Finian's Rainbow (1968)

2 Nominations, 0 Wins

Nomination: Best Sound
Nomination: Best Music, Score of a Musical Picture (Original or Adaptation) - Ray Heindorf

Photo Courtesy PetulaClark.net

Finian's Rainbow is a film of clashing generations.  It is directed by one of the leaders of New Hollywood filmmaking but starring one of the most famous faces of Old Hollywood, bold enough to discuss racial issues but backwards enough to use blackface to do so, and exciting in its use of location filming but also far too reliant on silly looking sets.

Finian's Rainbow was first performed on Broadway in 1947, and had a film been made in the 1940's or 1950's it probably would have worked much better.  But by the time of the film's release in 1968, the culture had experienced such enormous shifts that the film films more like a strange relic of the past trying too hard to fit into the present day.  You know when old people attempt to use modern slang to relate to their grandchildren, but it just makes them look older?  That's Finian's Rainbow.

Tommy Steele plays the leprechaun Og, and his performance is a bit of a mess.  My only previous exposure to Steele's work was in The Happiest Millionaire, a performance I quite enjoyed.  The Happiest Millionaire was just silly enough to allow for Steele's mugging and silliness, but in Finian's Rainbow he plays the role far too broadly, and the performance crosses the line from silly to strange.

Despite all of its weaknesses, Finian's Rainbow is worth watching, if for no other reason than Francis Ford Coppola's direction.  Yes, he certainly overdirects at times, but it is the overdirection of a talented youth bursting with ideas rather than the overdirection of a hack filmmaker.  Coppola worked with cinematographer Philip Lathrop to free the camera, and what results is the sense of constant movement, giving the film the feel of a lively pace despite its long running time.  Some of the shots Coppola creates are silly, but it was good for him to get those out of his system before the film he'd make four years later, The Godfather.

The sound work in the film by M.A. Merrick and Dan Wallin is strong, and unlike many musicals that for some reason undeservedly get nominated for sound Oscars, Finian's Rainbow was well deserving of its nomination.  Ray Heindorf's score was a solid effort as well, though it never stood a chance against Johnny Green's score for Oliver!

The Happiest Millionaire (1967)

1 Nomination, 0 Wins

Nomination: Best Costume Design - Bill Thomas

Of the thousands of films remaining to view for the Every Oscar Ever project, a nearly three hour musical family film that flopped at the box office and was nominated for a single award wasn't too high on my viewing list. I likely would have waited a long time to view the film, if not for the fact that it was a childhood favorite of my wife, who regularly sings "Fortuosity" and "Let's Have A Drink On It," and who asked to view it while we celebrated her birthday. So before watching such esteemed films as Gandhi, On Golden Pond, or Judgment at Nuremberg, I sat down to watch The Happiest Millionaire.

The film tells the story of the family of Anthony Biddle (played by Fred MacMurray), a real-life eccentric Philadelphia millionaire known for his talents in boxing, training soldiers for combat, and promoting Christianity. The film's extremely loose plot centers around the arrival of an Irish butler, played by Tommy Steele, and the engagement of Biddle's daughter Cordy, played by Lesley Ann Warren. Much of the film moves along with little plot development, and it's easy to imagine that when Walt Disney Pictures cut the film's running time, not much was sacrificed in the way of narrative or character development. The film's central conflict is that the family of Cordy's fiance, particularly his mother (the legendary Geraldine Page), does not approve of the eccentric Biddles, and the young couple must work to overcome the gulf between the two families. This is a classic plot, seen in films such as La Cage aux Folles and The Birdcage, and nothing happens that is terribly surprising or unique.

Yet despite the film's lack of creativity, there are moments of real joy in it that make it obvious to me why my wife loved the film so much as a child. Tommy Steele is impossibly likeable in the film, and his performance of a few songs, particularly "Let's Have A Drink On It," are classic Disney numbers. The songs were written by the famed Sherman Brothers, and while not every song is a gem, there are plenty of winners, and Steele was perhaps the second best match for the Sherman Brothers style, trailing only Dick Van Dyke.

I'll never understand the deep love for this film held by my wife, as it's impossible to explain the deep love of childhood favorites to those who come to the films later in life, which is why my wife will never understand my dedication to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Pee Wee's Big Adventure. Yet I can still see the charm in The Happiest Millionaire, and if the viewer is able to look past the wandering plot and over-the-top performances by several of the film's leads, there is a lot to love in The Happiest Millionaire.

Remaining: 3178 films, 869 Oscars, 5457 nominations