Botched Classic

I just rewatched "Dolly" and find it entertaining enough but feel it could've been SO much better. The money thrown at this film seems to be the major problem as well as the cartoonish secondary characters. While the end result is "fine" it could've been a true classic if it allowed the "Dolly" characters to change and grow, not just Vandergelder.

"Dolly" would've worked much better if Barbra appeared in the first half of the film in mourning and coming out of mourning for the "Before the Parade Passes By" number. The new Dolly knocking them dead with the Harmonia Gardens dress would've had a lot more meaning and thrills. "Hello Dolly" has a whole underlining theme of "Coming Out of chains that bind" that was pretty much eliminated and replaced with over-costuming, long dance sequences and pretty colors. The opportunity to create a "My Fair Lady" moment for Barbra was completely bypassed.

Of course, if I were Barbra, I'd have a hard time appearing in black clothing for the first half of the film, but I'm fairly certain that dove gray and lavendar were "allowed" for widows during the time period. Black dye wasn't very good at the time and if I'm not mistaken, a rusty-black or mink color was the best they could do. I think Barbra would look fine and "widowy" in that color. Emplasizing the "widow" of the character would compensate for the "age" Barbra couldn't bring to the film.

As it were, what we have from beginning to end in the final film is Barbra in one "costume" after the other. We see each and every dress before we see her. And it doesn't seem as if a single dress fit the character or the scene. If the character were appropriately attired as "in mourning" it would've allowed Barbra to show us her acting chops and add another layer to the film. Instead we get feathers and fluff.

Michael Crawford really had no depth here, and I'd probably have gone with a handsomer character with a stronger singing voice more similar to the dubbed Jeremy Brett in "My Fair Lady". The whole secondary cast was completely annoying in my opinion. It was as if every sentence and song had been done several years ago several times in several different films. I liked all the numbers but they were pedestrian at best.

And why did Gene Kelly have Barbra flitting around the park for the wedding? Couldn't a more triumphant scene be devised? He showed Dolly as a little snit triumphant over "tricking" Vandergelder, rather than a matchmaker that made a wise match for herself and her future husband. I really disliked that "take" on the character.

All in all the end result is passable entertainment but when they deleted all the emotional depth and the character transformation theme (the "Hello" in "Hello Dolly" as it were) and replaced it with expensive costuming and production numbers we get the predictable box office results and Barbra's deserved dismissal of the film.

She was not served well by this production other than the fantastic songs she was given to sing. Her performances on the soundtrack are absolutely fantastic, outstanding and in my opinion "believable".



!!!Scrooge for President!!!