Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Simply A Masterpiece

A Masterpiece!

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

I just wish this swan song for Judy was closer to her best films. Unfortunately it's not. There are some good moments, such as her little cha-cha-cha number with Martin, which I think is the movie's best highlight. Then too a couple of the tunes ("The Party's Over" and "Just In Time ") really register among a generally undistinguished lot. Happily, Holliday also gets to show some of that inimitable Holliday spark near the end. Trouble is the rest of the film is routine at best. I'm not sure why premier musical director Minnelli seems so disinterested. But in my book, he appears to be— especially, photographing everything from an impersonal distance, thereby undercutting the star's usual sparkle. Moreover, as far as I can tell, there are no good directorial touches. At the same time, the screenplay doesn't help, making Judy's role dour and drab for the most part. Only later does she get to show some trademark glamor and bounce. (Given these uncharacteristic flaws, there may be a revealing backstory to the production.) Then too, I agree with the reviewer who thinks the run time too long for the pasted together plot. And, yes, that bookie subplot should have been dropped.Anyway, it's a good thing Judy's best films (Born Yesterday {1950}, It Should Happen To You {1954}, et al.) remain as a permanent record of one of the screen's most endearing comediennes. Too bad this one doesn't reach that level.

Judy Holliday reprises her Tony-award winning role of Ella Peterson in Vincente Minnelli's film adaptation of the Broadway musical, "Bells are Ringing." With a music score by Adolph Green and Betty Comden, this is a rollicking good time, as Judy is a switchboard operator for an answering service, known as Susanswerphone. The only problem is that she's too friendly with the customers, chatting with them, giving advice, helping them out with problems, recommending cures or remedies for ailments. The customers love her, but coworker Jean Stapleton tells her time and time again "to give and take messages. Don't be so helpful to the customers." The customers think of Jean as the other one. Even Jeffrey Moss (Dean Martin), who's the voice, the other end of Plaza 0-double4double3. Judy makes up the voice of an old lady when talking to him, as she feels too shy as herself. She has formed a crush on him. When the law is brought into this (long story,) she is forced to take her involvement in the customers' lives on a more personal level. From here on in, it gets really crazy. Being originally a play this has a very bizarre use of time and place, with things happening very early. You have to check your expectations of believability at the door, as things also happen that would not ordinarily happen in real life in order for a certain chain of events to evolve. And, this has a peculiar feel of people living in their own bubble not aware of their surroundings, people living in their world. Elizabeth Montgomery has a very small, non-speaking role in the scene where Judy sees Frank Gorshin at the dive. Elizabeth is reading and is totally aloof to people talking right behind her. During the musical number about gold, Dean Martin, Frank and the songwriter/dentist have mustaches drawn on them by women with flashy and risqué outfits, as they are trying to make some sense of the intricate puzzle connecting them. (Bernie West, or Bernard West, as he was billed here, was especially memorable as the dentist who wanted to a successful songwriter; in real life Bernie West was a TV writer, writing episodes of "All in the Family," "Three's Company," and "The Jeffersons.") Even Judy herself has her own lonely bubble. Dean's in his own stupor of not being able to write without a partner. And, Judy's real life husband, Gerry Mulligan has a bit part, too, as her blind date. This is a very unique film that defies all rules of belief (this is a movie musical, but this maybe more so) and really draws the viewer in to their world where things happen and maybe dreams can come true. I can't tell you how many times I've seen this, and I love it more each time. Sadly, this would be Judy's last film, but not because she died soon after, but because she went back to the stage, her first and true love. It would be five years later when she died too soon from cancer. She only made 8 major films and I have all of them. This is one of the best and the only movie musical she made. Your enjoyment of this will depend on how much you buy into the mechanics of director Vincente Minnelli and the world of Judy Holliday. But I think this is an original film that never gets old and that showcases two of the greatest and underrated talents ever – Dean Martin and Judy Holliday. If you've never heard of her, do yourself a favor and discover "Bells Are Ringing."

