The Happiest Millionaire dvd movie.|
The Happiest Millionaire dvd videos, dvd movies reviews |
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List Price: $19.99 Our Price: $17.99 You Save: $2 Features • Color • DVD-Video • NTSC In Theaters : 1967 DVD Release : 01 June, 2004 |
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The Happiest Millionaire description Reportedly the last feature to be personally shepherded by Walt Disney himself, The Happiest Millionaire is a stubbornly old-fashioned musical intended to build on the success of Mary Poppins, relying on songs and score from Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman, the studio's resident songwriting team responsible for the hits of P ... review details |
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| ♥♥♥♥♥ | A True Story. |
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"The Happiest Millionaire" is not pleasingly perfect in every way. I enjoyed it, but I had to work at it. Some songs of humor. Quite surprisingly, Fred MacMurray, usually stoic (not showing emotion), is a good singer who can carry a high note for some time. His song with Greer Garson, at the end, is good. The film is more interesting if you know that the film was based upon a true story; there really was a millionaire Mr. Biddle, who owned alligators which froze and thawed, ran a Bible study for reformed drunks, had a boxing ring, practiced Judo, smoked to cure his asthma, and had trouble keeping servants, until he hired a butler from Ireland, all in the book "My Philadelphia Father". Truth is stranger than fiction, so much so, the truth appears unbelievable in the film. When you compare this film to the generally bad television and films of today, it is entertaining. Musicals I recommend solidly ahead of this one are: Disney's "Summer Magic", the 1937 "Maytime", and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". The same Sherman brothers who wrote the songs for "Mary Poppins", and the same dance choreographer. However, I do not believe Walt was really involved, and you can tell the difference. Mr. Disney was involved in the immense challenge of starting Disney World, secretly buying up land in Florida, running Disneyland in California, planning a ski resort, running the Cal Arts school, running his animation studio, producing several other films, spending more time on vacation with his family, and dying in the advanced stages of lung cancer; he did not live to see this film released. The film is a comedy, with some silliness, needing better plot, more focus, and more grounding stability. The acting is often veiled and distant, with glimpses of joy. Tommy Steele is good as the singing, dancing, butler, puzzled by it all. The opposing wealthy family matriarchs (mother-in-law, grandmother or aunt) singing about their wealthy family being better than the other is funny. This silly film with a weak script, and without depth, has some fun songs, and humor that is interesting if you know it really is a true story. There are three formats on Amazon, two of the formats are 20 minutes longer. The third Road Show Edition, is twice as much money as the other two, apparently only for wide-screen. I recommend the cheaper longer version. |
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