Hello, Dolly! (1969) - film review

In the 1890s, Dolly Levi is the talk of New York, a merry widow who is all too willing to lend her services as a marriage broker, for a modest fee.  Her latest client is Horace Vandergelder, a store owner in the sleepy town of Yonkers who, through thrift and hard work, has accumulated a small fortune which Dolly is eager to get her hands on.  On the day that Horace sets out for New York to propose to a milliner named Mrs Molloy, he entrusts his niece Ermengarde into Dolly’s care, hoping to keep her away from Ambrose Kemper, a penniless artist who is intent on marrying her.  To sabotage Horace’s wedding plans, Dolly entices his store assistants, Cornelius and Barnaby, into spending the day in New York so that they can make a first foray into female society.  Naturally Cornelius and Barnaby end up in Mrs Molloy’s shop, just as Horace shows up.  With Mrs Molloy out of the picture, Dolly can now put into operation the next stage of her plans, confident that she will win her man in the end...

Hello, Dolly! was pretty well the last gasp for the lavish Hollywood musical, a genre that had rapidly gone out of fashion in the 1960s as cinema audiences become younger and less interested in this kind of glitzy escapism.  Although the film failed to recoup its extravagant production cost (around 25 million dollars), it was far from being unpopular and won three Oscars (for its Art Direction, Music and Sound), although critical opinion was divided over its merits.  

The main bone of contention was the obvious miscasting of the principals.  Walter Matthau may be a highly versatile actor but he looks uncomfortable in a musical, and Barbra Streisand is clearly too young for the role of the middle-aged widow Dolly.  Carol Channing was desperately eager to play the part of Dolly, having scored a notable triumph in the Broadway musical, but the studio inexplicably chose Streisand, who was less than enthusiastic about the role.  At the time, Streisand had acquired a reputation as an upstart and egomaniac, and this was borne out by the on-set confrontations she had with both Mathau, who absolutely loathed her, and director Gene Kelly.  Given how much antagonism there was between the various individuals involved in this production it is a small miracle that it ended up as good as it is.

Hello, Dolly! is a faithful stage-to-screen transposition of the popular Broadway musical of the same title, which itself was based on Thornton Wilder’s book The Matchmaker.  Although somewhat lacking in character depth, the film is a visual and aural feast that is tirelessly entertaining and eminently re-watchable.  Mathau and Streisand may have hated each others guts but they hide it well and overcome their respective shortcomings (the former can’t sing, the latter can’t act) by sheer force of personality and energy.  The supporting artistes may be lacking in star power, but these too bring the requisite verve and good-natured fun to the proceedings, and the result is a satisfying, albeit shallow, musical comedy extravaganza.

The film offers some of the most spectacular song-and-dance routines of any Hollywood musical, all stunningly choreographed and performed with such elegance and gusto that you cannot help but be carried away by it, as though on a wave of euphoria.   The unbeatable team of Lionel Newman and Lennie Hayton offers up such memorable numbers as Put on Your Sunday Clothes, Before the Parade Passes By and the all-time showstopper Hello, Dolly!  In the latter, a gloriously self-indulgent spectacle that seems to go on forever, Streisand gives her all, only to have her thunder stolen by a surprise appearance from Louis Armstrong, who had a hit with the song a few years earlier.  This must have done wonders for Miss Streisand’s ego.

It’s an odd thing, but some films do seem to improve with age.  Hello, Dolly! was an anachronism in its time, an inappropriate and perhaps vulgar diversion from the real concerns of the day, such as the Vietnam War and the growing rift between the generations.  Today, it can be appreciated for what it is - a delightful piece of good-natured froth whose sole raison d’être is to divert and entertain, which it does admirably.  Yes, the Hollywood musical probably had had its day by the time this film was made, but at least the genre went out in style, with another timeless toe-tapping classic that cannot fail to lift your spirit.  Hello, Dolly! is a gloriously bloated delight, as light as a lemon sorbet, but as filling as a five course meal at the Tour d'Argent.

© Derek Adamson 2010

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