Critique: Hello, Dolly (Film)

In this hilarious musical, Dolly (a widowed, very successful businesswoman) works to get three romances up and running. There’s Mr Vandergelder, a business man, Barnaby and Cornelius, his workers, milliner Irene Maloy and her assistant Millie.

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

Plot

 

Mr Vandergelder and Irene are engaged. Dolly convinces Cornelius and Barnaby to go to the miliner’s shop in an effort to get Barnaby with the assistant and Cornelius with Irene. So with Mr Vandergelder no longer engaged to Irene, that leaves him free for Dolly.

The film starts with making Dolly appear to be a well-meaning busybody rather than scheming to get who and what she wants. She does seem to genuinely care about the other characters’ happiness.

The film culminates in the restaurant Harmonia Gardens. As a visual and plot point, it’s spectacular.

 

 

Funny Dolly

 

Dolly is such a brilliant character. She’s sensitive and a complete hoot. She is one of my all-time favourite fictional characters. This is despite the fact that she never stops talking (a trait that usually annoys me to no end).

            Dolly keeps on raising her arm then flapping her fingers up and down which for me was her trademark in the film.

            Dolly says she wants to see Mr Vandergelder’s money circulate. He almost faints! Fantastic.

            Her relationship with Mr Vandergelder is particularly amusing. Dolly says, ‘You’ll go your way,’ pointing right, ‘and I’ll go mine,’ pointing right again.

Then she decides, ‘There’s no use arguing. I’ve made up your mind.’ She’s told Vandergelder that she’s made his mind. Brilliant.

Finally, Dolly keeps on singing, ‘Goodbye’ in different ways, often interrupting Vandergelder’s attempt to start up the convocation. All of which makes Vandergelder want to stay. Absolutely hilarious.

She pretends to read someone’s hands and she babbles quickly, ‘Oh, my. Lord in Heaven. Goodness gracious. I can’t believe it.’ These are all things that individually could be (and are) said in that situation. But to say them all at once does ridicule the idea of palm reading. It was funny for her to take the mickey. Although I really don’t know if this was the actual intention or just my interpretation of the situation.

 

 

Characters

 

The main characters all had bundles of charm.

Irene Maloy is so hilarious. She hates the women that come to buy her hats, even though it’s her job to sell hats. Plus she says, ‘I’m sick of people thinking I’m a wicked woman with nothing to show for it.’

Millie gets something from the cupboard, closes it, walks away, and only then screams that’s there’s a man in the cupboard.

‘You know nothing about women.’ Barnaby replies, ‘Only that we can’t afford them.’

Cornelius and Barnaby’s tailoring makes them look like they have legs for days.

A horse starts to nibble Cornelius’ face and the man just continues to sing. Blimey. That must have took perseverance. Plus his face was so expressive. The actor is definitely one of the best.

Barnaby was like a gymnast, such as repeatedly jumping over a moving bike.As Mr Vadnergelder strides to milliner shop, Barnaby slides under the table to hide. The slide was so dramatic it was perfect. I wonder how many takes that took?

 

 

Mr Vandergelder

 

Mr Vandergelder was an interesting character.

            He often says funny things. He says things so deadpan that one can’t help but laugh. One example is that ‘all facts’ about Dolly were insults. He says that ‘Weeping is a waste of water’.

            Dolly comes up to Vandergelder during the parade and he complains he came there for privacy. Considering there’s a heaving crowd and seven hundred men in his section alone, his idea of privacy is amusing.

I don’t know why they cast someone who couldn’t sing. Someone’s acting skills would have to be really impressive to make up for a lack of singing skills when performing in a musical. Mr Vandergelder’s actor wasn’t successful in the endeavour.

Visuals

The cinematography was fantastic. Dolly’s hats, for example, were simply THE best. I want a fair few of them myself!

            At one point there were spreading ribbons which made a flowing American flag. That was a brilliant idea and piece of camerawork. I wouldn’t mind seeing the UK flag done like this in another film.

            This next one isn’t really part of a critique. But there were ten or so brown shire horses. Never in my life have I seen a non-black shire horse (sparing a few white markings, like the centre face and socks). And I’ve seen hundreds of different shire horses. So seeing so many unusual coloured ones was a bit of a shock.

There were ten or so brown shirt horses. Never seen a non-black shire horse before.

 

 

Sweet Things

 

There were two truly sweet romantic moments. Neither was overboard or sickly yet both packed a punch.

