For this week's Cinema Sunday, I'm writing about a musical that my wife Andrea and I have never seen before, Guys & Dolls. After Andrea and I watched The Music Man again a few weeks ago, Amazon Prime offered up similar movies we might be interested in. On the list was Guys & Dolls which we were both familiar with (mostly because of "Luck Be A Lady Tonight") but neither of us had seen on stage or on film.
So we decided to give it a try.
Guys and Dolls is a 1955 film based on the 1950 Broadway musical by composer and lyricist Frank Loesser.
Gambler Nathan Detroit is trying to put together a craps game but all the places he can usually have a game are shut down due to pressure from Lieutenant Brannigan and the city police.
Speaking of pressure, Nathan's fiancée, Miss Adelaide, nightclub singer, wants to bring an end to their 14-year engagement and actually tie the knot. She also wants him to go straight and stop gambling.
Which is hard for Nathan to do. Organizing illegal gambling is really the only thing he's good at and right now, there are a lot of high rollers in town. If he could only find a place for his next game that's not under Branigan's watchful eye.
Nathan finds a place, a garage that will let him host a game but only with a $1,000 up front. Nathan ain't got a $1,000. What's a guy to do?
Enter Sky Masterson, a gambler willing to bet on virtually anything and for high amounts. For $1,000, Nathan bets Sky that he cannot take a girl of Nathan's choosing to dinner in Havana, Cuba. The bet seems impossible for Sky to win when Nathan nominates Sergeant Sarah Brown, a sister at the Save a Soul Mission, which opposes gambling.
Sky makes his own bet with Sarah; if she will go out to dinner with him, Sky will produce 12 sinners for the Save a Soul Mission. In order to keep the mission from being closed, Sarah agrees.
Adelaide is frustrated that Nathan Detroit won't stop gambling and keeps welshing out on his promise to marry her.
Sarah is surprised to experience joy and passion in Havana in the company of an unexpectedly charming Sky Masterson.
There are complications along the way in which comedy and musical numbers ensue before our principals reach a happy ending.
Guys & Dolls is a lot of fun, a brightly colored confection that's light on its feet.
Some of the performances seem a bit weird. It seems no one in this movie is playing the character they or the producers wanted to play.
Frank Sinatra wanted to play Sky Masterson but winds up playing Nathan Detroit. In the play, Nathan is a sad sack, a rumpled schmuck of a man. Sinatra is a bit too polished a singer and performer to effectively convey Nathan's hang dog demeanor. The role of Nathan was originated on Broadway by actor Sam Levene. Apparently he was a favorite to play to the role in the film but a producer reportedly disagreed with "having a Jew play a Jew" which apparently was too Jewish.
Frank missed out on Sky Masterson because the studio wanted Gene Kelly for the role. When Gene was not available, the producer gave the role to Marlon Brando. Brando was the biggest box office draw at the time but casting the very intense Brando in "a brightly colored confection that's light on its feet" musical seems counter-intuitive.
It didn't help matters that Sinatra did not care much for Brando, refusing to share a stage with him if he didn't have to. Sinatra reportedly once said, "When Mumbles is through rehearsing, I'll come out". Sinatra also lost out of the role of Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront which also went to Brando.
The part of Miss Adelaide bounced from Betty Grable to Marilyn Monroe before finally landing with Vivian Blaine who originated the role on Broadway. Blaine would continue as Adelaide in subsequent revivals of Guys & Dolls on Broadway through 1965.
The role of Sarah Brown went to Jean Simmons after Grace Kelly said no. And after Deborah Kerr said no. (Star Trek reference: Jean Simmons would later appear as Admiral Norah Satie, in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "The Drumhead".)
Guys & Dolls was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. TCM host Ben Mankiewicz is Joseph's great nephew.
Anyway, Guys & Dolls is a little odd in places but overall is good dumb fun.
Speaking of "dumb fun", the Marx Brothers invade Cinema Sunday next week with Duck Soup.
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