OVP: Kiss Me Kate (1953)

Film: Kiss Me Kate (1953)
Stars: Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ann Miller, Tommy Rall, Keenan Wynn, James Whitmore, Bob Fosse
Director: George Sidney
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Scoring of a Musical)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

Occasionally I watch movies and I wonder what the casting director was thinking.  I look and see the supporting players and compare them to the actual leads and wonder at what point the director realized that they had made a mistake with the casting and should have gone in a different direction.  This was my reaction to the charming but uneven Kiss Me Kate, a musical from the mind of Cole Porter (so you know you're in for some quality there) that occasionally veers into sheer brilliance but mostly just muddles along in a series of dated attitudes toward women and toward the vanity of actors.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film is about a pair of former paramours Lilli (Grayson) and Fred (Keel) who are brought together in a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew, which is partially what Kiss Me Kate is (for a 1950's musical, it's meta to the highest-order).  The film unfolds with them having a story offscreen while also telling the story onscreen and the story offscreen mirrors the story onscreen...it sounds confusing but it's not when you actually watch it.

The plot itself is incredibly fun, if occasionally a bit sexist (the scene of Keel spanking Grayson on stage made me wildly uncomfortable).  I am a fan of older musicals in general, and so I eat up the lack of plot (there's so many of them running around) and the random series of misunderstandings even if they would never happen that way in real life.  The film, though, is too reliant on the questionable comedic talents of the stars.  This is my first real introduction to Kathryn Grayson as a leading woman, and I have to say I'm not impressed.  While her voice is insane (I love that we used to have straight up opera singers in movies-someone call Renee Fleming's agent), her acting is wooden and stiff.  I think that everyone sort of loved the gameness that she brought at the time, since it was out-of-character for her specifically, but not being familiar with her she feels way too stiff here.

Keel, on the other hand, I've seen in numerous movies, but he always plays the same character and doesn't have the great sense to choose particularly compelling costars like Cary Grant did when he kept playing Cary Grant.  Keel's chauvinism and machismo doesn't play as well today as it did then, partially because standards of male beauty have changed through the years, and today the Brawny-paper towel appeal that Keel's broad shoulders exudes doesn't click as well.  It's harder to tell why women keep throwing themselves at him despite his resonant basso cantante being an admittedly attractive trait.  These styles of musicals, though, don't echo as well and their voices seem more suited for a Broadway or opera stage than the movies-we don't get the far more pleasurable jazzy musical numbers that someone like Rita Moreno or Gwen Verdon would soon make popular.

This is why I think the casting director may have looked back on the charmless lack of chemistry between the two leads and wondered why Ann Miller and Tommy Rall couldn't have been out in front.  Ann Miller has never been better than she is in the role of Lois Lane (a marvelous moniker, I must admit), a randy dancer who is constantly in the arms of her beau Bill (Rall) but also ends up charming other fellas as well.  Miller's dancing is perfection here-she's so well-known for her hoofing abilities that you almost would be forgiven for not being aware of flawless comic timing and fun, brassy vocals).  All-in-all, the film dies whenever she's not onscreen, and she's at her best when paired with Tommy Rall.  Rall, known for roles in films like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, is insanely fun and sexy as one of her suitors, and also dances with great aplomb.  Also, and it has to be said, but his costume of pink tights may be the most revealing outfit I've ever seen in a movie from the 1950's (think Billy Magnussen's leather pants in Into the Woods), and probably taught a generation of young gays, headed to this for the outfits and the musical numbers, that they were leaning toward the fellas.

The film received a nomination for Best Scoring, and like the rest of the movie, this is a split, as the numbers featuring Grayson and Keel fall flat and are unmemorable, while the brilliant "Too Darn Hot" (Miller) and "Always True to You in My Fashion" (Miller/Rall) hum off the screen and are wildly addictive in terms of singing them the next day.  It's also worth noting that the dancing overpowers the singing in all cases, particularly the ballet number late in the film that is danced and performed by Bob Fosse (this movie was a big break in his career).  All-in-all, it's a tough bill when you have films like Calamity Jane and The Band Wagon as competition, but Kiss Me Kate at least earns its spot at the door.

Those are my thoughts on this musical (which, despite its difficulty in finding on DVD, many of you have likely heard of and perhaps even seen), what are yours?  Do you agree with me that this is the Miller and Rall show, and not the Grayson/Keel hour?  Do you have a favorite Cole Porter musical, or a favorite 1953 musical?  And did anyone else have a similar reaction to Tommy Rall's pants?  Share your thoughts in the comments!