Half A Sixpence, not outdated but successful musical film |
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| Written by: Paulo Roberto P. Elias, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Date: 24.01.2025 |
 In
the district of Tijuca, where I lived, the Saens Peña Square had one of the
largest number of movie theaters, so much so that it was known as
“Cinelândia Tijucana”, in reference to the city centre Cinelândia location,
full of theaters as well.Around August 1968 I was passing by the Square when I saw advertised the opening of a new theater, namely the Bruni-Tijuca. It was the result of a joint venture by the Livio Bruni group and Roberto Darze (Darze Cinemas), and inaugurated already with 70mm projectors. I got to know Mr. Darze briefly when Incol’s Orion Jardim de Faria was paid a tribute at the Conservatória Cinemúsica film festival. The Bruni-Tijuca booth was fitted with the Incol 70/35 projectors. The opening feature was Paramount’s Half A Sixpence, exhibited in full 70mm stereophonic sound. The same film inaugurated the Bruni-Flamengo theater’s completely refurbished 70mm gear as well. I was surprised to see the amount of young people going to see the movie, because traditional musical features were already long gone in those days. These youngsters flooded the auditorium for weeks, and thus the film’s presentation was highly successful! Half A Sixpence is a British movie, but the director was the veteran George Sidney (ex-MGM), and the soundtrack was composed, arranged, and conducted by another film veteran, Irwin Kostal, ex-Disney. The arrangements are pristine and follow the choreography of the dancers superbly well. The leading actor featured the ex-rock star Tommy Steele, followed by the American dancer Grover Dale, who, I got to know later, was dubbed on account of the character’s cockney accent. Mr. Dale was also directed by Nouvelle Vague’s filmmaker Jaques Demy, in the film Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, more or less around the same year. He was also dubbed, in this case by a French voice actor. Half A Sixpence was based on H. G. Wells’ “Kipps”, first produced for a theater play, and later adapted to the screen, just like former MGM musicals were done. The story tells the life of an orphan named Arthur Kipps, who, still as kid, was sent to work for Shalford, an exploiter and a tyrant shop owner. Little did Kipps knew that he had inherited a large fortune, which later changed his life style completely. However, among the upper classes he was seen as uneducated “nouveau riche” (new money, if you will) individual. He is constantly discriminated and feels uncomfortable among the high society people. Some of the more elaborated dance sequences are followed by a splendid soundtrack arrangement, and they are also well photographed and edited. The film was shot in Panavision 35mm and adapted to the 70mm screen. Also noteworthy to the movie buffs was that when the DVD era started home theater forums would complain about the absence of Half A Sixpence on DVD. It was said at the time that a Paramount executive hated the film and refused to release it. True or not, the fact was that when this guy was fired the DVD was finally released. In addition, the forums got to know that the original stereo soundtrack was found, and later used for the DVD transfer, in Dolby Digital 2.0 surround format. The soundtrack sound elements used for the DVD release, as far as I can tell, are unknown. Normally, a six-track mixing was always made for 70mm, even blown-ups. However, usually little surround sound can be found in those 6-track magnetic mixings, i.e. most of the sound is played front stage, in 3 or 5 channels behibd the screen. That’s why the Dolby 2-track surround soundtrack in the DVD plays very well. Sadly, so far Paramount never released a Blu-Ray disc of this movie, with a higher definition picture and better soundtrack transfer. It should be a must-have for the film’s fans or musical buffs who are seeking to see something better elaborated and more sophisticated filmmaking. I would not be surprised if an independent Blu-Ray label licenses this release from Paramount in the near future. |
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