Friday, August 25, 2017

KISMET 1955: PART 4 - SQUABBLES, BANGLES AND BEADS



                                                                                               
                A certain factory style momentum kept the various departments at MGM moving forward in their tasks – designing, building, planning and rehearsing. But all these things needed a significant amount of directorial enthusiasm - or at least engagement - to achieve any kind of happy culmination. Howard Keel’s memories of “Kismet” suggest that that element was missing from early on. The actor-singer had plenty of reasons to be excited about his part. For one thing, this would be the first musical in which he’d be top-billed. Previously, the names of his female co-stars (even Ann Blyth, in the previous year’s “Rose Marie”) had always come first.  Blyth was an important star, but with the phenomenal success of “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”, Keel was now, at very least, equal  in status. Furthermore, the role of Haaj was, without doubt, the major one in “Kismet”. He had more scenes, more songs and fifty times more dialogue than any of his co-stars. Haaj was linchpin to the whole story, offering any actor who played him both exciting opportunity and major challenge. No “Kismet” could work without a dynamic, charismatic Haaj at its center.   
                Keel, energized and eager, was determined to make his performance memorable. And having Minnelli, monarch of movie musicals, at the helm would have made the outlook seem all the more promising. Director and actor had worked together only once before – and that very briefly. In 1952 Minnelli had been brought in to concoct a lavish finale for the Grayson-Keel  vehicle “Lovely to Look At”.  (Mervyn LeRoy had done the rest of the picture).  Minnelli had mainly occupied himself with decor, fashion  and  movement.  But that one scene, in its finished form, was generally conceded to be the highlight of the picture. So Keel had every reason to believe Minnelli  might bring the same kind of magic – from beginning to end – to “Kismet”.
                According to Keel, though, word got out very quickly that Minnelli was doing the picture under duress. Surely, the director’s initial intentions were to make the best of a bad bargain. But his mood had further soured when MGM was unable to deliver a couple of the actors he’d wanted.  Apparently, Minnelli was very keen on getting Robert Morley to play the wicked Wazir. He  also wanted Cyd Charisse in the film (Marsinah? Lalume?  Charisse seems an uneasy fit for either. Imposingly statuesque and less than three years younger than Keel , Charisse would have been a stretch as his daughter;  she’d also  have to be dubbed for the songs . And though she was both striking beauty and superb dancer , Charisse’s onscreen personality –lady-like and reserved - was almost as low-key as Damone’s.  She was certainly no mistress of comedy. Minnelli and Cole may have devised some stunning Dance of the Seven Veils for her.  But It’s hard to imagine Charisse delivering the droll insinuations and double entendres Dolores Gray tossed off with such aplomb. 
                At any rate, according to Keel, Minnelli’s  on set behavior was not encouraging. The actor found him rude, impatient, dictatorial and dismissive.  Offering little in the form of help or suggestions.  Also increasingly transparent in his scorn for the property and his eagerness to get the whole thing over with as soon as possible. Keel wound up getting more actual guidance from choreographer Jack Cole and conductor Andre Previn. The actor was also disappointed in what he saw as top brass indifference. Having pulled out the stops convincing/forcing Minnelli to do the thing, MGM honchos were just happy they’d won the argument - and quite unwilling to admit the results were far from optimum. Besides which, they probably figured the faster the shooting schedule, the bigger the profit margin. So let Minnelli keep racing. For a disillusioned Keel, filming gradually degenerated into a daily grind.  Near the end of shooting, the actor supposedly observed Minnelli on set planning scenes for “Lust for Life”, while all but ignoring the picture at hand.  He went to head office and delivered an ultimatum, stating that if Minnelli was on the set next day, he wouldn’t be. Keel got his way. But Minnelli was hardly downcast. Itching to get on with “Lust for Life”, he immediately  hot-footed it to Europe, quite happy to be off even sooner than planned. According to Keel, Mervyn LeRoy completed what had to be done. Minnelli always maintained it was Stanley Donen. Even on this point, the two couldn’t agree. And to further complicate matters, Ann Blyth remembers Richard Thorpe as the man who finished the picture. Perhaps all three directors polished off different sections.
                Most people (myself included) think Howard Keel was pretty terrific in “Kismet”. But he always regretted that the version committed to film hadn’t really given him the opportunity to perfect his portrayal. Happily, in later years, Keel played Haaj in various stage productions and was eventually able to fully inhabit and enjoy the role. Despite his disappointment with Minnelli, Keel always spoke warmly about his three  “Kismet” co-stars. Blyth and Gray, both determinedly positive thinkers, remembered the project in a much fonder light, relatively happy with the filming and the film. Blyth does, however, recall that, though she enjoyed working with Keel , she was aware he and Minnelli were often at loggerheads. Conceding as well that Vincente Minnelli was, perhaps, not totally committed to the project - as a result of which "Kismet" never quite achieved that distinctively inspired Minnelli shimmer. 

No comments: