Really Surprised!

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

A baby in a cradle floats down the roaring Colorado River. She is found and raised to be the unsinkable Molly Brown (Debbie Reynolds). She's an illiterate tomboy in the rural mountains and pa is concerned about getting her married. She insists on going to Denver to find herself a rich husband. Money is paramount to her. She marries miner Johnny Brown who strikes it rich. She climbs in popularity but the couple separates. She decides to return home to Johnny taking the Titanic but even there, she refuses to sink.This is big, colorful, and really big. Debbie Reynolds is perfect in portraying the big personality. She is all gumption and enthusiasm. As for the Titanic, it's missing her claim to fame and I'm not sure why. Maybe, dealing with dying people is not quite the musical way. I wouldn't call any of the music catchy. It's big Broadway but none of it is memorable. The story can be extended but Debbie Reynolds always holds the screen without fail. Making her money obsessed is not the most appealing way to play her. My biggest complement is that Debbie Reynolds is undeniably Molly Brown.

This is not a review, but an inquiry. Does anyone know who the real-life baby was that portrayed Molly as a baby in the beginning of the movie going over the rapids in a cradle? I saw a very old "filler" once on TCM which featured swim instruction for very young children, some as young as 12 months. The instructor had them swimming to the pool bottom to retrieve items as well as racing each other to see who reached the other side first. I believe early swim instruction had gained some measure of popularity in California during the 30s. Most of the footage of the rapids was of a dummy. Other footage was of the baby in a water tank on a sound stage with footage of rapids being shown in the background. The final few seconds of that scene show the cradle overturning very close to shore and spilling the baby out. The baby then swims to shore and crawls out - that part is real. I sure would like to know who that baby was. It was precious!

Directed by Charles Walters with a screenplay by Helen Deutsch, who had earlier collaborated on Lili (1953), this Richard Morris play was made into a slightly above average Musical comedy starring Debbie Reynolds, who earned her only Oscar nomination (Best Actress) for playing the title role.It's a biographical account of a backwoods tomboy (who survived a flood as an infant!) whose woodsman husband, played by Harve Presnell, strikes it rich only to find, per her crude ways, she isn't accepted in Denver's snobbish old money high society. So, she and her husband venture to Europe where she becomes educated in food and fashion while becoming the toast of Paris, charming many with her uniquely boisterous Americanism.The Browns then return to Denver with several of the titled Royalty they'd met in tow. They host an hilarious, outlandish high society party of their own which, instead of prompting their acceptance, turns into a brawl! Molly later becomes famous for her spirit and feistiness when she survives the sinking of the Titanic!The film's Color Art Direction-Set Decoration, Cinematography, and Costume Design, as well as its Sound and Music Score, also received Oscar nominations. Unfortunately for producer Lawrence Weingarten, all of these categories were won by the Best Picture that year, My Fair Lady (1964).Ed Begley plays Molly's father, Audrey Christie the stuck-up neighbor; Jack Kruschen, Hermione Baddeley, and Hayden Rorke, among others, also appear. Most of the rest of the story revolves around the "on again, off again" relationship between Molly and her husband. Reynolds and Presnell sing all of the songs, the most memorable of which is Reynolds's "Belly Up to the Bar Boys" number, or the frequently reprised "I'll Never Say No".

I was moaning the other day about stock footage in crucial scenes in some MGM pix: The EXTRAORDINARY SEAMAN and THE LAST VOYAGE and then in the middle of this MOLLY BROWN extravaganza, well, there was more again!! In the title scene where Molly is on board - and then overboard- the Titanic..what do MGM use to show the ship pierced and then sink...25 seconds of black and white footage tinted sepia all lifted from the Fox 1953 version of TITANIC. Outrageous! And in a film with such other lavish appointments they skimp on the main scene! Just incredible. As a musical "Beverly Hillbillies" (which came first?) with continuous yelling in the first 4 reels and lots of "lil Abner' level punchy comedy this film is a lot of fun. Debbie looks like DOLLY and why not...it is all a Denver version of how Dolly looked was as well. Without the Levi (haha). But this damned stock footage at THE most crucial scene. I remember seeing it in 1964 and felt even as a 10 year old that they skimped on that scene because it was SO short. Well 40 years later now I realise why. Yes I agree with someone who said it would have been great casting to have seen Reynolds as Molly again in the James Cameron TITANIC given her role here. Yet another obvious disappointment and another missed opportunity. MOLLY BROWN is a lot of fun, my only reservations being Harve Presnell bellowing about Colorado and that infuriating crap footage. Yes it is half a musical too.