MGM Home Entertainment
Region : 2 and Region : 1 (I have both discs)
Certificate : U
Length : 143m
Sound : English Dolby 5.1
Subtitles : English, French, Italian, Spanish, Duch and English for the hard of
hearing
Extras : Trailer
Marlon Brando....Sky Masterson
Jean Simmons....Sarah Brown
Frank Sinatra....Nathan Detroit
Vivian Blaine....Miss Adelaide
Robert Keith....Lt. Brannigan
Stubby Kaye....Nicely Nicely Johnson
B.S. Pulley....Big Jule (as B.S. Pully)
Johnny Silver....Benny Southstreet
Sheldon Leonard....Harry the Horse
Danny Dayton....Rusty Charlie
George E. Stone....Society Max
Regis Toomey....Arvide Abernathy
Kathryn Givney....Gen. Cartwright
Veda Ann Borg....Laverne
Mary Alan Hokanson....Agatha, Mission Member
Joe McTurk....Angie the Ox
Kay E. Kuter....Calvin, Mission Member
Stapleton Kent....Mission Member
Renee Renor....Cuban Singer
Barbara Brent....Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Jann Darlyn....Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Madelyn Darrow....Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Franklyn Farnum....Spectator at 'Pet Me Papa' Number (uncredited)
Tony Galento....(uncredited)
Joe Gray....(uncredited)
Sam Harris....Spectator at 'Pet Me Papa' Number (uncredited)
Earle Hodgins....Pitchman (uncredited)
John Indrisano....Liverlips Louie (uncredited)
June Kirby....Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Matt Murphy....The Champ (uncredited)
Jack Perry....Gambler (uncredited)
Frank Richards....Man with Packages (uncredited)
Julian Rivero....Cuban Waiter (uncredited)
Jeffrey Sayre....Diner at Mindy's (uncredited)
Larri Thomas....Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Harry Tyler....Max the Waiter (uncredited)
Sandra Warner....One of the Goldwyn Girls (Dancer) (uncredited)
Sonia Warner....One of the Goldwyn Girls (Dancer) (uncredited)
Harry Wilson....Man in Barber Shop (uncredited)
Directed by…Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Abe Burrows play Ben Hecht uncredited
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Damon Runyon story The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown
Jo Swerling play
Samuel Goldwyn....producer
Original Music by…Jay Blackton Frank
Loesser
Cinematography by…Harry Stradling Sr. (as Harry Stradling)
Film Editing by…Daniel Mandell
Production Design by…Oliver Smith
Art Direction by…Joseph C. Wright (as Joseph Wright)
Set Decoration by…Howard Bristol
Costume Design by…Irene Sharaff
Annabell ....hair stylist
Ben Lane....makeup artist
Arthur S. Black Jr.....assistant director
Roger Heman Sr....sound (as Roger Heman)
Fred Lau....sound
Vinton Vernon....sound
Warren Newcombe...special photographic effects
Jay Blackton....conductor
Jay Blackton....music supervisor
Alexander Courage....orchestrator
Alvord Eiseman....color consultant (as Alvord L. Eiseman)
Michael Kidd....choreographer
Frank Loesser....lyricist
Skip Martin....orchestrator
Gjon Mili....still photographer
Cyril J. Mockridge....musical adaptations
Nelson Riddle....orchestrator
Albert Sendrey....orchestrator
‘Guys
and Dolls’ is based on some short stories from American writer Damon Runyon.
Centred on Mindy's restaurant, the stories are filled with colourful characters
of all sorts; Gamblers, Hoodlums, Cops and everyone else who inhabits that part
of New York City. Damon Runyan’s use of language – particularly speech
patterns and names are faithfully recreated in this film version of the hit
Broadway show.
The main character is Nathan Detroit (Frank Sinatra), operator of the oldest
established permanent floating crap in New York. However, he needs $1,000 to set up his next game.
