Matchmaker Dolly Levi is about to turn everything upside for Horace Vandergelder as she attempts to find a partner for him. Whilst also getting his niece and two clerks to also travel to New York City causing total mayhem between all of the people.
Oh yes another musical, which I must add that I had never seen before. Whenever I watch an old musical that I have not yet watched I wonder why. This one is exactly the same, especially considering it is also part of the Best Picture Project.
Directed by the legendary Gene Kelly, it really does have so many show stopping songs and dance numbers in such an epic manner. What else would you really expect? Especially with Barbra Streisand in the leading role, she really is so good at this type of role. A loud in your face character who can break out into song at any given moment.
Horace is not a very likeable man and we can quickly see why he has had trouble finding a woman to marry him, the relationship with his niece has hit breaking point when he does not approve of the man she wants to marry. This creates a lot of tension especially when Dolly comes along and puts more fire in the situation. Clerks Cornelius and Barnaby want nothing more than some time off work to go out into the City and explore, maybe even kiss some girls as well. Again though nothing really goes to plan for anyone who decides to head into New York City.
It was great to see Michael Crawford in this film as well considering how fantastic of an actor he has been in musicals, especially pretty early on in his career. I will admit I had no idea he was in the film until it started and his name came up on screen. Very engaging and showing off his talent. I was wondering what Walter Matthau was going to be like in a musical and it turned out that he could hold his own and was very good as Horace.
The musical numbers really are huge and we get plenty of extras on screen dancing and it looks very epic. Something which I think is very much seen in older musicals more than the most recent ones. Its great though as really does look more like when they are put on stage with the ensemble/swing taking part in everything. The color used is constantly bright and changing which makes it even better to watch and enjoy.
Dolly has her own hidden agenda, I mean come on Horace is a half millionaire and she is a matchmaker. I think we can guess and figure out where that is going to go. As you already know I have such a passion and love for musicals, this is not going to be my only viewing of this film. I will be coming back for more and listening to the songs, I will admit that I ddi not recognize any of the songs which was slightly disappointing as I thought over the years I had managed to listen to a very wide variety of show tunes. I guess that was not actually the case.
Certainly a film to catch up with if you just adore the musical genre and Streisand, I really do need to watch more of her back catalog as appreciating her even more with each film that I see.