While "Bells Are Ringing" will never be classified as a musical on the lines of "Oklahoma!" or "My Fair Lady", it is one of the classics of the genre thanks to its winning score, light-hearted plot line, beautiful costumes and its fascinating leading lady. Judy Holliday won America's heart the moment she stepped onto Broadway to play the dumb Dawn in "Born Yesterday". A decade after that smash hit on Broadway, she returned to the stage with an Oscar to her credit for the movie version of that comedy classic. The result was "Bells Are Ringing", and ten years after her Oscar, she got to repeat that role as well for the MGM musical, the last of the Arthur Freed/Vincent Minnelli movie musicals, and thus the end of an era.A 2001 Broadway revival utilized the whole answering service plot to indicate what was happening with the rise of social media in modern America. While that comparison didn't work (the revival was greeted as a slight antique), the movie does hold up better. From the moment you meet Judy Holliday's Ella Peterson, you can't help but adore her. She is a New Yorker, who like many New Yorkers, just likes to see everybody happy. Yes, that whole concept sets the musical in motion for a spoof of the Big Apple like book writers Comden and Green had done with "On the Town" and "Wonderful Town". Ella is in love with a playwright (Dean Martin) and gives him advice over his answering service disguised as a sweet old lady whom he calls "mom". When Ella sneaks into his apartment on the pretense of leaving him his messages, he discovers her, and a new romance is born. But she is still posing as "ma", and her other intrusions into her client's life gets into trouble thanks to the police investigation of a horse racing racket lead by Eddie Foy Jr.The romance of the two leads to some wonderful musical numbers, most lively "Just in Time" and most romantically "Long Before I Knew You". There is a hysterical spoof of the problems of riding on a crowded subway without acknowledging the people around you and a fabulous "Drop That Name!" production number with Holliday taking over at a party. When Holliday realizes that she is about to exposed, she breaks into the beautiful "The Party's Over", but is it? Supporting performances by Jean Stapleton and some other Broadway vets give this a real theatrical feel. The result is a lot of fun. A recent revival at City Center with Kelli O'Hara showed this musical to still be fresh and charming, even with its dated morals of society long gone some 55 years later.

Vincente Minnelli's "Bells Are Ringing" (1960) generally gets a bad wrap from reviewers and critics alike. While it is true that the film came at the tail end of MGM's reign of supremacy in musical motion picture entertainment – and it is equally true that the film falls short by direct comparison to, say, Minnelli's "Meet Me In St. Louis (an unfair but often used example), all the pistons are firing on this occasion with this delightful story of a phone operator who falls in love with one of her clients.The story concerns lonely Ella Peterson (Judy Holliday in her final performance). Working out of a basement apartment for Susan's-a-phone (a personal message service), Ella longs for the good life and the right fella to fill her needs. However, that doesn't prevent her plucky personality from offering equal portions of good advice and smart talk to her roster of happy clients. Ella's fraternization doesn't particularly sit well with her employer, Sue (Jean Stapleton) who is all dollars and cents, or police detective, Barnes (Dort Clark) who advises Ella that it's illegal to provide unsolicited information in the capacity of a business acquaintance. But Ella is all set to throw caution to the wind when she falls in love with Plaza 0-double four, double nine. That extension belongs to Jeffrey Moss (Dean Martin), a once successful playwright who fears that his days of popularity are numbered and has since turned to shallow women and hollow relationships for solace.Screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green transform their Broadway original into a sublime cinematic treat. Minnelli directs adroitly and – given the limited budget he had to work with – delivers a film that appears to be on a much grander scale than it actually is. Particularly in his execution of the "Drop that Name" sequence – in which Ella lampoons her association with the hoi polloi, Minnelli's brisk camera work and staging is flawless. The same is true during Eddy Foy Jr.'s charming romp in "Oh, What A System". Delivered with comedic panache and laconic savvy a la the darling Holliday and charming Martin, the rest of the score, including such standards as "Just in Time" and "Drop That Name" is brilliant and bouncy.Thanks to Warner's stunning new transfer, "Bells are Ringing" arrives 'just in time' on DVD. The anamorphically enhanced Cinemascope image is outstanding. Colors are nicely balanced. Image quality is a marked improvement over anything this film has looked like before on home video. Blacks are rich, deep and solid. Whites are crisp, but never blooming. There is a hint of film grain and the occasional shimmer of fine detail but nothing that will distract you from wallowing in the riotous splendor of this musical classic. The audio has been impeccably remastered in 5.1 and delivers an unexpectedly powerful kick during the songs. The one disappointment for admirers of this film is that the featurette on the film "Just in Time" is way too short to be considered a valid supplement. Others include two outtake musical sequences made available previously, and the film's theatrical trailer. Regardless of these shortcomings, "Bells Are Ringing" comes highly recommended as great good time fun.