this, it's a thoroughly enjoyable experience, good colour and sound and an outstanding supporting turn by Stubby Kaye. Jean Simmons retains her English innocence well as a Salvation Army lass and even assists in helping you forget that Damon Runyon's picaresque language translates hopelessly to screen.

But the best bits are Brando & Sinatra. Brando surprisingly fits well into Sky Masterton and tackles things with enthusiasm. There's also a permanent smirk on his face, because he knows that Frankie wanted HIS part all along, and doesn't it show! Frankie's face throughout looks like he's performing One more for my Baby or Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week.

If you wonder how the film ever got finished in those circumstances, don't worry-it did! It's amazingly good half-a-century on, and a must have-good musical,good laugh,too!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Guys and Dolls
I purchased this item because my daughter is doing one of the songs for her Grade 5 singing exam. We found it very useful.
Published 7 days ago by Tacey

5.0 out of 5 stars marlon at his best
this film is seen by me as the greatest musical of all time. why? marlon brando and frank sinatra make the film enjoyable to watch. Read more
Published on 8 Oct 2004 by ssingh83

5.0 out of 5 stars A Magical Musical.
I would say that anyone who loves musicals will
have seen guys & Dolls-to any one who has not seen this Musical and has no more than a passing
interest in musicals then make... Read more
Published on 13 May 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic musical - full of emotion and brio
I thoroughly enjoyed this - from the opening scene to the close. It's quite stagey, expressionistic, colourful and larger than life in the overall approach, yet the individual... Read more
Published on 15 Oct 2001 by alisonsayers@hotmail.com

5.0 out of 5 stars Magical Musical
I enjoy musicals at the best of times - The Sound of Music being my favourite - but I found this video absolutely fantastic. Read more
Published on 22 Jul 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars Brando & Sinatra - WHAT A COMBINATION !!!!
I'm not always one for musicals but the voice of Frank Sinatra and the surprisingly good singing of Marlon Brandon and Jean Simmonds makes this more than your average musical... Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2001

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