Call Me Madam
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Movie Reviews of Call Me Madam
Movie Review: Memorable Merman In An "Old Style Hollywood Musical" Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
With a larger-than-life personality and a voice that could blow open a barn door at thirty paces, Ethel Merman was among the great stars of Broadway for some thirty years. Hollywood, however, never quite figured out how to use her talents. Although she made a number of screen appearances over the years, whenever an Ethel Merman show went to Hollywood, someone else always got the Merman role. But there is a single exception: the 1953 screen version of CALL ME MADAM.
Although she actually had significant political credentials, Washington hostess Perle Mesta was best known for her parties--and her 1949 appointment as Ambassador to Luxemberg inspired Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse to create CALL ME MADAM. With Ethel Merman in the leading role and music and lyrics by the legendary Irving Berlin, the show proved a popular ticket in both New York and London. And surprisingly enough, when 20th Century Fox picked up the film rights, the studio decided to have Merman recreate her Tony-winning performance on screen.
Although Hollywood tweaked both script and score, the screen version is essentially the same show that delighted theatre-goers in the early 1950s. President Harry S. Truman rewards Washington hostess Sally Adams (Merman) for her support by appointing her Ambassador to a European duchy. Adams takes Kenneth (Donald O'Connor) along for the ride--and romantic complications with a European dignitary (George Sanders) and a love-lorn princess (Vera-Ellen) have farcial international complications.
CALL ME MADAM is what you might call a "standard" musical of the era; although the story references the Cold War and various political issues of the day, it doesn't go serious on you, and while the film is very obviously a take-off on Mesta the political satire involved is light and amusing rather than sharp and meanspirited. There's no denying that Merman is clearly a performer used to the stage, but she translates to the screen extremely well, and when she opens her mouth to sing you know what all the fuss was about. O'Connor, Sanders, and Vera-Ellen also fare extremely well, each one charming and playing up to Merman's larger-than-life style.
Although Berlin's score doesn't really compete with his more famous works, it is quite amusing and his lyrics have a satirical edge in keeping with story; "Hostess With The Mostes'," "Can You Use Any Money Today?," "It's A Lovely Day Today," and the roundhouse punch Merman-O'Connor duet "You're Just In Love" are witty and charming. And everything about the film sparkles and shines in classic Hollywood musical-comedy fashion. It's just enchanting, through and through.
Copyright issues kept CALL ME MADAM out of circulation for some twenty years, so any release would have been welcome--but this DVD transfer is quite good, with good sound and brilliant picture and nary a blemish to be found. The only significant bonus is a commentary by film historian Miles Kreuger, and although it is on the mild side it is quite entertaining as well. Recommended for fans of the "old style Hollywood musical"--and Merman fans in particular!
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Movie Review: if you like classic movie musicals this is for you !!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Call Me Madam shines bright as one of the finest movie musicals ever made at Twentieth Century-Fox! The cast is superb and the acting is extremely convincing. The plot moves along at a very good pace and the way the songs are sprinkled throughout the picture works wonders for the film. The cinematography and the choreography are wonderful and the script was very well written. The quality of the print is very good, too.
When the action begins, we quickly meet one of Washington, D.C.'s wealthiest socialites, Sally Adams (Ethel Merman), as she takes the oath to become the new United States Ambassador to tiny Lichtenburg in Europe. We also meet newly unemployed newspaper reporter Kenneth Gibson (Donald O'Connor) who boldly influences Sally that to be a good Ambassador she'll need a press attaché; and that he's the man for the job! Sally doesn't know much about the tiny little kingdom so all it takes is a little maneuvering by Kenneth to let Sally recognize he can be useful to her.
Sally certainly has her hands full when she arrives in Lichtenburg; but between her own determination, self-confidence and with a little help from Kenneth she begins to sail along without major problems. Of course, the plot needs more than just that; Sally meets and falls for Lichtenburg's General Cosmo Constantine (George Sanders). The General falls for Sally, too. Donald also meets someone special; but his case is more complicated: he falls in love with Lichtenburg's Princess Maria (Vera-Ellen) who is unhappy about her arranged marriage to the callous Prince Hugo (Helmut Dantine) but there is nothing she can do about it even as she falls in love with Kenneth.
