Guys & Dolls (Widescreen Deluxe Edition)
by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Frank Sinatra, Jean Simmons, Marlon Brando, Robert Keith, Vivian BlaineDirector: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 3.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Unknown; Spanish (Dubbed), Unknown
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 149 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-04-25
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Movie Reviews of Guys & Dolls (Widescreen Deluxe Edition)
Movie Review: Goldwyn's Folly
Summary: 4 Stars
In the "Great Blunders in History" catagory, Samuel Goldwyn stands right up there with Neville Chamberlin and Wylie Coyote. Afterall Guys & Dolls has to rank among the top five great American musicals of all time. Only Showboat, Carousel and Gypsy deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Guys & Dolls. So the question begs to be asked, why so big a blunder by Goldwyn? Simple...He had one of the richest and most beautifully crafted musicals ever. Guys & Dolls seems positively born to play on the giant screen. I can't think of any Hollywood musical that looks as exciting and colorful...Great customes, great score and sets that positively jump off the screen at you. And the cast...Jean Simmons in the role of Mission Sgt. Sarah Brown, reveals a shrewd understanding of The American Musical tradition. She really delivers on the wonderful "If I Were A Bell". Her performance absolutely holds the entire show together. And Vivian Blaine is pecture-perfect in the role of Adeline the tawdry nightclub chorus girl, habitually stood-up by her man. Frank Sinatra is also in top form in the wonderful role of Nathan Detroit, gambler, womanizer and all around cad. Frank circa 1955 knew his way around a Hollywood musical. Afterall he was tutorted by the great Gene Kelley and it really shows in a rich performance by Sinatra.
And then there's Brando aka "Mumbles". Herein lies the blunder! What on earth was Samuel Goldwyn thinking? Of course in 1955 Marlon was more than box-office bonanza. With a string of academy award worthy performances from Streetcar to Syanora to Waterfront, nobody was as bankable as Brando. But was he capable of delivering the goods as a song and dance man? You decide for yourself. I think the results say it all and it ain't good for sure! Where I find his musical skills lacking most is in the duet "I'll Know When My Loves Comes Along", sung opposite a suddenly love-struck, Sarah Brown. He simply hasn't a clue as to how to deliver the song with any real conviction. There's no depth to the character beyond the obvious sexually of Sky. It's a shame considering the outstanding work here by Jean Simmons.
What makes the choice of Brando so catastrophic is the obvious mistake of not casting Sinatra as Sky Masterson. Yes, as I mentioned earlier Frank is perfect as Nathan Detroit. But he could have been beyond perfect in the lead role. Who better than the Chairman of the Board himself to coo up to Mission Sgt. Brown in that late night tropical paradise of Havana? Could anyone have been in Sianta's league belting out "Luck Be A Lady Tonight"? Why the lyrics were positively written for him. If you care to, listen to a side-by-side comparison of Brando singing Luck and then Frank's version....There is no comparison! Well at least Frank got a chance to cast himself as Sky, when his own Reprise Records recorded Guys & Dolls a few years later.
So there you have it....Or there you have what could have been. Maybe Hollywood could rework the entire film using computer imiging wizardry. Perhaps they'll find a way to insert Frank in the lead as Sky...Then we could recast Nathan with, let's say his old pally Dino? Or maybe Elvis...Or how about Bobby Darin?...Wait a minute!...I've got it! How about Broderick Crawford?...Or better yet, Carl Malden? No way it's got to be Leslie Neilsen!!!!! No wait, how about.........?
Summary of Guys & Dolls (Widescreen Deluxe Edition)
Hollywood legends Marlon Brando Frank Sinatra Jean Simmons and Vivian Blain (from the original Broadway cast) are dazzling in this Frank Loesser (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying) masterpiece unleashing a "spectacular song-and-dance show that's loaded with entertainment" (New York Journal-American). Featuring hits like "Luck Be a Lady" and "A Woman in Love" thissmash film version of one of Broadway's most popular musicals is guaranteed rip-roaring "four-starentertainment" (New York Daily News).The slickest big-time New York City gamblersSky Masterson (Brando) and Nathan Detroit (Sinatra) can't resist making or taking a bet on anything. So when a pretty missionary (Simmons) sets up shop in the neighborhood Nathan stakes a grand that Sky can't seduce her. But all bets are off when Sky falls madly in love in this romantic musical spectacular that sets the Big Apple afire with excitement!DVD FEATURES New Dolby 5.1 Surround SoundtrackCollectible BookletOriginal Theatrical TrailerAudio: English (5.1 Surround) Spanish (Stereo Surround) French (Stereo Surround)Subtitles: English French SpanishWidescreen (2.55)System Requirements:Running Time 149 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:?MUSICALS/MUSICALS Rating:?NR UPC:?027616143112 Manufacturer No:?14311Joseph Mankiewicz's brightly stylized film of Frank Loesser's classic musical (based on the stories of Damon Runyon) casts the criminal underworld as a harmless fantasy in this whimsical vision of the Big Apple. Nonsingers Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons acquit themselves fine in the lead roles as high-rolling gambler Sky Masterson and Salvation Army missionary Sarah Brown. It's odd casting, to say the least. Frank Sinatra, who plays the good old reliable Nathan Detroit (who runs "the oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York") is left with novelty tunes while husky Brando delivers the love songs and hits, including "Luck Be a Lady." But in the context of the colorful dialogue and comically affected speech patterns (a giddy gangster-speak straight out of Runyon's breezy stories) the song performances aren't the least out of place. Stubby Kaye, reprising his role as Nicely Nicely from the Broadway run, practically steals the show in his few scenes and his show-stopping solo "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat." The film is overlong at two and a half hours and somewhat stagily confined in the stylized, studio-bound sets--perhaps the mark of a director who had never helmed a musical before--but a terrific cast of eccentrics and Michael Kidd's high-energy choreography gives the film a memorable and enchanting character. --Sean Axmaker
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