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35 of 35 found the following review helpful:
 NICE RESTORATION FOR ASTAIRE'S LAST MUSICAL FILMMar 17, 2005
By W. Budris
I've been waiting to see a decent print of FINIAN'S RAINBOW for sometime. Though not an all-time favorite, I do like the score, and I'm a huge Petula Clark fan. Other video versions I've seen were poor pan-scan versions with horrible color and bad sound. Warners has done the film justice. Widescreen, 5.1 Surround and a trip down memory lane with Francis Ford Coppola, the director.
An interesting note, this is the first time I am aware of where the lead actress in the film has dubbed the foreign language track. Petula Clark, being a marvelous singer in several languages, had a huge French-language career going at this time, parallel to her English-language one. Also being an actress from childhood, she fits perfect as Sharon here. However, this is the first time I've heard her French vocals of the score, as well as the dialog. The male leads are other artists (one doing a bad Chevalier for Astaire), but it is definitely Petula in French, as well as the original English soundtrack. This is an absolute treat and collectible for all Petula fans around the world.
Recommended!
47 of 53 found the following review helpful:
Wonderful Performances In A Deeply Flawed FilmApr 11, 2003
By Gary F. Taylor
"GFT"
Opening on Broadway in 1947 with music by Burton Lane and lyrics by E.Y. "Yip" Harburg (who wrote the lyrics for 1939's THE WIZARD OF OZ), FINIAN'S RAINBOW was an unexpected smash that generated one pop classic after another--"How Are Things In Glocca Morra?," "Old Devil Moon," and "Look To The Rainbow" to name but three. But when talk turned to a film version, not a single studio in Hollywood would touch it: although the story was fantasy, it was also extremely satirical, contained elements that had a decidedly socialist edge, and made one of the most wickedly funny statements on racism seen up to that time. With Hollywood operating under the production code and the nation drifting into the communist paranoia of the 1950s, the whole thing was impossibly hot. And so FINIAN'S RAINBOW remained off the screen for over twenty years... until 1968, when a sudden splash of popular screen musicals prompted Warner Brothers to bankroll it.The plot is deliberately ridiculous, and finds Irishman Finian McLonergan (Fred Astaire) and his long suffering daughter Sharon in Tennessee, where Finian plans to bury a crock of gold stolen from a leprechan (Tommy Steele) on the theory that the land around Fort Knox will make the gold grow. But things take an unexpected turn when they arrive in Rainbow Valley, where they encounter a commune-like community of black and white tobacco sharecroppers who are doing battle with a viciously bigoted Senator (Keenan Wynn.) And when daughter Sharon is outraged by the Senator's racism and happens to be standing by the hidden crock of gold--she accidentally "wishes" the Senator black! Unlike the 1947 stage show, the big screen version of FINIAN'S RAINBOW tanked at the box office, and it is little wonder: both producers and then-novice director Francis Ford Coppola made a host of very basic mistakes with the material, the first of which was not keeping the film consistently within its original 1940s context; they instead give it a 'contemporary' tone that not only undercuts the fanciful storyline but makes many of the story's elements seem heavy-handed. In the process they manage to blunt the edge of the original in a very significant sort of way. There are also a number of cinematic problems with the movie, which feels awkwardly filmed and still more awkwardly edited, and the film visibly shifts between outdoor set-ups and studio soundstage sets in a very uncomfortable sort of way. All of that said, there is still a great deal to enjoy in FINIAN'S RAINBOW--the aforementioned score for one and the truly memorable performances for another. Astaire is timeless, Tommy Steele almost walks away with the show, Keegan Wynn--in spite of some rather ill-advised make-up--gives a memorable performance as the bigoted Senator, and Al Freeman Jr. is absolutely hilarious in the sequence where he applies for the job of butler in the Senator's home--I laugh just thinking about it! But the real revelation here is Petula Clark. Best known as a pop singer, Clark is perfection as Sharon McLonergan; it is a tremendous pity that she was never again so well-cast on screen. And together they manage to gloss over most of the film's weaknesses; if you're a musical fan, you're likely to enjoy it. A word of warning, however. At present, FINIAN'S RAINBOW exists only on videotape, and while the VHS release is not bad per se, it is also pan-and-scan. Admittedly, the cinematography wasn't much to begin with, but purists (of which I am one when it comes to ratios) will be frustrated.
