Theater Wagon (film)

Actor Tony Hunter ( Fred Astaire ) once became famous in Hollywood as a dancer and singer, but now he has lost popularity. Wanting to give an impetus to his career, he arrives in New York, where two of his friends, Leicester and Lilly, persuade them to try their luck on stage in the Broadway musical they wrote. The plot was created based on cheap tabloid detectives.

Friends invite the famous director Jeffrey Cordoba, who until then was engaged only in conceptual dramatic productions. He has his own vision - for him this is the story of modern Faust. In addition, together with the pop dancer and singer Tony Hunter, he invites a partner - the famous academic ballerina Gabriel Gerard ( Sid Chariss ) and her lover - choreographer Paul Bird. At first, Tony and Gabriel do not find a common language, and the production itself is completely not to their liking. The musical of Cordoba fails, as it turns out to be too pretentious.

The troupe was about to disperse, but Tony Hunter proposes to return to the previous, purely entertaining version of the script created before Cordoba’s intervention and is ready to finance this version on its own. The artists, inspired by Tony's enthusiasm, resume rehearsals and soon go on tour with a new musical. The ballerina, despite the objections of her choreographer, remains with the troupe and feels that she is attracted to Tony Hunter. After the triumphant premiere of the musical Theatrical Wagon in New York, Tony and Gabriel explain their feelings for each other.

• Fred Astaire - Tony Hunter
• Sid Chariss - Gabrielle (Gabi) Gerard
• Oscar Levant - Leicester Marton
• Nannet Fabrey - Lily Marton
• Jack Buchanan - Jeffrey Cordoba
• James Mitchell - Paul Bird
• Ava Gardner - Cameo

The idea to remove a new musical came up with Arthur Fried in late 1951. The success of “American in Paris” and “Singing in the Rain” , which became classics of the genre, only confirmed the authority of Fried, as the lead producer of MGM. Fried turned to his like-minded people, who inside the MGM had the unofficial name of the “ Freed unit ”. The duo of screenwriters Comden and Green , Minelli, composers Schwartz and Ditz ^[4] . All these are people who had great authority and more than a dozen years of successful work in their genre. The success of the picture, one might say, was carefully planned and predicted ^[5] .

Almost all musical numbers were taken from the production of 1931, but one original song was also written for the film. Composers Schwartz and Ditz wrote the song “That's Entertainment,” which later acquired independent significance. The script was completed in February 1952. Development and rehearsal of dance numbers took place in August-September 1952 and took 6 weeks. Filming and editing took place from February 1952 to January 1953. The premiere in the USA took place on August 7, 1953 ^[6] .

The director had at his disposal a wide selection of performers. Fred Astaire was chosen for the main male role, and the script was written for him ^[6] . On the main female - Sid Cheriss, a professional dancer, and previously starred in films. So, a year before the creation of the film, she successfully starred in Singing in the Rain. The basis for the script was the "show inside the show", the creation of the musical, the standard plot of the plot for Hollywood. Fred Astaire, star of 1930s RKO musicals, was a perfectionist and worked on set in his workaholic style. “Before the shooting, he brought us to complete exhaustion,” recalled the stage partner Nanet Fabre ^[7] .

The plot of the picture depicts a difficult search for a common language between the main characters, which ends happily. The painting, following its own plot, was difficult to create, in disagreements and bickering within the collective, which continued until the end of the work. The romantic image of the main characters created on the screen did not at all correspond to the realities behind the scenes. Aster and Chariss did not like each other and constantly argued. Minelli at this time was going through a difficult period, trying to recover from his scandalous marriage and divorce from Judy Garland , and this affected the work. Oscar Levant and Jack Buchanan faced health problems. The future masterpiece was born of squabbles and squabbles ^[7] .

The film contains technically sophisticated dance numbers staged by choreographer Michael Kidd , such as dancing in a cafe (The Girl Hunt). Conquers the skill and technique of dancing, not only the main characters, but also other actors. One of the memorable scenes was the spectacular dance of Aster, Fabre and Buchanan portraying the twins of the triplets. Actors performed a dance on their knees and they had to take painkillers to endure pain ^[7] .

The star cast of the crew and the planned calculation were completely justified. The Theater Wagon was quite successful at the box office and was warmly received by the audience. However, fame, as one of the most significant productions of the 1950s, came much later. The painting became one of MGM's masterpieces and a symbol of the musical era ^[6] .

