Damn Yankees

Rating:
Summary: Whatever Lola wants she gets!
Review: The film version of Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse's first success together. With Ray Walston as the devil and Verdon as his muse, Lola, this film can not fail to please. An excellent example of Fosse's early choreography. Unfortunately, its producers thought that they could cut "The Game", a wonderful song sung by the Senators. A must for any musical video collection

Rating:
Summary: Faithful but stage-bound filming of the Broadway hit
Review: This is a true document of the original Broadway musical hit with almost all of the original cast (except for Tab Hunter). However, it is very stage-bound, directed without any natural ease and rather claustrophobic about its wide-screen format. Because it seems to wait around for audience applause and moves carefully from scene to scene it can seem dull and plodding at times. Walston is fine but not great as Mr. Applegate (Satan) and Gwen Verdon steals the film recreating her Tony award winning performance as Lola. The score is almost intact - three numbers were cut (A Man Doesn't Know, Near To You and The Game). The latter is a real loss but too "naughty" for film audiences of the mid-fifties. A new song is added to the film "An Empty Chair." Taken as a document of a hit Broadway show and not as a true film per se, it's quite enjoyable. Remarkably the soundtrack is still in print on CD and despite the loss of the above numbers is preferable to the Original Cast in both performance and sound quality.

Rating:
Summary: Good soul-searching musical.
Review: This is another film which would probably be better rated if it wasn't so slavishly compared to its stage original. It does its job just fine, thank you, but you must remember that stage and film are two different media. In the conservative postwar 50's there was very little controversy shown (or allowed to be shown) in the film and TV media; a Faustian book made into a film musical probably scared the Hays moral office to death! That said, the Abbott-Donen collaboration does a more than competent job of telling the story, and scores an extra base hit retaining most of the Broadway cast of the show in the first place. I've read that the studio tried to lure Marilyn Monroe into playing the Lola role (and assuring box-office returns), but the producers were smart enough to know that the role needed a real dancer-actress combination. In short, it needed Gwen Verdon. It needed her special brand of eccentricity, sexiness, and heartbreak. And it got her. If you're still not convinced, take another look at the exquisite cafe' dance of "Two Lost Souls."

Rating:
Summary: SONG LEFT OUT!!!
Review: This movie has been one of my top 20 favorites for a long time. I first saw it on television in the mid sixties. The very first song that begins the movie during the opening credits is "Think About The Game". When the home video was released, this song, sung by the Senator's while Joe Hardy was busy with the Shifty McCoy trial, was, without explanation or reason, was stupidly left out of the video version. I feel cheated and wanted my money back. Can anyone tell me why?

Thank-you.