Review of Hello, Dolly!

Introduction

One of the last of the old-fashioned musicals - vintage 1969 - Hello Dolly is movie-making in the great Hollywood tradition. Written and produced by Sound of Music`s Ernest Lehman and directed by the legendary Gene Kelly, with Academy Award winning sound by Jack Solomon and Murray (King Kong) Spivack this movie should be better than it is.

Unfortunately (and I`m backed up by Halliwell on this) it`s badly miscast - like most musicals of the era. Barbra Streisand was too young for the part of Dolly Levi (she would make What`s Up Doc in 1972), but was chosen over Carol Channing, Ginger Rogers and Betty Grable. She still carries the movie which is a testament to her star quality.

Walter Matthau is intriguing in the male lead, and Michael Crawford (pre Frank Spencer or the Phantom) is impressive (if only he`d been cast in the lead of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" the previous year).

At 142 minutes, the picture is in danger of outstaying its welcome, but charmingly it includes the original intermission break complete with entr`acte music.

Video

While not as blazingly colourful as some of the MGM Golden Age musicals, for a `sixties movie Hello Dolly is remarkably colourful. The print used as the master is not quite perfect, showing some signs of distress in places, but there is little to detract from the experience. Edge enhancement has been used in addition to heightened contrast to sharpen the picture which tends towards the slightly fuzzy in places. Doubtless this is due to the source material not being in tip-top condition.

Audio

Presented in Dolby 2.0 Surround, the soundtrack is gloriously Stereo in the biblical sense - a wide front soundstage that shows off the musical numbers to their best. The sound is full and rounded, showing the care taken in the original recording, and probably sounds better now than it did on its initial release.

Features

Subtitles and a piddling non-anamorphic theatrical trailer.

Conclusion

For its shortcomings, this is a lovely family movie for a wet weekend. Revel in the old-fashioned world of musicals for a couple of hours, because even when they don`t quite work, they`re welcome relief from the cares of the world.