            The first one was when a guy said that, ‘She’d be better with a veil.’ Not only is he affirming how beautiful he thinks she is but he’s affirming that he wants to be with her for the duration of his life.

Dolly tells a picture of her dead husband that ‘I’ve decided to join the human race again and I want you to give me away.’ This one hits harder. Wanting your dead husband to give you away, thinking that he’d approve of, and encourage, your life path, was more moving than I expected.

The first part seems to suggest that someone isn’t part of the human race unless their dating or with someone; this annoys me because people assume everyone wants love and this simply isn’t the case. But then I thought maybe Dolly means being open to any emotions at all.

 

 

Weird, Funny Things

 

There were a fair few things that were simply ridiculous and unrealistic. However, it was a comedy so I think this is acceptable, however much my logical brain dislikes them. The other half of my brain just found them so funny! Such as Barnaby, Cornelius, Irene and Millie prancing down the street with their bodies held in ridiculous positions.

            The waiters dancing was extravagant. One throws a bunch of glasses into the air and two catch them. How many glasses did they break trying that trick out?

            There was a random firepole at Harmonia Gardens which is a fancy restaurant. I could imagine a firepole at a sleezy bar but not somewhere sophisticated!

Then at this same restaurant, someone orders a duck so the waiter sets one free then shoots it out of the sky. Do waiters usually have perfect shots?! And to shoot somewhere indoors and where patrons would expect no commotions?

A couple of times, Dolly gives someone her business card which has on it a description of what they were just talking about. Such as when finding out Ambrose couldn’t dance (his excuse was that he’s an artist), her card read, ‘Painters taught to dance.’ Either she has incredible foresight or magic. Either way, the shock value added to the humour.

When Irene and Cornelius decide to quit work for the day to enjoy each other’s company, they just throw a scarf and feathers on the floor. Admittedly this wouldn’t physically damage the material (maybe bend a feather ever so slightly) but the items could easily get dirty. Both would be too fragile to clean properly so that would be a waste of Irene’s time and resources which impacts her livelihood. Not to mention it means Cornelius is showing disrespect. Yet as a visual moment it’s entertaining.

 

 

Thought-provoking Lines

 

For a musical comedy, I didn’t expect to have moments that would make me pause to think. For these things to be related to money is another surprise.

            Mr Vandergelder says he’s friendless, mean and rich. ‘In America, that’s as far as you can go.’ That’s such a sad state of affairs, where success in money is deemed more important than success in friendship. It’s even sadder because, to the outside world, this is how America still appears to this day.

Dolly says, ‘Money is like manure: it’s worth nothing unless it’s spread around to encourage young things to grow.’ That is such a good analogy and so important to remember. Instead of hoarding money (something that does the hoarder no good), money can be spread around so others benefit. How can you be a patriot yet willingly watch your fellow citizens struggle?

 

 

‘Hello, Dolly!’ Song

 

This song is the song of the musical. The musical’s even named after this song. So it must be a brilliant show-stopper? No. It was such a disappointment, especially when the rest of the film was simply glorious.

            Both the lyrics and the dancing was very repetitive. If it was just the dancing or just the lyrics being recycled, it would have been bearable. But for both it was too much, especially when the song goes on for eight minutes.

In it she sings, ‘Here’s my hat’ even though she’s not even wearing a hat! Whoever was in charge of the wardrobe really dropped the ball.

 

 

Changed Times

 

The attitudes in this film fit the times of when it was made which was a bit jarring to hear. Realism, however, is a plus: realism doesn’t equal agreement. What it does is immerse the audience into the experience.

Vandergelder wants a fragile, dainty woman for housework.

The train only cost forty cents! Dinner was only thirty cents! Inflation is an incredible thing.

In this film, I learnt that people thought milliners were wicked women. I wonder how that came to be?

When Vandergelder finds out men are hiding in the milliner shop, he gets grumpy and says he won’t bother Irene again. That seems like a massive overreaction considering you were prepared to marry her.

 

 

Final Thoughts

 

This film was something special.

Ambrose and his partner, Vandergelder’s niece, seemed like an irrelevant part of the story. They could have been cut without ill-effect. The only loss to the film would have been Dolly’s business card to Ambrose (which will be talked about later) but something similar could have been shifted onto another character easily.

At the end there is a mash-up of different songs for the musical. They blended seamlessly together which shows brilliant talent on the part of the songwriters. For this alone, the film is worthy of so much praise.

All-in-all, this is probably my favourite musical. This is saying a lot, considering it’s theme song was awful. But this just goes to show how amazing everything else was to overcome this.