Contrasting the real and the fictional favorite theme of Minelli ^[8] . The plot of the picture is formed by two intertwining lines: preparation for the staging of the show on Broadway and the romantic relationship between Tony and Gabrielle. Viewers familiar with the real process of creating a theatrical performance will appreciate the veiled satire on Hollywood pseudo-intelligence and the mysterious way of the birth of the play shown in the film. Failure yesterday may lead to triumph today ^{[1] [9]} .

The picture received very flattering reviews from critics. First of all, the attention of the audience is riveted by the mature skill of the director Vincent Minneli and the outstanding figure of Fred Astaire ^[7] . At the sixth decade, the dancer shows a great shape. Aster was equally good at both dance numbers and conversational stage scenes. Versatile talent and soundly written texts revived the banal story about the obstacles to the love that the heroes happily overcome ^[10] . The usual trick for musicals is the opposition of heroes. In this case, there is a juxtaposition of youth and maturity ^[11]

It is interesting to note that Aster had the ability to adapt to the capabilities of his staffing partner. This is clearly visible in the scene of That's Entertainment, where he intentionally does not show his capabilities as a virtuoso step dancer next to the less sophisticated Levant, Buchanan and Fabre. Oscar Levant, being a famous pianist, did not have any theatrical and dance training at all, but thanks to the work of the choreographer and cameraman, this was not noticeable to the audience. Elements of humor and scenery also distract the viewer from the significantly different level of actors ^[12] . Critic Jeremy Kipp, speaking of Fred Astaire, noted that his best skill can be appreciated where he worked alone in the frame ^[13] . In the solo episode "Shine on my Shoes," Aster reveals her true class. Sid Charis is a performer with excellent choreographic training, but “even her skill will fade next to Aster” ^[14] . However, it should be noted that such a judgment is unfair: she simply had nowhere to “turn around” in this film. The proof of this is the film Silk Stockings, where Sid and Fred look "on the same level."

With all the predictability of events on the screen, the script has its own characteristics. The picture contains numerous references to musical film classics: “Singing in the Rain,” Clock , Meet Me in St. Louis , Beauty of New York ^{[9] [15] [16]} . Rick Altman in particular found a lot in common between the plot scheme of the Theater Wagon and the Pirate painting. It is about contrasting the legend and the realities of life. What a few years ago was revered and exalted, today does not cost anything. The public constantly requires a new one ^[17] .

The beginning and middle of the picture were shot in accordance with the canons of the genre. Fairly standard musical numbers and classical performance with swing rhythms of the 1930s. The symbols of the great Hollywood couple Aster and Rogers (cylinder, cane and gloves) go away and pass the baton to new trends in musical fashion. An attempt to create the abstruse, conceptual musical arrangement of Faust by the characters of the painting ends in a logical failure. The audience requires a more familiar topic and gets a detective in the end.

The final scene, which critics particularly liked for its unusual interpretation, takes the viewer into the 1950s and is performed as a parody of a series of detective novels by Mickey Spilein , popular in the United States at that time. The dance phantasmagoria in the ending (Triplets and The Girl Hunt numbers) gives the whole picture a surreal and grotesque hue, uncharacteristic of musical productions of that time ^[1] . According to Rick Altman , The Girl Hunt is one of the most elegant rooms in Hollywood history ^[18]

All the hype behind the scenes of the film cannot distract from the magic of the Theater Wagon. To a large extent, this is from a feeling of the proximity of a fictional story to the true process of filming a film. This is entertainment, but it is hard work.

Original text

All of these backstage details seem like a distraction from the magic of "The Band Wagon," but part of the film's appeal comes from our sense that what we see is not far removed from the actual process of making the movie. It's entertainment, all right, but it's also hard work

- Roger Ebert ^[7]

• By myself
• A shine on your shoes
• That's entertainment
• The beggars waltz
• Dancing in the dark
• You and the night and the music
• Something to Remember You By
• High and low
• I love louisa
• New sun in the sky
• I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan
• Louisiana Hayride
• Triplets
• The girl hunt

• Betty Comden, Adolph Green. The Band Wagon. - University of Michigan: Lorrimer, 1986. - 107 p. - ISBN 0856471186 .
• Jane Feuer. The Hollywood Musical. - 2nd. - Indiana University Press, 1993 .-- 154 p. - ISBN 0253207681 .
• Stephen Harvey. Directed by Vincente Minnelli. - 1989. - ISBN 0060162635 .