Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by danj (A) on January 23, 2004 at 12:38:19

In Reply to: One of the greatest movie musicals ever made,even though... posted by TWB on January 18, 2004 at 12:59:15:

Hepburn was waifishly beautiful and is excellent in the role BUT I have always wondered how different the film would have been with the magnificent Julie Andrews in the role that should have been hers. Not that I think Hepburn was miscast, although she is a bit too old, she is still a good choice. Andrews was not cast the studio wanted a "big name" and Audrey Hepburn was a very major star, while Andrews was not.

At least Hepburns singing is voiced over by the splendid Marni Nixon. What a great singer that lady was (is?).

"My Fair Lady" is in my top ten musicals list but towards the bottom. It's not in the same league as "Singin' In the Rain" or "The Band Wagon", for instance. But it is awfully close.

On a similar subject - should Andrews and Richard Burton have been cast in the film version of "Camelot" instead of Vanessa Redgrave and Richard Harris? WOuld it have been a better film?

My top ten Hollywood musicals:

1. Singin' In the Rain
2. An American In Paris
3. The Band Wagon
4. Show Boat (1936 version and not the vastly inferior - but still very good - 1951 version.)
5. Top Hat
6. The Wizard of Oz
7. Gigi
8. My Fair Lady
9. 42nd Street
10.Seven Brides For Seven Brothers

let's add some more

11. Dames
12. Oklahoma!
13. Golddiggers of 1933
14. Evergreen (actually a British film from 1934 and on my list simply because the female lead - Jessie Matthews - is almost unknown in America yet is an absolute delight.)
15. West Side Story
16. Easter Parade (no one was better than Fred Astaire and in this one he had JUDY GARLAND and ANN MILLER! It's so good it's almost sinful.)
17. Follow the Fleet (I could put all of the Astaire/Rogers films on my list but that wouldn't be fair. Would it?)
18. The Music Man (Robert Preston version. For me, Preston is Prof. Harold Hill and anyone else who plays him is up against a very tough standard. Preston's performance is truly one of the great performances in movie history, IMHO)
19. Silk Stockings (Astaire and Cyd Charisse with Rouben Mamoulian directing. Enough said.)
20. Guys and Dolls (Sure, Brando ain't much of a singer BUT when you have Stubby Kaye and Vivian Blaine, two of Broadway's greatest showstoppers, who cares? This movie is pure fun.)