15 of 16 found the following review helpful:
Hurray for Tommy Steele!!Aug 15, 2001
It was neat to see Fred Astaire (I like old movies) and TOMMY STEELE! He was my favorite character in "Finian's Rainbow", also my favorite in "Happiest Millonare." I think Tommy Steele's character, Og, was one of the most interesting. This movie has romance, comedy, and drama. The main male character,Mr. Mclanagan,(Fred Astaire)came from Ireland to America to bury the crock of gold he stole from the leprachans back home. He also brings his daughter, Sharon, along (Petula Clark). Og (Tommy Steele) is the leprechan who follows Mr. Mcglanagan to America. Mcglanagan finds this out after he buries the crock. "Oh, give it back Mr. Mcglanagan," Og pleads, because now that the crock has left Ireland all the leprachans are turning mortal including himself. He has grown so much that by that scene his pant cuffs are above his ankles. Mr. Mcglanagan is too greedy and refuses to give it back. Sharon, on the other hand falls in love with a tobacco share cropper, Woody, Og falls in love with Sharon, and then Sharon, angry with the unfair way the senator was treating blacks, made a big wish on the senator and the crock granted it. It makes a whole mess of problems, because now the neighborhood thinks Sharon is a witch. My favorite scene is when Og woos Susan, Woody's mute sister, since Sharon's already taken by Woody. He thought Susan was Sharon at first, though, because when her back was turned she looked like Sharon: Og:I'm 99% mortal now, and my feelings for you, . . it's a frenzy, a frenzy! Ah, but it feels better just bein' near ye, the scent of the air the touch of your hand, oh the miracle of it, the miracle of it, the sweet, sweet, miracle of it! (He reaches for her hand to put it to his cheek and Susan pulls away startled) She loves me! Her hand fits me cheek! Oh, Sharon you are the only one, the only one! (He sees her face) Wha- but- you're not Sharon at all! You're Susan "the silent." . . yet I feel the same frenzy for you. . is this what it's like to be mortal? Is every girl the only girl? Huh! I'm beginin' to like it! (Then breaks into a funny song) This one of my favorite movies as you can tell!!
7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
Follow the rainbowDec 30, 2007
By Trevor Willsmer
Roguish Irishman Finian McLonergan (Fred Astaire) arrives in Rainbow Valley near Fort Knox with his daughter Sharon (Petula Clark) to test out his theory of economics - that if he plants a crock of gold stolen from the leprechauns, it will grow. Unfortunately for his plans, a Leprechaun (Tommy Steele) has followed him to retrieve the gold, a racist senator wants to buy the land he has buried it in and his daughter is accused of witchcraft when an ill-advised wish comes true...
Unlike many of the roadshow musicals of the Sixties, Finian's Rainbow doesn't feel overlong or overblown - despite being shot in 70mm, it keeps the scale small and retains much of the charm of the original show in the process. The direction is energetic and fluid, with some beautiful camerawork and the odd experimental touches - Woody's arrival features similar racing tracking shots to the ones Coppola used in Bram Stoker's Dracula - but the style never takes over. This is certainly considerably lighter on its feet than Coppola's very maudlin One From the Heart and much more involving. There's a sense of fun to Finian's Rainbow that doesn't come over in any of his later films, making it surprisingly enjoyable and hard to dislike.
The score - How Are Things in Glockamora?, That Old Devil Moon, Something Sort of Grandish and Follow the Rainbow - is better than you remember, boasting some very surreal lyrics, and the script is often genuinely witty and always good natured. The racial satire is surprisingly deftly handled considering the similarities to the rather heavy-handed The Watermelon Man: at one point Al Freeman Jr is taught how to shuffle like a black man when employed by the senator (Wynn), who is later turned into a black himself and rejected by his cronies.
Of the cast, bad Oirish accents notwithstanding, only Don Francks fails to engage. A colourless leading man with the look of a badly drawn Gene Kelly crossed with Frederic Forrest, he has a strong voice but ultimately lacks the charisma to carry off the romantic lead - and for someone whose great money-making scheme is to grow mentholated tobacco thus condemning a large number of the inhabitants of Rainbow Valley to lung cancer to appeal in this day-and-age, he needs all the charisma he can get.
Hermes Pan's choreography is adequate to the occasion but not particularly inspired, especially with Astaire's solos. He is not always helped by Coppola's direction, which often breaks the action into different settings, making it hard to maintain continuity in a routine. At other times, he shoots the dancers from the waist up, taking too long to pull back for a full body shot to show the whole body at work. However, Something Sort of Grandish, imaginatively and amusingly shot around a washing line, is beautifully handled, and his use of the Scope frame for The Girl I'm Near is flawless.
The picture quality is clear and crisp, and the Overture, Intermission and Exit Music have all been retained. Alongside an introduction and commentary by Coppola and the theatrical trailer there's also a half-hour TV broadcast of the film's premiere but not, curiously enough, the short film about the making of the feature that was shot by Coppola's then-protégé, one George Lucas.
12 of 14 found the following review helpful:
I'll dance out the questions, and you dance out the answers!Apr 23, 2003
By Strategos
"The Guardian of Time"
People seem to either love or hate this movie. And that's understandable. On the one hand we have beautiful cinematography, and some truly classic songs sung and danced by top talent. I LOVE the title song Look to the Rainbow. But then on the other we have a director who can't seem to make up his mind whether he wants to film this movie in the great outdoors (get a load of those huge musical numbers featuring enough people to have a convention), or indoors (in sets that feel like they were swiped from Camelot or Brigadoon). On the one hand we have some great actors Fred Astaire, Tommy Steele, and Petula Clark (I think I'm in love). And let's not forget the at times hilarious dialog ("It's an angel! An Irish angel.)
But what really makes this a great movie is the way everyone involved put all their heart and soul into their role. That and the glorious use of widescreen and color.
But again, the switching back and forth from studio set to outdoor helicopter shot feels...strange. And one or two of the musical numbers and do seem to drag (just a bit). And man, the plot of this movie sure is out there (burying gold stole from fairy-land near Fort Knox as an experiment?) Some of the characters are a little hard to strange as well (a lovely mute girl who talks by dancing and a Leprechaun who finds himself turning into a human?). But if you can get over the low points (or perhaps just unusual points) and just embrace it for what it is (and especially if you love musicals), I think you'll find Finian's Rainbow to be worthy purchase.
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