Sorry it’s a day late, I’ve been busy and completely forgot. Here it is though.
Overview: 2 army buddies decide to start a singing duo and after a few years, they become big time producers. While auditioning acts for their show, they meet a couple of sisters who have gotten themselves in a bit of a bind with the sheriff. Davis, the more outgoing of the two, decides to help the girls out and gives them the boys’ train tickets to New York, so they can make their next gig in Vermont and get away from the sheriff. Giving them time to make their getaway, the boys dress up and dance the girls’ last number and then literally run onto the train. Having to buy new tickets, Davis talks Wallace into unknowingly follow the girls to Vermont, where they find their beloved old general running an abandoned ski lodge. It might be the middle of winter with Christmas right around the corner, but there’s been no snow since Thanksgiving so business is bad. The boys decide to help out, and bring their whole show down from New York and hold it there. In the beginning there was some attraction between the boys and the sisters, and as time wore on they grew closer, falling for one another in the end. The show is a big hit, it packs in the patrons, and a miracle happens: it begins to snow.
Review: I know its not Christmas, but I love watching Christmas movies out of season. And I’ve always had a thing for Irving Berlin’s deep voice, so of course I’m in love with this musical. It is a bit dry in places but still great. The songs and dancing are so elegant and refined compared to some of the works put out today. The sets can be a bit hokey, like in 7 Brides for 7Brothers, but still beautiful for the time period it was made in. Plus the army has always held a small part of my heart, that’s where my great-grandpa spent WWII. I guess each family picks their favorite branch of the military, but I digress.
In “Choreography,” we get a look at the differences between dance and choreography. It gives us a bit of the contemporary dance and how dance evolved from tap and…show tunes (for lack of the term I cannot think of, maybe it’s Broadway).
I’m not sure if I could say I have a favorite, of course the title song is beautiful, but it’s cliche to say that it is my favorite. If I had to pick a favorite, I would have to go with “What can you do for a General?” It’s a sweet song about how when men, specifically generals, come home from war go unemployed because they don’t have much in the way of previous work history or civilian working skills. It is a short song but it shines some light to what our boys still go through. The song also reminds me of another favorite song from the “Sound of music,” How Do you Solve a Problem like Maria?
Now any song where the four sing together is sublime, they are probably the best quartet I’ve heard and I love barbershop quartets. It’s enough to give you goosebumps.
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