Mame Reviews

Some rare fictional characters can withstand even the most lumbering interpretation. One might have thought that would apply to Mame, the plucky heroine who captivated readers in Patrick Dennis' novel, came to the stage in Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee's play, took to the screen in 1958 as AUNTIE MAME with Rosalind Russell, returned as a Broadway musical with Angela Lansbury, and finally came up short in this film version featuring a miscast Lucille Ball. Larded over with production values and the added music, MAME lacks the insouciance of the first film, weighed down by Ball's frog-voiced performance. Moreover, Arthur sounds like a basso profundo, and her scenes with Ball are like listening to two gravelly radio announcers meeting on the street. The story, however, remains the same. During Prohibition, Ball enrolls nephew Furlong in a progressive school, tries her hand at show business, and marries Preston, a wealthy southerner who takes her to the ol' plantation where everyone sings the title song and Ball makes a mess of a fox hunt. In the last reel, Preston dies and Ball has to contend with her growing nephew (now played by Davison), his vapid debutante girl friend (Cook), and her bigoted parents (Porter and Christie). Onna White's choreography is fair, given the cast she's been saddled with. Most notably, Ball, a one-time Goldwyn Girl and a high-stepper, seems to have barely enough energy to step low. The sets and costumes are good, however, and Gene Saks's direction is quick-paced and fluffy. Jerry Herman's superior score includes "Mame," "We Need a Little Christmas," "If He Walked into My Life," "Bosom Buddies," "It's Today," "Loving You," "My Best Girl," "What Do I Do Now? (Gooch's Song)," "Open a New Window," "The Man in the Moon," "St. Bridget," and "The Letter."