THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN

US, 1964, 128 minutes, Colour.
Debbie Reynolds, Harve Presnell, Thelma Ritter, Jack Kruschen, Ed Begley, Hermione Baddeley, Martita Hunt.
Directed by Charles Walters.

During the first half of the 1960s there were quite a number of lavish and long musicals. However, the 1940s and 1950s and the era of the popular Hollywood musical had gone. However, during the 1960s many musicals won the Oscar for best film, including West Side Story, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music and Oliver. The Unsinkable Molly Brown fits into this enthusiasm for the big musicals. The Music Man also appeared at this time as well as How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

Charles Walters was the director, a choreographer who had made many films at MGM including Easter Parade and Jupiter’s Darling. The film was a star vehicle for Debbie Reynolds (Shirley Mac Laine had been sought for the part - and it is certainly her style as well as that of Debbie Reynolds) and she received an Oscar nomination. She plays the Denver, Colorado wealthy woman on board the Titanic (played by Thelma Ritter in the 1953 film and by Frances Fisher in James Cameron’s Titanic).

Her leading man is Harve Presnell, a singer from the stage who had a limited career as a star in films (Paint Your Wagon). However, he later appeared in many films as a character actor including Fargo.

The film is bright and breezy, perfectly suited to Debbie Reynolds’ screen presence and style. Thelma Ritter also appears in the film as do English actresses Hermione Baddeley and Martita Hunt. Ed Begley even sings and dances in this film.

It is a story of the American Dream from backwoods to riches. The film is critical of the insincerity of society, although one wonders whether Molly’s achievements, when she enters society at the end, is not ‘having one's cake and eating it’. There is some enjoyable choreography and colour. The score is by Meredith Wilson who wrote The Music Man. Molly was on the Titanic, but these segments are very brief.

1. The American musical and this film within this tradition? Its qualities as a musical and 60s Americana?

2. The quality of the score, the songs, their working within the plot? illustrating themes? The vitality of the choreography?

3. The atmosphere of Colorado, of the city of Denver, the contrast with Europe? The comparison between America and Europe?

4. This comparison and the theme of the American dream? Backwoods and pioneering, easy wealth and gold, the ambitious dreams of possessions and status? How did the film show the dreams being achieved, souring? The affectation with wealth and position, snobbery, the changing of personalities? Did the film remain consistent with its critique of the American ambition? The significance of the ending when Molly was accepted into Denver society? (The film having its cake and eating it?)

5. The significance of the title and the emphasis on unsinkable, the humour of the credits sequence and Molly as a baby, its being taken up with the theme of the Titanic? Why was Molly so unsinkable wherever she was? Where, however, did she founder?

6. The humorous portrait of the American backwoods? Molly and her looking like a boy and being brought up like a boy, Shamus and the backwoods home, work? The atmosphere? The song and the dance? The prospect of Molly marrying, her decision to leave?

7. The humour of Molly on her travels and her hunger? Arriving at the bar, the humorous sequence and the song of her learning to sing and dance?

8. Merry Christmas and the way of life in the small pioneer town? The raucous and the calm atmosphere? The dancing, especially with the girl from the other saloon?

9. J.J.Brown and his Colorado dreams? As a character in himself, his wealth? The encounter with Molly and his infatuation? Seeking her out at the saloon? His teaching her to read, his love for her in building the house, welcoming her? The hasty marriage and his drunkenness? Molly's attitudes at her marriage? Her growing in love, the song about saying Yes? His reaction to the money being burnt, to Denver, to society, to Europe? His realisation of the truth and the gap between them? His having to say No? How much of a musical comedy hero was he? Real, contrived?

10. Debbie Reynolds' style as Molly? Her attitude towards her dreams and reality? The going to Denver and her wanting to get into society, marry a millionaire? The puzzle of her love for J.J.? Life in the town, of the saloon? Her return to the house, to the bed? To the marriage and the puzzle about her being tricked? The build-up to the burning of the money? The house in Denver and its gaudy style as symbolising her? The colours and the red? Her inability to crash into Denver society? Gladys's snobbery? Buttercup and Shamus as a reminder of the past? Her wanting to do everything with money e.g. the donations to the church? The throwing of the party?

11. The priest's advice about going to Europe, was it sound? The dance sequence and the moving from country to country via the backdrops and the dancing? The big spenders in Europe, the Americans abroad? The sequence when she was learning Polish? J.J.'s inability to learn? The entourage of friends? The build-up to the return and audience expectation of what would happen in Denver?

12. The party and Gladys being overawed? The countess and the encounter? reactions? The dancing? and the songs especially about friendship? The joviality of the atmosphere? The arrival of Merry Christmas and the brawl? The columnist and his acid tone? The humorous critique of society?

13. Comment on the personalities in the entourage. Styles, impressions in Denver?

14. The contrast with Shamus and Buttercup, Merry Christmas, and the people from the pioneering town?

15. The inevitability of Molly's clash with her husband? Her being courted by the entourage? The decision to go back to Europe, her empty life there, the encounter with Gladys? The decision to return and the way this was balanced by J.J.'s longing for her?

16. How effective were the Titanic sequences? Audiences expecting more or what was given? Her heroism and style in a small boat?

17. The pomp of the return? What had happened to Molly in the meantime? Meeting her friends, Gladys's mission? her review of her memories before meeting J.J.? The quality of the happy ending?

18. The picture of American values and expectations of success?