Mame (B or 3/4 stars)
Lucille Ball stars in 'Mame', directed by Gene Saks & based on the hit Broadway musical which featured legendary performances by Angela Lansbury. The other film version of this story, 1958's Auntie Mame, starring Rosalind Russell, is one of my favorite comedy adaptations of all-time. THIS version is not nearly as great. I have plenty of issues with it. But it IS entertaining, gorgeous to look at, & contains several memorable set pieces. The songs by Jerry Herman are okay. The best song of the lot is probably "Open a New Window"; though, hearing Lucille Ball's gravely smoker's voice try to croak it out is as entertaining as it is disappointing to listen to. And various other songs/musical numbers - i.e, "Bosom Buddies" - are chock full of zest & wit.
I'll be relatively brief with my plot summary. During the 1920s and Depression-era '30s, we meet plucky, resilient Auntie Mame who takes-in her young orphaned nephew Patrick & enrolls him into a liberal private school, but chaos ensues. Later, she tries a half-hearted stab at show business (with help from her boozing, bitchy, good 'ole time girlfriend, Vera ... played superbly by Beatrice Arthur), but chaos ensues. At one point, Mame & Co. go bankrupt & she launches into "We Need a Little Christmas" to lighten their spirits. She then meets & marries a filthy rich Southerner (Robert Preston). After her husband's untimely death, Mame concerns herself 100% with her now grown-up nephew, his unbearable conservative girlfriend, & the girlfriend's intolerable parents. Oh, and chaos ensues.
Despite my many reservations (redundant from the superior 1958 film, Lucille Ball being miscast, so-so direction & script), 'Mame' is actually a relentlessly good-natured movie to experience. And I had a smile on my face an awful lot of the time. I criticize Lucille Ball here (she lacks the drive of a Rosalind Russell or Angela Lansbury), and yet ... how can you not love Lucy anyway? She's still a beauty (even in her older age). She's a fantastic comedienne. And her comedic skills are put to great use in the narrative. I'm reminded of Lucille's turning a Georgia fox hunt into a fun-filled catastrophic shambles. And my favorite sequence is when Lucille falls off of a huge cardboard moon in the middle of the first-night performance of the show that her friend Vera allowed her to be in. Bea Arthur's horrified reactions, frazzled responses, & exasperated verbal slaughterings towards Lucille are absolutely HYSTERICAL. See the film for that sequence alone.
Visually, 'Mame' is also pretty wonderful. It has that kind of plush, old-fashioned extravagance about it that takes us back to the 1920s, as well as to an era when these types of musicals were made ... the 1950s. It's almost as if the filmmakers knew that the script was so-so and knew that Lucille Ball couldn't sing too well, so they just went crazy with exquisite production design, sensational costumes, and ... well ... lots of dreamy, soft-focus cinematography; so as to light Lucille Ball's face in a way to make her not look in her 60s. And so, though there are faults galore, I am kinder to this movie than most professional critics. Gene Saks needed to add more vim & vigor to the lengthy proceedings. But really, it's a joyful, poignant, humorous motion picture that is good 'enough' to make me smile thinking about it.
I'll be relatively brief with my plot summary. During the 1920s and Depression-era '30s, we meet plucky, resilient Auntie Mame who takes-in her young orphaned nephew Patrick & enrolls him into a liberal private school, but chaos ensues. Later, she tries a half-hearted stab at show business (with help from her boozing, bitchy, good 'ole time girlfriend, Vera ... played superbly by Beatrice Arthur), but chaos ensues. At one point, Mame & Co. go bankrupt & she launches into "We Need a Little Christmas" to lighten their spirits. She then meets & marries a filthy rich Southerner (Robert Preston). After her husband's untimely death, Mame concerns herself 100% with her now grown-up nephew, his unbearable conservative girlfriend, & the girlfriend's intolerable parents. Oh, and chaos ensues.
Despite my many reservations (redundant from the superior 1958 film, Lucille Ball being miscast, so-so direction & script), 'Mame' is actually a relentlessly good-natured movie to experience. And I had a smile on my face an awful lot of the time. I criticize Lucille Ball here (she lacks the drive of a Rosalind Russell or Angela Lansbury), and yet ... how can you not love Lucy anyway? She's still a beauty (even in her older age). She's a fantastic comedienne. And her comedic skills are put to great use in the narrative. I'm reminded of Lucille's turning a Georgia fox hunt into a fun-filled catastrophic shambles. And my favorite sequence is when Lucille falls off of a huge cardboard moon in the middle of the first-night performance of the show that her friend Vera allowed her to be in. Bea Arthur's horrified reactions, frazzled responses, & exasperated verbal slaughterings towards Lucille are absolutely HYSTERICAL. See the film for that sequence alone.
Visually, 'Mame' is also pretty wonderful. It has that kind of plush, old-fashioned extravagance about it that takes us back to the 1920s, as well as to an era when these types of musicals were made ... the 1950s. It's almost as if the filmmakers knew that the script was so-so and knew that Lucille Ball couldn't sing too well, so they just went crazy with exquisite production design, sensational costumes, and ... well ... lots of dreamy, soft-focus cinematography; so as to light Lucille Ball's face in a way to make her not look in her 60s. And so, though there are faults galore, I am kinder to this movie than most professional critics. Gene Saks needed to add more vim & vigor to the lengthy proceedings. But really, it's a joyful, poignant, humorous motion picture that is good 'enough' to make me smile thinking about it.