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

Really Surprised!

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Just something to think about.... (Considering that "The Matchmaker" was an updated variation of "A Trip to Chinatown").Like another Jerry Herman musical ("Mame"), "Hello, Dolly!" was based upon a hit Broadway play that was later musicalized. And like the original "Auntie Mame", the movie version of "The Matchmaker" (the Thornton Wilder play upon which "Dolly" was based) was released in 1958. Like "Auntie Mame", there are many lines that seem like song cues. For example, the character of Irene Malloy (Shirley MacLaine) indicates that in the summertime, she'll be wearing ribbons down her back. And Cornelius Hackl (Anthony Perkins) says at the very beginning as he is planning a trip to Manhattan with Barnaby (Robert Morse) that even if they come back broke, at least they can remember that once they had a very good day, which in the musical Cornelius says later in the story. Dolly (Shirley Booth) talks about after being widowed making herself a rum toddy, putting out the cat, and thanking God that she didn't depend on anybody. Each of these incidents in the musical leads to a song, and if you know "Dolly" well, you might find yourself humming them at the non-musical version, a delightful comedy that shows Manhattan at a much different time when life may not have been totally smooth, but certainly not as complex as New York City is today."Auntie Mame", the movie, saluted its stage origins by having a blackout in between the important scenes to represent the end of an act. In "The Matchmaker", the stage origins are saluted by having the characters break the third wall and talk to the audience directly. That rarely works in films, but here, it is totally charming, and doesn't make the film seem any more theatrical or lessen its impact. While the basic structure is the same as the musical, there are some slight differences, changed for dramatic content when Michael Stewart wrote the book in the early 60's for the long-running Broadway version.Shirley Booth had been playing only dramatic parts in movies ("Come Back Little Sheba", "About Mrs. Leslie") when she made this, a pre-cursor to her television role as the housekeeper "Hazel". She had showed her comic talents on stage in the original non-musical version of "My Sister Eileen" and threw up her legs as the vivacious Aunt Cissy in the musical version of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". While Ruth Gordon originated the role of Dolly in "The Matchmaker" on Broadway, Booth was a perfect choice for the movie, and I can't imagine it without her as wonderful and cheery as she is here.Shirley MacLaine, who would play Booth's daughter in the same year's "Hot Spell", brings in all her growing comic tricks as Irene Malloy, and steals the scene where Cornelius and Barnaby hide under the table and in the closet of her hat shop, as well as the later scene in the Harmonia Gardens restaurant. Paul Ford, so utterly irascible as the mayor in "The Music Man", was a perfect Horace Vandergelder. In an ironic twist of trivia, character actor David Burns, then on the Broadway as the mayor in "The Music Man", would later play Vandergelder in "Hello, Dolly!".Tall and lanky Anthony Perkins is handsome and graceful as the shy Cornelius who longs to come to life, while future Broadway leading man Robert Morse is perfect as his puppy like sidekick Barnaby. Perry Wilson seemed a bit too old as Minnie Faye, reminding me of character actresses Una Merkel or Nydia Westman from a decade earlier. Her reaction to finding a man in the closet in the hat shop is priceless. Instead of the pig-carrying Ernestina Semple from "Dolly", we get Wallace Ford as one of Vandergelder's employees. He gets his own chance to take over for a minute in a very funny scene where he debates his own honesty when finding a wallet full of money in the restaurant.Many hit Broadway musicals were straight plays before having songs added, and once those songs are added, the plays tend to disappear from view. Fortunately, "The Matchmaker" and "Auntie Mame" have turned up from time to time minus those fabulous Jerry Herman songs; Some producer somewhere should consider doing the play and the musical in repertoire together so audiences can appreciate the play for its qualities, and the musical for theirs.

This movie was shown on TCM last week or so. It's the first time for me, and while watching it, I saw that it is almost the same script as Hello Dolly! It's a charming story and enjoyable movie overall. But Hello Dolly! is a favorite movie with me, and I think they did more with it. Even without the musical element, it developed a lot of scenes further, to the benefit of the story and viewer. Maybe it's also an appreciation for Barbra Streisand, though I do not like her in everything. Her over the top brass as an outrageous Dolly was so much fun. I don't like every musical either, but Hello Dolly! is a very lively and entertaining one to me. There is a lot of fun in it. It's certainly an attractive movie. The two are just different movies, each enjoyable for its own type and handling.

There's a lot of back and forth on this one, comparing the cast, comparing movie to stage, a lot about Streisand being too young. Even on the Hello Dolly reviews, you get that. I wonder if people didn't know how old Barbra Streisand was if they would still say that. I also wonder how different people's reviews would be if they didn't have the chance to read others'. And, just because someone's been on stage, doesn't make them a demigod. When I saw Hello Dolly, it was love at first sight, along with a lot of other people. Probably those who didn't know all the background and about other productions. Ignorance can be bliss maybe. Probably more like too much information is just confusing. There's even some outrage that someone dared remake their little gem. Well they dared and did and kicked it up a notch, which was needed. The musical version rocked the house from start to finish. The songs stay with you. The scenes come alive and have greater interest. Mathau was a fine curmudgeon, really funny. Streisand was that Levi woman, age immaterial. She had a full figure and easily passed for a middle aged widow. She came up to what is a strong part. Her outrageous handling was sheer delight. Her more alive and youthful aspect was much better than that rather tired old lady. If you're going to pick on age, I think it's more like Shirley Booth seemed too old for the part. This current movie under review seems kind of tired to me in general, like players doing their umpteenth performance at the end of a run. Phoned in. I never saw Shirley Booth on Broadway, and with what I see here, no regret. She's better cast as Hazel on television. Streisand stood up and put some bump into this grind. Whoever did Hello Dolly was a real movie maker who took the same stuff to another level. In my view, it made a much more solid contribution to the movie world than Match's rather slow and odd mix of things.

New York matchmaker Shirley Booth (as Dolly Gallagher Levi) is assigned to pick a mate for wealthy old gentleman Paul Ford (as Horace Vandergelder); but, Ms. Booth decides she wants him for herself. Meanwhile, Anthony Perkins (as Cornelius Hackl), who works for Mr. Ford, falls for young Shirley MacLaine (as Irene Molloy). However, Ms. MacLaine is Ford's hottest prospect. Can Ms. Booth get Ford to changes his preference for the very young? "Life's never quite interesting enough, somehow; you people who come to the movies know that," Booth explains, in the introduction. The statement could serve as a review for the film; it's never quite interesting enough, somehow. "The Matchmaker" is a bright production, with a likable cast, that really never achieves its full potential as a film. Its stage origins are clearly evident. In the transition, the film changes all the wrong things, and keeps what it should have discarded. For example, the characters "speaking to the camera" becomes tiresome, after Booth's charming opening.One thing filmmakers wisely kept was actor Robert Morse (as Barnaby Tucker), who essayed the role on stage, alongside Arthur Hill. Mr. Morse effortlessly equals his higher-billed co-stars. For as long as he's on camera, Morse does not for one moment surrender the screen to anyone. If the film were better received, Morse might have been considered for a "Best Supporting Actor" award."The Matchmaker" returned, to both stage and film, as "Hello, Dolly!"