The Obvious Question About HTWWW:

It was released in 1962. Entertainment, especially an adult expectation of what was entailed in entertainment was different then.

Throughout the 1950s television had encroached steadily on movie theater profits. Studios tried various experiments to do what television could not do (at least not yet). More color, 3D, better sound, Panavision, Super-Panavision, and in 1962 the experiment was Cinerama.

Three cameras were combined pointed in slightly different directions. Special theaters needed to be built in order to house special curved screens that could display the result. It was grossly expensive. I think there were only two or three dramatic movies produced in Cinerama and the Cinerama Dome theaters were soon converted into standard movie theaters.

Given all of that, the producers wanted to put everything into this movie: drama, comedy, singing, dancing, etc. If they could have built the thing on a tilt-a-whirl floor that vibrated, they would have.


The best diplomat I know is a fully charged phaser bank.

People did sing more in the pre-electronic age. Debbie Reynolds' "Raise a Ruckus" does feel unnecessarily forced, though. The people are tired and worn out, they shouldn't be jumping to their feet to sing and dance.

I thought Alfred Newman's original score was entirely justified, appropriate and epic. Why they decided to put a singing daughter, Debbie Reynolds, into the mix, I don't know. The two sisters theme would have been just fine without requiring one of them to be a singer.