Meanwhile, Lichtenburg really wanted to manipulate Sally Adams to get a "loan" from the United States (one that they'll never have to repay) so that Lichtenburg can pay the dowry to Prince Hugo's family upon the marriage of Prince Hugo to Princess Maria. Although Grand Duke Otto (Ludwig Stössel) and his wife Grand Duchess Sophie (Lilia Skala) and the others in top government assume that Sally will be an easy target for the money, possibly even giving it to them out of her own pocket, they are in for quite a shock as Sally is no so naïve!
I'll leave the rest for you to discover and enjoy; I could tell you much more but I wouldn't want to spoil it for you. Suffice it to say that there are plenty of plot twists! It's also true to say that this is Ethel Merman's movie; she carries it brilliantly and her performance is outstanding. Look also for a good performance by Billy De Wolfe as Pemberton Maxwell, a stuffy guy indeed who works at the American Embassy in Lichtenburg.
The DVD comes with a few extras but what you really want is the optional running commentary with Miles Kreuger; the "teaser" trailer and the theatrical trailer. The rest are essentially ads for other movies.
Call Me Madam is a wonderful, charming musical. I highly recommend this film for people who like classic movie musicals; and fans of the actors in this film would do well to add this to their collections, too.
Movie Review: Ethel Merman's only film version of one of her stage hits!
Summary: 5 Stars
After too many years locked away in the vaults, the movie version of CALL ME MADAM is finally getting released on DVD.This is the only time Ethel Merman did a faithful screen re-creation of one of her famous Broadway roles. Sadly she was passed over for the film of ANNIE GET YOUR GUN when the role was assigned to first to Judy Garland, then to Betty Hutton. And her greatest stage role, Madame Rose, went To Rosalind Russell in the movie of GYPSY. In an interview with Miss Merman she explained "the studios, in those days, they wanted picture names..but when they got to CALL ME MADAM I guess they figured they'd take a chance on me." Some chance. MADAM had played 644 performances on Broadway and had been acclaimed a big hit.
The story, a lightly satirical look at international politics was inspired by Harry Truman's appointment of Pearl Mesta as Ambassador to Luxembourg. It was rumoured that Pearl got the assignment by being a great party-giver. So, Howard Lindsay & Russell Crouse created Mrs. Sally Adams, a wealthy Oklahoma widow who gravitates to Washington and thanks to her parties is appointed ambassador to Lichtenburg. The movie retains much of what worked on stage but embellishes it with some additional funny scenes.
Best of all most of the Broadway score is retained: "The Hostess With the Mostes'"; "Can You Use Any Money Today"; "Marrying for Love"; "It's a Lovely Day Today"; "Something to Dance About"; "The Best Thing for You" and the showstopping "You're Just in Love." Added to the movie are two old Berlin standards, "The International Rag" and "What Chance Have I with Love" which becomes a hilarious dance routine for Donald O'Connor.
O'Connor also gets to dance to "Something to Dance About" with Vera Ellen. Since the two secondary leads were played by dancers, the movie allows them to develop their romance through dance and its an effective change. It also takes some of the emphasis off Merman.
Ethel is still very much the star of the picture. Belting out the songs and delivering the comic zingers with panache. It is still a very theatrical performance....you still have the sense she is playing to the back row of the balcony. But that is was Merman was all about, and that is why the film is an important document.
Some of her best lines:
Congressman: When will you arrive at your post?
Sally: I'm not sure. Where the heck is Lichtenburg??
Congressman: Sally, you wouldn't like me to make a little farewell speech tonight?
Sally: That's right. I WOULDN'T!
Grand Duke: Tell me - How does this reception differ from your famous Washington parties?
Sally: Well WE have good time!
And in the best musical comdy tradition, everything works out in time for a happy ending. Now that CALL ME MADAM is finally getting back into circulation we have a happy ending too!
(Now..if only Decca would reissue the movie soundtrack album!)
Movie Review: Superb
Summary: 5 Stars
We just finished watching this DVD last night, after holding it back for some months. Glad I waited.
