Walter Lang
13 connections found
View:
Connections, in both directions
Mary Ann's approach to child-rearing combines a militarism, adherence to protocol and self-satisfaction not seen since "The King and I," and while Sarah tries to conform to the strict rules of snack times and play-dates, she can't manage to subsume herself to the degree required by her cohorts.
These veteran actors brighten up the screen momentarily and made me wonder what they wouldve been like co-starring in The King and I instead of Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr --- or perhaps even now in a senior version of Dirty Dancing.
The animation in The Iron Giant won't soon erase memories of the intricate camera moves featured in Disney's Tarzan , but it is a huge step up from Warner Bros.'s recent animated embarrassments, Quest for Camelot and the awful The King and I .
For me, at least, WB's losing streak continues, even if it is worlds above the dreadful "The King and I."
Disney has the traditional animation market locked up, but other studios seem willing to throw money at Disney musical look-alikes (like "The King and I") even though they might have a better chance moving in the opposite direction--toward real stories told straight.
The Sound of Music (1965)
Directed by Robert Wise
influenced by State Fair (1945), The King and I (1956)
Music
With its bestial love intrigue, the Goatherd set-piece recalls State Fair, never a good thing, while yodeling--especially children yodeling, it's well documented--is covered under the Geneva Convention.
That it is sentimental can hardly be disputed, and the songs are undoubtedly a bit sweet and gooey, but whatever, it works as cinema: much, much better than the stiff and soulless like of My Fair Lady , and considerably better than any of the other films based on Rodgers & Hammerstein's earlier (and mostly superior) shows, ranging from the grimly average ( Carousel ) to the grotesquely unacceptable ( South Pacific ) - I understand that there are those who admire the 1956 movie of The King and I , and good for them.
With the help of Ernest Lehman (the pen behind such classic film stories as The King and I, the aforementioned West Side Story, Hello, Dolly!, Sabrina, North by Northwest and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), Wise crafts a joyous celebration of life.
The screenplay was written by Ernest Lehman, who already had experience adapting musicals with The King and I (1956) and West Side Story (1961), the latter of which had also been directed by Robert Wise.
The next year Ms. Andrews was making "Mary Poppins," and when director Robert Wise ("The Day the Earth Stood Still," "West Side Story") and screenwriter Ernest Lehman ("The King and I," "West Side Story") saw her in the rushes, they knew they had their lead actress for "The Sound of Music."
Lehman had already written a romance where a girl of low station falls in love with a man higher up on the social ladder ("Sabrina," 1954), and he had two musicals under his belt: "The King and I" (1956) and "West Side Story" (1961).
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)
Directed by Brad Silberling
influenced by The Little Princess (1939)
Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, a two-time Oscar nominee ( Sleepy Hollow and The Little Princess ) for his ability to light a scene and bring an emotional intensity to the setting, displays that gift again in this movie.
Inevitably, you wonder what the likes of My Fair Lady, West Side Story, and The King and I would have sounded like if they'd been made this way, and without the reassuring soprano of Marni Nixon emanating from their leading ladies.
There is a good villain entry with "Mother Knows Best," sung by two-time Tony Award-winning Donna Murphy ("The King and I" and "Passion").
The closest analogues in the United States to Woo's Hong Kong output, in fact, are films like Oklahoma , The King and I , and West Side Story --films that trade in base emotionality and archetypal images to, basically, set up the extended set-piece money shots.
The sentiment has the audacity to compare writer/director Chazelle's millenial charmer LA LA LAND to actually amazing musicals, presumably in the realm of West Side Story, The King and I, Grease, and even Chicago.
"Coming to America" has a far gentler spirit than the "Beverly Hills Cop" films, and Murphy, who seems to have based his performance on Yul Brynner's in "The King and I," at least tries to sustain his character throughout.
The story is dependably Disney — directors John Musker and Ron Clements previously helmed The Little Princess and lead screenwriter Jared Bush co-scripted Zootopia — but the characters and visuals are highly distinctive.
Gravity is quite OK too, but in the second tier of his work, along with The Little Princess and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Cuarn, who brought us the essential version of Francis Hodgson Burnett's "The Little Princess," the very sexy road movie "Y Tu Mam Tambin," and Harry Potter 3, has fashioned a futuristic drama for our times, a bleak yet oddly optimistic look at a world that is, quite literally, dying out.