Rating: NR
Genre:
Action
Release Date: 04/26/2005
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: DD1/DD5.1
Run Time: 127 Minutes
Flags: Suitable for Children
Distributor/Studio: Warner Home Video
Inasmuch as the spectacular
Richard Rodgers and
Lorenz Hart Broadway musical
Jumbo was written in 1935, this 1962 film version can't help but seem a little quaint. Still, the film features the original production's star
Jimmy Durante, energetically recreating his stage role as circus owner Pop Wonder; it is
Durante's bravura performance that saves the film from dullness. Threatened with foreclosure, Pop Wonder and his pretty daughter Kitty (
Doris Day) put their fates in the hands of go-getter Sam Rawlins (
Stephen Boyd). What they don't know is that Sam is the son of Pop's biggest rival (
Dean Jagger), and he's been sent to undermine the Wonder Circus. It goes without saying that Sam turns the tables on his dad, thereby saving the day and winning Kitty's hand.
Martha Raye shows up as Lulu, a fortune teller who can't figure out what's going to happen next (funny, we can). And of course there's Jumbo the elephant, who figures into the film's funniest scene (as well as one of
Jimmy Durante's most celebrated punchlines). Old
MGM musical hands
Charles Walters and
Busby Berkeley share directing chores, but somehow the film hasn't the panache of their earlier work. Happily, most of the
Rodgers-
Hart songs are retained, including
"My Romance" and
"The Most Beautiful Girl in the World"-not to mention a few
Rodgers-
Hart tunes borrowed from other show, e.g.
"This Can't Be Love".
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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