 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
| |
The
boys from Syracuse, Film - 1940
Reviews Go To Discography [Merchandise]
|
|
| Musical Numbers: |
|
Lyrics by Lorenz
Hart
Music by Richard Rodgers
Produced by Jules Levey for
Universal
Directed by Edward Sutherland
Starring: Allan Jones, Joe Penner and
Rosemary Lane and Martha Raye
Academy Award Nomination for best art direction and special effects.
Screenplay by Charles based on the George Abbott stage version
 |
| Reviews: |
|
Considering that it was adapted from a Broadway musical by Richard
Rodgers, Lorenz Hart and George Abbott, The Boys From Syracuse must
rank as a disappointment, though it manages to remain entertaining
throughout its surprisingly brief 74-minute running time. Like its
theatrical predecessor, the film was inspired by Shakespeare's
The Comedy
Of Errors ("After a play by William Shakespeare long, long after" reads
the opening title). In ancient Ephesus, young tyrant Antipholus (Allan
Jones) sentences elderly merchant Aegeon (Samuel S. Hinds) to death
unless the latter can come up with a handsome ransom. What Antipholus
doesn't know is that Aegeon is his own father; he also doesn't know
that he has a twin brother, also named Antipholus (and also played by
Allan Jones) who has just arrived from Syracuse in search of dear old
daddy. Further complicating matters is that Antipholus of Ephesus and
Antipholus of Syracuse both have slaves named Dromio (Joe
Penner)-likewise identical twins! The mistaken-identity angle is played
to the hilt, with A. of E.'s wife Adriana (Irene Hervey), A. of S.'s
girlfirend Phyllis (Rosemary Lane), and Dromio of Ephesus' main squeeze
Luce (Martha Raye) ending up just as confused as everyone else. Only
four of the original Rodgers & Hart songs were retained-"This Can't Be Love", "Falling In Love With Love",
"Sing For Your Supper",
and "Oh, Diogenes"-while two
new ones were written for the film. Most of the best jokes are based on
anachronisms, with Dromio the slave organizing a labor union (complete
with placards), a cheering section at an execution shouting "Give him
the ax", and a parchment newspaper bearing such headlines as "Ephesus
Blitzkriegs Syracuse". Originally purchased by Universal as a vehicle
for the Ritz Brothers, The Boys from Syracuse isn't any great shakes,
but it would certainly be well worth seeing again (last telecast in the
1970s, it seems to have fallen off the face of the earth in recent
years!)
Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's superbly melodic score for their hit
The Boys From Syracuse, first presented on Broadway in 1938, received
short shrift from producer Jules Levey, whose filmed version of this
quintessential tale of mistaken identity (based on Shakespeare' s The
Comedy of Errors ) fell just this side of disaster. Numbers like "Sing For Your Supper," "Falling In Love With Love," "He
And She" and "This Can't Be Love" - classics
every one of them were only included by default, or in truncated versions that
failed to do them justice, while new ones (such as "Who Are You?" and "The Greeks
Have No Word For It") were added. Leonard Spigelgass and Charles
Grayson's screenplay (based on the George Abbott stage version) traded
in anachronisms at the expense of the satire originally intended, with
cigar smoking Greeks and checkered chariot-cabs typical of the humour
on offer.
Clive Hirschhorn -
The Hollywood Musical
Hollywood, or at least Universal, should be hanged for what it did to
the celebrated Broadway show by George Abbott and Rodgers and Hart
(based on The Comedy of Errors). The rewriting was so disastrous that
the studio finally cut the picture down to 74 minutes, which doesn't
leave much time for Martha Raye and Charles Butterworth or for the
wonderful songs—"Falling in
Love with Love," "Sing for
Your Supper" and "This Can't
Be Love." The cast includes Allan Jones, Joe Penner, Rosemary Lane,
Irene Hervey, and Alan Mowbray. Directed by Eddie Sutherland; the dance
director was Dave Gould.
Pauline Kael
|
| Discography: |
|
Studio Cast - 1939
Off-Broadway Revival - 1963
Original London Cast - 1963
Studio Cast - 1997
|
|
| Merchandise: |
|
Video & DVD:
None
Sheet music:
CDs:
|
|
| Go to: |
|
The Boys From Syracuse - Original Broadway Production
The Boys From Syracuse - Revival - 1991 (UK)
The Boys From Syracuse - Revival - 2002
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
Film 
Send Page
Highlight Link
Add to favorites
Save Page
