:The Greatest Show on Earth:
From Wikipedia: Many consider this film among the worst to have ever won the Academy Award for Best Picture. It also won that award over highly rated films such as High Noon, The Quiet Man, and Singin’ in the Rain. The American film magazine Premiere placed the movie on its list of the 10 worst Oscar winners[13] and the British film magazine Empire rated it #3 on their list of the 10 worst Oscar winners.[14] It has the second lowest spot on Rotten Tomatoes’ list of the 81 films to win Best Picture.[15]
It’s hard to enjoy a circus story knowing how circus animals are treated. Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey helped with the production of this movie by providing 600 circus workers. All that said the spectacle was impressive (I haven’t been to the circus since childhood) and the performances by the performers and actors were good.
:Singin’ in the Rain:
Normally I hate musicals but for Singin in the Rain I make an exception! What’s more it saw the introduction of Betsie’s friend Joel from their college days at Lake Superior State to our former duo. He is a big musicals fan and will join us on occasion now.
This was a joyful, feel-good romp with Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds. The storyline was fun and engaging. The singing and dancing was excellent-very athletic and well choreographed. It had everything a musical needs to make it to that next level and is commonly referred to as the best musical of all time. The American Film Institute, in fact, lists this movie as #5 on the Top 100 films of all time.
Reynolds, who was a trained gymnast but not a dancer when this film began, said the two hardest things she ever did were childbirth and Singin in the Rain.
Far superior to the “actual” winner.
:High Noon:
Not available on Netflix.
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