Ethel Merman is filled with joyous energy and vivacity. She isn't overbearing as she was in that later picture she did with Buddy Hackett where all the characters are chasing after money. Probably that picture did more to cement people's minds of one image of Ethel Merman as loud and obnxious. Here she's loud, but only sometimes, she seems like a human being instead of a monster. I love her arm and hand movements when she sings, especially dancing with the two men at the end at her Washington DC party, it's like a penguin dancing.
George Sanders was also very good. Number one, I never heard him act before with that accent (Mitteleuropean Eurotrash) which we heard preserved right into the singing, or whoever dubbed his singing voice for him, though it sounded just like his own voice. Number two, I remember him from REBECCA and ALL ABOUT EVE and dozens of other movies but don't ever remember him playing the leading man or at any rate the "good guy." Here he plays General Cosmo Constantine, charming and erudite and kind of sexy, you can see why Sally Adams falls in love with him as soon as he opens his mouth.
This was Donald O'Connor's followup to the famous SINGING IN THE RAIN and his numbers are better than those in SITR, sorry Donen fans but it's true. The one number that he dances to with Vera-Ellen (their first dance, not that underground one) at the reception for Sally Adams, and they sing "It's a Lovely Day Today," is out of this world. And his drunk scene where he dances on a zillion colored balloons is a masterpiece of masculine power and grace. He's also sexy in this! It's a movie where the director took two unlikely actors (Merman and O'Connor) and kind of sexed them up, it's a miracle.
Finally, there's Vera-Ellen in what I believe was her last role. She is lovely and acts the part beautifully. The people I was watching it had never seen her before and found it hard to believe she wasn't herself from Lichtenberg. She wore a bunch of ugly clothes beautifully, and comported herself like a princess, even when wearing that hat in the department store scene that made her hair fall out the back of it. But too thin, and seeing her so emaciated reminded me of her tragic end and made me feel blue.
Can't get the big number out of my head, "I hear music, and there's no one there," mixed with "You're not sick, you're just in love." When Donald O'Connor and Ethel Merman sing this, I challenge you to remain in your seats, otherwise you can't help dancing along.
One of the best musicals ever--except for the plot which is hard to understand with the loans and who wants what.
Movie Review: ETHEL UNLEASHED!
Summary: 5 Stars
Accept no substitutes---there's only ONE Ethel Merman, and what better way to preserve her unique power and presence than this fine film version of her 1950 stage hit?
And Donald O'Connor's performance is equally fabulous---in fact, the Amazon reviewer who feels that 2 straight hours of Ethel is too much should at least acknowoledge the fact that Donald and Vera Ellen occupy a major amount of screen time on their own. And whereas the performance of Russell Nype in the role of Kenneth Gibson on Broadway created something of a sensation, he was apparently not a dancer; thus the casting of Donald O'Connor in the film version added a whole new musical dimension to the character, while providing us lucky viewers with another prime example of the whimsical charm and dazzling artistry of Mr. O'C.
There's just too much to praise in this wonderful film; I can only add to the chorus of praise by citing: the physical beauty of the production, the sumptuous and colorful musical arrangements/orchestrations by the great Alfred Neumann (check the gorgeous opening verse of "Marrying for Love"), George Sanders' charming and sympathetic performance (who? George Sanders?!?), in which we have the pleasure of hearing his own mellifluous bass-baritone singing voice (confirmed by theatre historian Miles Kreuger in his excellent commentary), the super-charming "It's a Lovely Day Today" scene in the record shop, with clever on-screen plugs for this delightful song between Donald and Vera, Mr. O'Connor playing (and destroying) a giant Marimba with his twinkle toes, etc.... I could go on.
My only complaint is the very static direction in the duets between Ethel and George Sanders. There's only so long they can keep staring at each other adoringly before you want to shout at the screen: "Move a bit, for Pete's sake!" The great Berlin tune "The Best Thing for You", which I have always felt gets short-changed as the magnificent song that it is, is similarly affected by the blocking. Even the delightful "Money" song is sabotaged by this stand-and-deliver approach; why couldn't Ethel have gone to her desk and started to write a check while singing---something---ANYTHING to give the screen a bit of movement! Then again, the dynamic energy of Ethel Merman just standing and singing at close range is perhaps as much as we should safely expose ourselves to!
In any case, CALL ME MADAM is a delight from beginning to end, and as fine a tribute to the bright, tuneful, fun-filled fifties as you are likely to find.