Hello, Dolly!

As many of you know Wall-E learned all about romance from watching the film 'Hello, Dolly!'. I thought I should check it out to see if he has chosen the right film.

Musicals are the type of film that need to be viewed on the big screen. Especially grand big scale musicals like this one. Most of them are large scale events, especially older musicals such as this one. 'Hello, Dolly!' has many big song and dance numbers that I feel needs to be seen on the big screen to get the full experience. It gives you a more joyous feeling and makes the film more enjoyable. I cannot see Hollywood these days making a musical this big. The sets and the amount of people involved in some of the musical numbers is on such a big scale. Director Gene Kelly certainly knows how to direct a musical number and does a brilliant job. Now-a-days there is a lot of quick editing with songs to make them more appealing to the younger audiences. However something can be said for the longer shots that this film uses. It means we see the dancers in full shot as opposed to the half body shots you normally see today. The story is very cute and charming with people looking for a partner and love. It is all very old fashioned which is refreshing.

The role of Dolly Levi is made for an actress like Barbara Streisand. She really embodies this role and is not only skillful at the singing but is a brilliant enough actress that she can handle the witty banter too. It is one of those roles that is very full-on and can be too much to take, but Barbara is able to make her nice enough for you to care for. I never thought of Walter Matthau as a singer and/or dancer. but he does a brilliant job as the shopping magnate Horace Vandergelder. He has always been a brilliant comedic actor so is great in that respect but he is also great at the musical numbers. Michael Crawford has long been known as a singer and dancer. This is one of his earlier roles and is wonderful as one of the nerdy duo looking for love. He and his cohort Danny Lockin make an excellent comedy duo. They are backed-up delightfully by their female counterparts Marianne McAndrew and E.J. Peaker.

While it is not the most romantic film I've ever seen, 'Hello, Dolly!' is still a wonderful musical. It fills you with joy like all good musicals should.