Time for some more of the good old stuff from da intawebs thanks to that happiest kingdom of them all, Youtube.
Bali Ha'i from South Pacific. Juanita Hall (dubbed by Muriel Smith) in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Why do I like this one? I love the matte painting of the island on the horizon which is some kind of utopia, visible but not yet attainable. I also love the fact that the most beautiful song in the movie is sung not by a blonde bombshell in a red evening gown, but an overweight middle aged Polynesian woman in scruffy clothing who radiates charisma.
The Nicholas Brothers Fayard and Harold, were the most acrobatic dancers ever caught on film. Fred Astaire reckoned that this was the best dance sequence ever caught on film, and who are we to argue? It's mind-blowingly good and terrifically joyous.
6 comments:
The Nicholas Brothers were spectacular! It's a shame for some reason my computer won't play youtube. But I can image it.
And I am also in total agreement about the choice to sing Bali Hai. She was MUCH better than some bombshell. Were you aware, however, that the song Bali Hai was "unconsciously plagiarized" from Franz Waxman's three-note BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN theme? Apparently after the huge success of SOUTH PACIFIC, Franz Waxman sent Richard Rodgers a letter saying "You're welcome."
That Waxman story is a good one! But the unconscious plagiarism thing is an easy one to do. George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" did the same thing to "She's So Fine".
If your PC doesn't play youtube clips, do a little googling. There are options for downloading the clips to the hard drive and playing them from there. Youtube video is in FLV format, but that format can be changed to avi, or else you can play them straight VLC media player which is downloadable at http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ VLC is my media player of choice. It's small and very adaptable.
Thank you for the tip! However, after a little trial and error I realized that it was the problem only happens while signing on to AOL. When I sign on using Internet Explorer everything plays just fine. Ah, technology!
Oh yes, George Harrison's another famous example. And then you have the even more recent example of The Rolling Stones plagiarizing k.d. lang's "Constant Craving" for their single "Has Anybody Seen My Baby" a few years back.
Whoops! And I just thought of another one. There's the famous one that goes all the way back: Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown's "Make 'Em Laugh" from SINGIN' IN THE RAIN has identical music (and very similar lyrics) to Cole Porter's earlier "Be A Clown" from THE PIRATE.
You're right. It happens a fair bit, but at the level of "Be A Clown" and "Make 'Em Laugh" it's definitely way above the level of plagiarism and deeply into 'oops'.
BTW cerpts, email me your email addy willya?
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