Absolutely Fantastic

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

America as an emerging superpower grappling with its own form of identity politics expressed through libertarian ism and anarchism, along with undercurrents of conservative thought were evident throughout the film, as a kind of Realpolitik that clashes with a more innocent, yet terrifying 'other' depicted as the oriental.It's the liberty to be able to freely choose- given capital- a personal individuated consumption pattern, but only through the construction of a patron/client relation, that entails a double gaze. An abrupt character transformation, where the feminine is constructed through a patron/client relation, typified as that of the boss figure whose gaze is functional, rather than romantic. His double is that of the feminine, which emerges both within the male and female characters as a reaction conventionalism, and resolved through the absurdity of song and dance which the male character cannot partake. The male as passive though active if motivated is the narrative of American nationalism.However as a counterpoint to the rationalism of a dominant male discourse typified as slick, efficient, bureaucratic modernity is the emergence of feminine rationalism that supervenes masculine rationalism. A form of ethical egoism based on extracting services for the self, rather than through the utilitarian means of corporate industrialism, represented as a latent nationalism. This scene is actualized within the cloister of the office.A meta-narrative emerges as a result based on notions of the 'other' through filters of the colonized world. Its the silly, if not stupid, orientals' who conspires with the Occident feminine (as western old crone) to extract resources for exploitation that fulfill the of a colonizing other. The resolution is the elimination corrupted forms of the feminine, along with non-conforming orientals, with the submission of sage like forms of the orient that affirms the discourse of conservative libertarian ism. American triumphalism, or pact Americana.

a spectacular film. for each performance. for seductive story. for the old fashion mix of comedy, romance and crime. for the young and charming James Fox, for adorable Carol Channing and Beatrice Lillie, for the work of John Gavin and, sure, for Jilie Andrews. a film who has the great virtue to be an oasis. because it preserves the flavors of periods and the joy to see a kind of cinema who seems be, for decades, lost. a sunny cinema, charming, seductive, using cultural references - the apple of Mrs M . as simple example -, with actors who use a form of aura in acting , remembering legends and transforming the viewer in part of story. a film out of political correctness rules. and fresh , yet. again and again.

Just had a chance to re-watch beginning to end.What a difference a half-century makes! First Carol Channing steals the whole film, more or less playing the image or persona of Carol Channing that she herself created. She was 46 at the time and shows the energy of someone half her age. She won various awards and nominations and deservedly so. Her performance may be the only thing memorable here.Reviewers like to talk about whether a film holds up over time? This one most assuredly does not. Lots of star power wasted on a horrendous too-cute-for-words script that goes nowhere.In the 60s Julie Andrews could do no wrong. In fact, if her entire resume consisted of nothing but Sound of Music and Mary Poppins, she could rest on those laurels. She is wasted here, never connects with the character, and having her boss call her "John" is a weak joke that wears out fast and starts to grate.Mary Tyler Moore was between the DVD show and her own hit show. Into this lull comes an enormously forgettable performance. "Miss Dorothy" is less than one dimensional, almost a transparent character.It is sad that the second Act degenerates into a slapstick about (ugh!) white slavery. That detracts from little goodwill was established in the first Act.

When I was 13, this became one of my new "favorites". By the age of 30, that opinion had shrunk a bit. Now, umpteen years later, it remains a friendly memory, but the qualities of the film I thought were gems are now rhinestones. The audience knows immediately it is getting something special when Julie Andrews' voice sings the title song as she walks down Fifth Avenue, first a non-stylish frump, and bit by bit transforming herself into a "modern". Over the credits, there are bits and pieces of subtitles expressing Andrews' feelings, and this pops up throughout the movie. First, she comments on how ridiculous that her figure doesn't allow her beads to hang straight, and much later, notices that all society girls seem to be flat chester. Throughout the film, she performs a Jewish Wedding Song and dances with James Fox about a new dance he just made up called the "Tapioca" (which she gleefully announces she had for pudding). Of course, her whole world falls apart when her new boss (John Gavin) whom she had her sites on (for his alleged money), falls for her new pal, Dorothy (Mary Tyler Moore). But when Dorothy suddenly disappears, Andrews, Gavin and Fox all realize that something nefarious has occurred, and it all involves Mrs. Meers (Beatrice Lillie), Andrews' landlady.The opening shot of the squeaky laundry cart remains totally and hysterically unforgettable, as does the shot of the chopstick hair wearing Bea Lillie, playing a comic Mrs. Danvers/Maleficent/Gale Sondergaard's "The Letter" character spoof. "Oh, pook!", she rants when frustrated,"Shoo show" when ordering her "dumber than a bleached blonde" sidekicks about, and her ominous "Sad to be all alone in the world", which has more meaning than the compassion she pretends to have for the orphans she encounters at her 1920's Manhattan hotel for single young ladies. From the time she utters this at the newly arrived Mary Tyler Moore (as an orphan) to her final hick-up after saying the line, Lillie is hysterical. In short, this is her film, even in spite of the leading lady (Julie Andrews) and the Oscar Nominated Carol Channing.No doubt that Ms. Channing was worthy of the nomination. Wouldn't you after tap-dancing on a Xylaphone to "Jazz Baby" and being shot out of a cannon into a group of acrobats and immediately breaking into the song "Do It Again"? Her line "Rasberrys!", like some of Mrs. Meer's (Lillie) mutterings, has hidden meanings. Channing was Broadway's darling after her triumph in "Hello, Dolly!", and got a lot of sympathy from the inside Hollywood crowd after young Barbra Streisand got her role in the movie version of that long-running smash. Channing plays a wealthy earth-mother type who takes an interest in Andrews, and tries to persuade her that true love is the only way to make a marriage work.As for Andrews, in 1967, she could do no wrong, and audiences were thrilled to have her back in a musical after two dramas in 1966 ("Hawaii" and "Torn Curtain"). That would change the following year with the over-long "Star!". With hair like Maria Von Trapp and some stylish 20's fashions, Andrews made a perfect "modern". Who better to break up Mrs. Meers' white slavery ring than Mary Poppins? Mary Tyler Moore does what she can with a really unexceptional part, but like Andrews and Channing was at the top of her popularity after the hit TV series "The Dick Van Dyke Show". Her role is simply too goody goody to believe, although she does occasionally break out of it, such as her crack about a nasty socialite at Channing's Long Island party.The men are James Fox, as the eager beaver who hopes to date Millie, and John Gavin as the oh-so-swell boss. Fox and Andrews share a joy ride after the tapioca sequence, and later Fox repeats an old Harold Lloyd gag when he climbs up the building Millie works in after a misunderstanding. When they must try to entrap Mrs. Meers, Fox dresses in drag, looking more like Hedda Hopper than a new-in-town orphaned girl. It's all quite fun and harmless, yet about 20 minutes too long. Film critic Judith Christ said it would make a perfect 65 minute movie. There are some great minor characters as well, particularly Andrews' possessive supervisor and the nasty Judith Tremaine (the flat-chested socialite at Muzzy's party). Unfortunately, the 2002 Broadway version took out most of the camp, even if it did introduce the unflappable Sutton Foster to Broadway stardom. In a season with "Urinetown" and "Mamma Mia!", it was "Millie" that won the Tony. So for total camp, see the movie, but be aware that some moments really are "Thoroughly dumb and silly".