Men in Armour, Light Your Chandeliers!

In many ways, Singin' in the Rain and The Band Wagon are companion films.

Released just one year apart, both films were produced by MGM's highly successful "Musical" department, run by Arthur Freed. Both films have witty, razor-sharp scripts by the writing team of Betty Comden & Adolph Green. Both films were explicitly built around an existing song catalogue: the songs of Arthur Freed & Nacio Herb Brown for Singin' in the Rain; the songs of Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz for The Band Wagon. Both films were vehicles for MGM's biggest musical stars (Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, respectively) and both films are thinly-disguised fables about the trials and tribulations of producing musicals in real life.


While Singin' in the Rain dealt with Hollywood's extremely bumpy transition from silent to sound, The Band Wagon tells the story of Tony Hunter, a veteran song-and-dance movie star whose career has hit something of a speed bump. When his old friends Lily and Lester Martin invite him back to New York to star in a new musical comedy on Broadway, he jumps at the chance to get back to work; but times have changed, and Tony's performance style may not be relevant any more...

When we showed Singin' in the Rain back in September, I said that although it was one of my favourite films, it was not necessarily one of my favourite musicals. Make no mistake: I love Singin' in the Rain. It's a funny, devastatingly accurate account of the problems and headaches associated with Hollywood's first faltering steps into the world of recorded sound. But I also think that the musical numbers are not always integrated into the film quite as smoothly as they could have been, and the "Broadway Melody" sequence, wonderful though it is, feels like it escaped from a completely different film.

The Band Wagon is a kettle of fish of a different colour.

For a start, The Band Wagon was directed by Vincente Minnelli, one of the most stylish directors working in Hollywood at the time.


Every shot is a painting, and the overall look of the film is simply breathtaking. 





Fred Astaire's portrayal of Tony Hunter, the almost has-been musical comedy star, was a bold turn by the 54 year old dancer, who had been repeatedly attempting (unsuccessfully) to retire at this point in his career. (He eventually did genuinely retire a few years after this film. Twenty-eight years after, but who's counting...)

Oh, yes; remember Cyd Charisse? The dancer who had that small but extremely memorable cameo in Singin' in the Rain? Well, The Band Wagon is her film.



Cyd Charisse, by the way, had originally taken up dancing as a child in order to build up her strength after recovering from polio. To any vaccine sceptics out there, you're not Cyd Charisse. Just get the damn vaccine.

Now, I should say that we hope to be screening The Band Wagon on Thursday, the 16th of December at the Victoria Park Baptist Church, but there is a possibility that the venue will be full of scaffolders that day. I promise that as soon as I know, you will know, so please, Watch This Space. 

All things being equal, this Thursday will be our final film night of the year, but we plan to resume on the 13th of January for a brand new season of films. 

I look forward to seeing you!









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