The Unsinkable Molly Brown
Directed by Charles Walters
Written by Helen Deutsch from a play by Richard Morris
1964/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Molly Brown: Nobody wants to see me down like I wants to see me up.[/box]
Well, despite its flaws, this particular musical lover still gets a kick out of Molly Brown.
As the film begins, the toddler Molly is seen happily surviving wild water and washing up on shore like Moses following a Colorado flood. She is adopted by backwoodsman Shamus Tobin (Ed Begley) who spends most of his time sipping from a jar of moonshine. Molly grows up to be Debbie Reynolds, an illiterate hard-scrabbler with a dream of self-imrprovement through marriage to a wealthy man. Molly sets off on her own to the mining town of Leadville where she gets work as a saloon singer.
During her travels, Molly meets up with “Leadville” Johnny Brown. The young man is hardly her vision of a good catch but he teaches her to read and write and she falls in love with him. It turns out hard work is no substitute for luck and Johnny has that in spades.
The couple, now married, moves to Denver and spend their millions in the most vulgar way possible. Molly does not get the respect she seeks and eventually heads off to Europe, which acts as a kind of finishing school for her. Meanwhile, Johnny never stops yearning for the mountains he loves.
This musical has about three songs which are reprised over and over again. I had the soundtrack album as a kid and could still sing right along with the actors. It’s not the classiest musical ever made but it had me smiling when I wasn’t shedding a sentimental tear. I had forgotten how appealing the lanky Presnell is.
The Unsinkable Molly Brown was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Actress: Best Cinematography, Color; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color; Best Costume Design, Color; Best Sound, and Best Music, Scoring, Adaptation or Treatment.
