A social drama that's constructed as a farce, with excellent central performances.
Incredibly Spencer Tracey, who was very ill throughout, died just 17 days after he finished filming, yet you'd never guess from anything you see on screen. He's electric from beginning to end, and his final monologue can't help but bring a tear to the eye.
Katherine Hepburn sings opposite him as well, she has such a great arc here from the tense first meeting through to her joy…
A very wistful romantic historical epic and that side of it shines: the music, the landscape, the people and their passions.
But the action scene seem quite badly constructed/edited - it's all very perfunctuary - and I was really surprised to learn the director's cut only adds a couple of minutes rather than the 20 I was expecting to really felsh everything out.
Fun story that I can see why they didn't want to do in live action. The plot goes a bit awry towards the end but it's propulsive enough that I didn't care.
Reminds me that I like seeing stories in this world, whoever wears the wig.
It's not going to change anyone's mind about camp musicals, but as a film version of the stage show it's exceptional.
It completely overhauls the weakest part of the play: the script. They give these characters fully realised personalities and backstories to flesh them out from the quite glib versions on stage which are one step above panto.
The two leads are incredible and I'd be amazed if they don't get nominated come the Oscars. They can really fucking sing…
