Kismet (1955)

Calificación de los usuarios:

6.0/10   

Director:

Vincente Minnelli

Escritores:

Edward Knoblock (non-musical play "Kismet") and
Charles Lederer (musical libretto) ...

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

8 octubre 1955 (USA)

Género:

Aventura | Musical | Fantasía | Comedia | Romance

Plot:

Like a tale spun by Schehrazade, Kismet follows the remarkable and repeated changes of fortune that engulf a poor poet...

Plot Keywords:

Broadway Musical | Arabian Nights | 1001 Nights | Royal Romance | Based On Musical

Comentarios de los usuarios:

The Most Under Rated Movie Musical of All Time

Reparto

Howard Keel	...	The Poet
Ann Blyth	...	Marsinah
Dolores Gray	...	Lalume
Vic Damone	...	The Caliph
Monty Woolley	...	Omar
Sebastian Cabot	...	Wazir
Jay C. Flippen	...	Jawan
Mike Mazurki	...	Chief Policeman
Jack Elam	...	Hassan-Ben
Ted de Corsia	...	Police subaltern
Reiko Sato	...	1st Princess of Ababu
Patricia Dunn	...	2nd Princess of Ababu
Wonci Lui	...	3rd Princess of Ababu
Julie Robinson	...	Zubbediya

También conocida como:

Un extraño en el paraíso (Spain) [es]

Duración:

113 min

País:

USA

Idioma:

Inglés

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Relación de Aspecto:

2.55 : 1

Sonido:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System) | Stereo

Clasificación:

Finland:S

Compañía:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivialidades:

The original Broadway production of "Kismet" opened at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York on December 3, 1953, ran for 583 performances and won the 1954 Tony Award for the Best Musical.

Citas:

The Poet: May your taxes increase!
[Said when acting as a beggar to get the Baghdad merchants to give him alms]

Conexiones de Película:

Apareció en "MGM Parade: (#1.14)" (1955)

Banda de Sonido:

The Olive Tree

The Most Under Rated Movie Musical of All Time

It's hard for me to believe that I saw many of these old M.G.M. musicals when they first came out when I was a teenager. I first saw Kismet with my cousin and sister in Jackson, Mississippi, and we loved it! I don't like repeating myself, but just because a Broadway star is in a hit musical on Broadway doesn't necessarily mean that they are good movie material. They just don't have the following in the movies to support a movie such as movies like Kismet, Hello Dolly, Gypsy, and Kiss Me, Kate which is considered a better movie than it was a Broadway show.

Kismet is glorious entertainment. Howard Keel is perfect as Hajj the Beggar and even though Ann Blyth was too old to be his daughter, you forgive that problem in casting. She never sang better and Vic Damone was great as the Prince. Thankfully, the songs "He's in Love" and "Was I Wazir" was cut from the film, but sadly, even though it was recorded and filmed "Rhymes Have I" was deleted from the movie. This should not have been. Maybe, some day, someone will restore this number in future Videos of Kismet.

You could not have cast anyone better than Delores Gray as Lalume, and the addition of her song "Bored" [not in the original play on Broadway] shows you don't have to be naked and obscene on the screen to get sex across to the audience as she sings her song and nearly seduces Howard Keel right on the spot, and could that woman sing!

The wonderful thing about this movie is that a Broadway orchestra can't bring out the wonderful music as it is really meant to be heard like a movie orchestra can. For the first time you hear all the music in its richest melodies and Howard Keel, Ann Blyth, Vic Damone, and Delores Gray are thousands time better in their performances than the broadway cast could ever be. "And This is My Beloved" is a much better version in the movie than the Broadway rendition which was much too operatic.

I remember that my cousin Margaret looked at me after Howard Keel sang "The Olive Tree" and she said that if her father ever looked at her the way Howard Keel looked at Ann Blyth, she'd run like hell. Let's face it! Any Blyth was old enough to be his lover and not his daughter, but you forgive the producers for the miscast, because as a whole the film is not miscast, but perfect!

It's just a shame that these films can't be seen on the large theater screens today with stereophonic sound the way they "should" be seen. Maybe, someday, someone will get the hint!

Kismet was and is glorious, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world!