Produced by Ernest Lehman and directed by Gene Kelly, Hello, Dolly! is a classic musical romantic comedy and the winner of 3 Academy Awards including Best Picture. Released in 1969, so I think technically missing out on the ‘Golden Age of Musicals’, this movie nonetheless relives the glamour, spectacle, and firepower of classic musicals such as Singin’ in the Rain and My Fair Lady refreshed and modernised for the masses and an engaging fusion of both. From the very first black and white frozen frame, which then goes though many shades before fixing on colour, Hello, Dolly! is engaging from the get go…to musical lovers, Barbra lovers, and romantic comedy lovers of course.
Widow and matchmaker, Dolly Levi, is the most acquainted, most adored, and most sophisticated lady in New York. She could have any man. But she sets her sights on Horace Vandergelder, a tight-fisted and seemingly unfeeling Yonkers grain merchant. Beginning the relationship as his marriage counsellor, Dolly uses her myriad of friends to steer Horace her way making a few more romances bloom in the process.
It’s not so much the performances or the story that makes this movie romantic and fun. Rather it’s the dazzling costumes, the stunning recreation of New York in the 1890s, and the high-powered song and dance sequences. The dancing numbers really make their presence known just as they did in all those classic ‘Golden’ musicals, minus them telling a story. They’re just longer dance sequences for the sake of longer dance sequences, a captivating time-filler really.
The costumes are simply marvellous and everyone who had a hand in their creation deserves a round of applause. They very much put us in mind of Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and My Fair Lady, bringing a certain level of nostalgia into the mix.
Barbra Streisand as Dolly Levi is just gorgeous, as always. Barbra falls into that category of modern divas: where once upon a time there was Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, and Gloria Swanson, now there stands (in my opinion) Cher, Barbra Streisand, and Michelle Pfeiffer. Barbra runs at a mile a minute in this movie without letting a second of silence slip by when she’s on screen. Her timing is beautiful and her slower songs help to bring that needed level of drama to outweigh the romance and comedy.
Walter Matthau as Horace Vandergelder is every bit as grumpy, rough, and off centre as a Henry Higgins fused with Ebenezer Scrooge. Even in the film’s most ‘romantic’ of moments he still plays the cynic that brings all the hopeless romantics back down to the level of reality they live in and it’s annoying but at the same time good to watch.
Starring Michael Crawford, Marianna McAndrew, Danny Lockin, E. J. Peaker, Joyce Ames, Tommy Tune, Judy Knaiz, David Hurst, and Louis Armstrong, Hello, Dolly! is a fun and frivolous little musical that’s filled with romance, manipulation, a battle of the sexes, and comedy. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was a masterpiece or anything, but it’s a fun one for all those who don’t mind a bit of fluff and stuff.
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