Back again with another double bill of musicals kicking off with a film that sneaked its way into being one of the five nominees at the 1968 ceremony.
Possibly the least impressive of the four films in this blog is the only
one I hadn't seen before that being the original 1967 version of Doctor
Dolittle. For me the film is most famous for two things Rex Harrison
and the song 'If Could Talk to the Animals' however after reading around
the production it seems it has an infamous backstory. Originally
projected to cost only $6 million dollars the end budget almost tripled
that and the film was known as the picture that almost bought Warner
Brothers to its knees. The only reason I'm watching it is due to the
studio launching a rather aggressive campaign in which it wined and
dined Academy members in order to get seven nominations. It won two
deservedly for the ahead-of-their-time special effects, which included a
two headed llama and a giant snail, as well as for the aforementioned
song. Rex Harrison, who wasn't nominated, was brilliant as the former
people doctor who'd turned to animals and learnt to communicate with
them but had angered several people around him because of this. The
first half of the film deals with his past while the second half sees
him take off to find the elusive Great Pink Sea Snail eventually ending
up on the floating Sea-Star Island. Personally I'm not quite sure what
audience this film is aimed at as many of the songs would be too much
for the kids while the romance between Dolittle's assistant played by
Anthony Newley and the snotty-nosed Emma is really uninvolving. Bar
Harrison, a couple of the songs and the effects this is could be
described as a white elephant of a film, incidentally not one of the
animals that Dolittle deals with, as large set-pieces on the island plus
one at a circus fail to provide any interest. In a year in which more
interesting films should've taken the Best Picture slot that Dolittle
ended up getting it proves just how easily-influenced the Oscar panel
were back in the 1960s and depending on who you listen to not a lot has
changed in term of the way things work today.
Ending on a more positive note with the film that won the Best Picture at the
final 1960s Oscar ceremony that being Oliver! Unlike a lot of these
films, which were basically screen musicals adapted almost
note-for-note, the film version of Oliver! changed some roles, got rid
of some songs and made the whole thing seem more like a film. For
example the second half of the film version has a lot less songs than
the stage version does which makes it seem rightly a lot more dramatic
and less light-hearted than the first half. Not that you can say most of
the plot of Oliver! is generally light-hearted dealing as it does with
an orphan who runs away from the workhouse to end up working for a gang
of young thieves led by a cunning Jew and a woman-beating Neanderthal.
Obviously I'm referring there to Oscar nominee Ron Moody's Fagin and
Oliver Reed's Bill Sikes who was a character that had a minimal role in
the musical but appears more for the film audience to realise that he's
no good. Like Mary Poppins, Oliver is one of the films on this list that
I have watched many times before however I approached it this time
thinking does this feel like a Best Picture winner? My answer would
probably be yes but from an earlier decade as by this time the Academy
was awarding more alternative films for example the prior winner to
Oliver! was In the Heat of the Night and the one after was Midnight
Cowboy. What Oliver! is is a brilliant musical with fine turns from
Moody, Reed, Shani Wallis as Nancy, Harry Secombe as Mr Bumble and Jack
Wild as The Artful Dodger who was the only other cast member to get an
Oscar nomination. There are some great set pieces namely in the
'Consider Yourself' and 'Who Will Buy' numbers the latter of which is
one of my favourite moments. However as I am one for darker stuff I love
the last twenty minutes most notably Fagin and Dodger's reprise of
Reviewing the Situation as well as the eventual capture of Bill, hell
even Bullseye the dog is brilliant. In 1969 film was changing however if
you'd watched Oliver! as a representation of what movies were like at
the time then you wouldn't know it although it is an excellent musical I
feel that something grittier could've possibly won in its place but
then again I haven't watched its competitors yet so only time will tell.
OK more Oscar blogging to come soon with an Audrey Hepburn double coming up next.
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