Better Than a Dream I'm in love with a man
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What a perfect relationship
I can't see him, he can't see me.
I'm in love with a voice
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What a perfect relationship
I talk to him and he just talks to me!
Actually, these words can be characterized by the plot of the musical "The Bells Ring" (1960). Telephone operator Ella Peterson (Judy Holliday) works in a kind of "trust service", where she answers subscribers' questions and even intervenes in the personal lives of customers, satisfying their wishes - for example, she pretends to be "mom" for the playwright (as well as alcoholic, loser and lazy) Jeffrey Moss (Dean Martin), who wakes up every morning. But when she meets him, she introduces herself as Milicent Scott and the confusion begins. . .
In the early 60s 'traditional musicals in the style of the film studio MGM' were already out of fashion. And the musical "The Bells Ring" (1960) bears the stamp of this time - despite all the cheerfulness of the picture, hidden sadness for the passing time through literally every frame of the picture.
And if you remember that this was the last musical of the most authoritative producer of the genre in Hollywood - Arthur Fried, the last film of the actress starring here - Judy Holliday (and her only color picture) and the last MGM musical for Vincent Minnelli - then the film is perceived quite differently.
For the direction of the picture, as already mentioned above, here is the director Vincent Minnelli, who successfully shot musicals in the 40s and 50s in the studio MGM. And besides being his last studio musical, it’s also far from the director’s most characteristic film, if you think about it.
After all, Minnelli is a director, always accustomed to working with irrational fantasies and loved to invent these fantasies himself - and here he takes on the adaptation of the already ready-made Broadway production of 1956, the plot of which, although simple, does not have a single hint of the genre 'fantasy'.
However, it is worth noting that in this case, he is quite good at it, although he does not do what he likes. Unlike other Broadway productions in his biographies ('The Cabin in Heaven', 'Kismet'), this film turned out to be more dynamic and exciting and, most importantly, not as dull or slurred as some of the other films of this director ('Iolanta and the thief', 'American in Paris',>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The cast of the film is more or less interesting. The main role performer Judy Holliday is very eccentric and eccentric and has a very strange manner of singing, which is difficult to say - on the one hand, it cannot be said that she does not know how to sing.
But on the other hand, and special vocal data she can not allocate - no more than unusual manner of singing - although for her role this is quite enough - the important thing is that her assertiveness and enthusiasm actress manages to pull almost all the attention of the audience on himself and not to let him (attention) to the final credits. Unfortunately, this is Holliday's last film - in five years the life of the actress will end cancer.
The leading male role in the film is performed by Dean Martin, who in the film, sadly enough, is something more than singing furniture, if I may put it that way. Because, apart from the great voice of Martin, nothing special can be distinguished - however, this is not necessary here.
Milton R. Krasner’s camera work also deserves attention, since the views of New York and the shooting of studio pavilions are successfully combined here and all this looks quite harmonious.
The musical numbers of the film do not differ in special choreography and are interesting mainly in terms of songs. Personally, after watching it, I have left in my memory 'It's a Perfect Relationship', 'Just In Time' and my favorite 'Better Than a Dream', which I knew even before I saw this film.
Summing up, I will say that came out quite entertaining in its genre film, which does not pretend to be considered a masterpiece - but, nevertheless, surpasses some of the earlier works of Vincent Minnelli. Connoisseurs of the genre and fans of Dean Martin the film is definitely worth watching. Thank you very much.
7 out of 10