Detroit manages to make a bet with high rolling gambler Sky Masterson (Marlon
Brando). He bets Sky that he cannot just pick up any woman and persuade her to
go to Havana, Cuba, with him the next day.
Detroit chooses the most unlikely woman for Sky to romance – an
uptight, ultraconservative Salvation Army-type (called “Save the Souls” in
the film) lady named Sergeant Sarah Brown (Jean Simmons).
The plot concerns the romance, which naturally blossoms, the crap game and
Nathan Detroit’s girlfriend Miss Adelaide (Vivian Blaine) trying to convince
him that it is time to get married after 14 years of engagement.
Producer Samuel L. Goldwyn, brought a measure of publicity to the film before it
started shooting by paying a then-record $1,000,000 for the screen rights. Like
a lot of films the ultimate stars were not the first choices.
Brando was not Goldwyn's first choice to play Sky Masterson. Gene Kelly
was, and there were also thoughts about Clark Gable and even Dean Martin (with
Jerry Lewis as Nathan Detroit). It
was rumoured that Brando’s voice was dubbed for the part – in fact Brando
sings his own songs, taking voice and dance lessons every day on the set. He put
in an excellent performance that did him no harm whatsoever.
Sinatra, on the other hand, has only to play Sinatra – which means that he is
acted off screen by his co-stars (and most of the also-stars).
Jean Simmons as Masterson's love interest conveys an innocent appeal with more
than a touch of feminine spirit, and Vivian Blaine, reprising her Broadway role
shows them all what you have to do to star in a musical.
The other characters are uniformly great: Nicely-Nicely Johnson (Stubby Kaye),
Big Julie (B.S. Pulley), Benny Southstreet (Johnny Silver), Harry the Horse
(Sheldon Leonard), Rusty Charlie (Dan Dayton), Society Max (George E. Stone),
Arvide Abernathy (Regis Toomey).
The production is big and glossy, with very stylised sets and large splashes of
colour everywhere, and MGM's digital transfer conveys all of it effortlessly.
The CinemaScope picture is in 2.25:1 ratio widescreen, however, it is not
enhanced for 16x9 television so it is best played in 14x9.
But as the only video release of the film, and the various TV showings,
have been in (shudder) pan’n’scan the DVD is a must.
This is one of the few films I have in both R1 NTSC and R2 Pal.
( The Region 2 release was about a year after Region 1).
If you wanted a film to show the difference between the two picture
formats, this is it. The
print is very good for its age, but with an obvious Red-Shift (which is just one
reason why we need restoration people). The
region 1 copy is very good, with bright vivid colours, excellent contrast and
solid black – but the difference with Region 2 is quite stunning.
The clarity and the colours just make it gorgeous to look at.
(I did not believe the difference could be so much so I only bought the
Region 2 version when it came on the sale lists).
The sound on the R2 version is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 remix of the
original 4 channel ‘stereo’ (All
films made under the original CinemaScope licence were in stereo). It is
slightly bright, but for its age it is very good indeed. It's very clear and very precise; every word of
the dialogue and the songs can be clearly heard.
The only extra is an exceptionally long, quite awful five-minute theatrical
trailer hosted by Ed Sullivan. Its
one of those trailers that almost make you pay NOT to watch to film.
Many people still consider "Guys and Dolls" the greatest Broadway show
of all time, the film is certainly one of the Great Film Musicals.
It is grand entertainment in a grand tradition, and for those who long
for such things, MGM's DVD does the job better than could have been expected.
Trivia Note:
The region 1 disc has French and Spanish Stereo soundtracks, 32 scene selections
with a 4 page MGM information booklet insert
- For Region 2 only an English soundtrack, no booklet and only 16 scene
selections. And for some reason the
picture on the label of the disc is different on both versions.
On Region 1 the folk who did the packaging have the copyright date as 1938; On
the Region 2 box it has been corrected to 1955.
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