Guys and Dolls (UK)

'Guys and Dolls' is based on some short stories from American writer Damon Runyon. Centred on Mindy`s restaurant, the stories are filled with colourful characters of all sorts; Gamblers, Hoodlums, Cops and everyone else who inhabits that part of New York City. Damon Runyan's use of language - particularly speech patterns and names are faithfully recreated in this film version of the hit Broadway show.

The main character is Nathan Detroit (Frank Sinatra), operator of the oldest established permanent floating crap in New York. However, he needs $1,000 to set up his next game. Detroit manages to make a bet with high rolling gambler Sky Masterson (Marlon Brando). He bets Sky that he cannot just pick up any woman and persuade her to go to Havana, Cuba, with him the next day. Detroit chooses the most unlikely woman for Sky to romance - an uptight, ultraconservative Salvation Army-type (called "Save the Souls" in the film) lady named Sergeant Sarah Brown (Jean Simmons).

The plot concerns the romance, which naturally blossoms, the crap game and Nathan Detroit's girlfriend Miss Adelaide (Vivian Blaine) trying to convince him that it is time to get married after 14 years of engagement.

Producer Samuel L. Goldwyn, brought a measure of publicity to the film before it started shooting by paying a then-record $1,000,000 for the screen rights. Like a lot of films the ultimate stars were not the first choices. Brando was not Goldwyn`s first choice to play Sky Masterson. Gene Kelly was, and there were also thoughts about Clark Gable and even Dean Martin (with Jerry Lewis as Nathan Detroit). It was rumoured that Brando's voice was dubbed for the part - in fact Brando sings his own songs, taking voice and dance lessons every day on the set. He put in an excellent performance that did him no harm whatsoever.

Sinatra, on the other hand, has only to play Sinatra - which means that he is acted off screen by his co-stars (and most of the also-stars).

Jean Simmons as Masterson`s love interest conveys an innocent appeal with more than a touch of feminine spirit, and Vivian Blaine, reprising her Broadway role shows them all what you have to do to star in a musical.

The other characters are uniformly great: Nicely-Nicely Johnson (Stubby Kaye), Big Julie (B.S. Pulley), Benny Southstreet (Johnny Silver), Harry the Horse (Sheldon Leonard), Rusty Charlie (Dan Dayton), Society Max (George E. Stone), Arvide Abernathy (Regis Toomey).

The production is big and glossy, with very stylised sets and large splashes of colour everywhere, and MGM`s digital transfer conveys all of it effortlessly. The CinemaScope picture is in 2.25:1 ratio widescreen, however, it is not enhanced for 16x9 television so it is best played in 14x9. But as the only video release of the film, and the various TV showings, have been in (shudder) pan'n'scan the DVD is a must.

This is one of the few films I have in both R1 NTSC and R2 Pal. ( The Region 2 release was about a year after Region 1). If you wanted a film to show the difference between the two picture formats, this is it. The print is very good for its age, but with an obvious Red-Shift (which is just one reason why we need restoration people). The region 1 copy is very good, with bright vivid colours, excellent contrast and solid black - but the difference with Region 2 is quite stunning. The clarity and the colours just make it gorgeous to look at. (I did not believe the difference could be so much so I only bought the Region 2 version when it came on the sale lists).

The sound on the R2 version is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 remix of the original 4 channel 'stereo' (All films made under the original CinemaScope licence were in stereo). It is slightly bright, but for its age it is very good indeed. It`s very clear and very precise; every word of the dialogue and the songs can be clearly heard.

The only extra is an exceptionally long, quite awful five-minute theatrical trailer hosted by Ed Sullivan. Its one of those trailers that almost make you pay NOT to watch to film.

Many people still consider "Guys and Dolls" the greatest Broadway show of all time, the film is certainly one of the Great Film Musicals. It is grand entertainment in a grand tradition, and for those who long for such things, MGM`s DVD does the job better than could have been expected.

Trivia Note:
The region 1 disc has French and Spanish Stereo soundtracks, 32 scene selections with a 4 page MGM information booklet insert - For Region 2 only an English soundtrack, no booklet and only 16 scene selections. And for some reason the picture on the label of the disc is different on both versions.

On Region 1 the folk who did the packaging have the copyright date as 1938; On the Region 2 box it has been corrected to 1955.