Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Mame Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 27, 2020

The history of American musical theater in the two and a half decades or so after World War II is largely the tale of partnerships, in terms of the celebrated duos who wrote music and lyrics for some of the all time masterpieces of the idiom. Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, Adler and Ross, Bock and Harnick, Kander and Ebb — these sorts of pairings tended to rule the roost in large part during those years. There were exceptions of course, like Frank Loesser and Meredith Willson (an acolyte of Loesser’s), and Stephen Sondheim, who would assume the primary mantle of sole “composer and lyricist” beginning with Company in 1970, but who had made a fitful start at “doing it all” with A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Anyone Can Whistle, but really pairings were more the norm. One significant outlier, especially since he wrote two of the most gargantuan hits of the sixties, when partnerships were arguably at their zenith, was Jerry Herman. Interestingly, at least given the fact that many and maybe even all of the duos listed above had several hit shows to their credit during the 25 years or so after World War II, Herman’s reputation rested largely on the two gigantic hits he wrote in 1964 and 1966, Hello, Dolly! and Mame. Herman had already enjoyed some considerable success with the Broadway musical Milk and Honey, as well as perhaps lesser known revues like From A to Z (which also featured material from Fred Ebb) and Parade (a show which introduced the melody that Herman would later adapt as "It's Today" for Mame), but Hello, Dolly! shot him into the theatrical stratosphere as few composers and/or lyricists had ever experienced. That made Mame the object of some interest before it even opened, but it, too, charmed critics and audiences from the get go, becoming an SRO hit much as Hello, Dolly! had before it.

Hello, Dolly! had one of the longest record breaking runs in the history of Broadway, and as such several notable actresses performed the title role, though of course it was originated by the inimitable Carol Channing. Angela Lansbury, whose sole prior Broadway musical credit was the aforementioned (huge flop) Sondheim musical Anyone Can Whistle, created the role of Mame and while a number of fairly high profile actresses like Ann Miller and Janis Paige replaced her in Mame's own long run on Broadway, it's perhaps arguable that Lansbury was even more associated with this role than Channing was with Dolly. One way or the other, as film fans will no doubt be aware, the film versions of both of these properties were just more examples in the ever burgeoning list of movies which decided not to feature the Broadway star. Hello, Dolly! famously turned Dolly Levi over to Barbra Streisand to at least some controversy, while Mame made the perhaps unwise decision to offer Lucille Ball her first leading role in a film musical in literally decades.

Even during her Hollywood heyday when she was appearing in musicals like Du Barry Was a Lady, Ball was frequently dubbed, as might be a reasonable expectation given her somewhat gravelly, raspy speaking voice. The inarguable fact is that Ball was simply not much of a singer even in her prime, and the vagaries of age and one assumes a lot of smoking had done nothing to improve things in the interim, as her less than thrilling turn in the short lived Broadway musical of the 1960 season, Wildcat, had rather effectively proven. Even trying to sing eight performances a week on stage had led to some serious health scares for Ball, and probably contributed to Wildcat's early closing.

It's rather interesting to note that in the cases of both of these (relatively) latter day musicals starring Ball, they were made in the wake of what might be termed major "transitions" in Ball's life and/or career. There was a really interesting recent New York Times article getting into Wildcat's history which rightly pointed out it was a pet project of Ball's done after the end of not just I Love Lucy and the subsequent The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, but also her marriage to Desi Arnaz. Somewhat similarly, Mame came along at almost the exact moment that Ball's "sequel" to I Love Lucy, Here's Lucy, was ending its six year run (the film in fact opened the week after original run episodes of the sitcom ended, and trivia fans will know that the second to the last episode of the series was actually used to promote the film, as "Lucy Carter" met the "real" Lucille Ball). Unfortunately, in both cases these "new beginnings" actually ended up being rather abrupt dead ends.

All of this is to say that there may have been a fatal casting error at the heart of Mame which debilitated it at least as much as the fact that by 1974, musicals were largely falling out of fashion for the moviegoing public. That said, Lucy is often genuinely charming in the acting portions of the film, and the overall story of an eccentric aunt who mentors a kid in her own inimitable way has a built in appeal. The film does preserve two of the original Broadway performances, including Bea Arthur's Tony winning turn as Vera Charles, Mame's kinda sorta BFF. Also on hand is Jane Connell as the adorably shlubby Agnes Gooch (evidently Ball insisted she play the part rather than Madeline Kahn). Arthur's real life husband Gene Saks directed, after George Cukor had to withdraw. Robert Preston gives a spirited performance as Mame's beau, the appropriately named Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside.

Mame Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mame is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of the Warner Archive Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. This is another really splendid looking transfer from the usually reliable folks at Warner, though those wanting a "razor sharp" transfer may need to keep one salient fact in mind: there was evidently a white line drawn around Ball at approximately six feet, where anything closer required some really aggressive diffusion filters to be utilized, so that even midrange shots, let alone close-ups, are typically very gauzy and soft looking (you can this effect in several of the screenshots included with this review). Otherwise, though, detail levels are generally very good, and the film's gorgeous palette really pops with considerable authority (especially elements like the reds of the hunting jackets in the big fox hunt sequence). As tends to be the case with these Warner Archive Collection releases, compression is excellent, and the presentation offers an organic looking grain field.

Mame Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Perhaps surprisingly (but as with previous home video releases of this title), Mame features only mono audio delivered via a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (two channel mono) track. Ball's problematic vocals, which evidently required a lot of comping/editing, reportedly led to this rather unusual decision for a big budget musical (I haven't been able to find any authoritative data as to whether early screenings of the film, as in the Radio City Music Hall Easter presentation, had a multi-channel track). One way or the other, while this is an obviously narrow presentation, prioritization is surprisingly good, and the film's lustrous orchestrations by Ralph Burns and Billy Byers sound great. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly, and many of the non-Ball singing moments are enjoyable.

Mame Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Lucy Mame (480i; 8:44) is an archival featurette touting the sure fire, can't miss combo of Lucille Ball and Auntie Mame.


• Trailer (1080p; 3:44)

Mame Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Trivia fans may know that there was another pair providing the music and lyrics for Ball's sole Broadway musical Wildcat, composer Cy Coleman and lyricist Carolyn Leigh. Coleman and Leigh wrote a number of pop standards through the years ( Wildcat itself provided the world with "Hey, Look Me Over"), but rather interestingly, three years before Mame hit the boards, they co-wrote another musical based on a book by Patrick Dennis (who famously wrote "Auntie Mame"), the delightful Little Me, which featured Sid Caesar playing a whole host of different characters who all interact and/or marry the main female character. ( Little Me had its own hit, "I've Got Your Number".) Ball actually acquitted herself reasonably well on the Original Broadway Cast recording of Wildcat (obviously made early in the show's run, before her health problems intruded), but almost a decade and a half later, she simply wasn't able to muster the musicality needed for Herman's alternately ebullient and moving songs for Mame. The production itself is kind of elephantine, and despite its size and ostensible glamour, never manages to find much of the fun of the original stage musical. Technical merits are solid for those who are considering a purchase.