There is nothing Hollywood likes more than a sequel (unless it is a remake), so when
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes became a big hit musical in 1953, what better to try to repeat the magic with a sequel called
Gentlemen Marry Brunettes in 1955?
 |
| Jeanne Crain and Jane Russell |
Trouble was, the
Blondes film was based on a successful book by Anita Loos and a successful Broadway musical, with a very good score. And while the
Brunettes sequel took on the title of Loos's follow-up novel (most of it, anyway - dropping "But" from the front-end), it changed the characters, tossed out the plot, and, since there was no existing musical, it cobbled together a bunch of old tunes with a new title song. Oh, and since Marilyn Monroe was not available for the new film, the producers slotted in the non-singing Jeanne Crain alongside holdover Jane Russell, adding the strange melange of Rudy Vallee, Alan Young and tough-guy Scott Brady as the male leads.
Perhaps predictably, it did not work so well, and the movie house patrons were indifferent. That doesn't mean we can't enjoy it on records, though, eh?
 |
| Anita Ellis |
The principal attractions are once again the female leads, with Russell in excellent voice paired with the great Anita Ellis, who dubbed Crain's singing. They appear together or separately in most numbers, perhaps best in Bobby Troup's 1941 corker, "Daddy," which is perfect for two females on the make. Russell is terrific in the 1931 Rodgers-Hart song "I've Got Five Dollars," in spite of a clumsy dialog set up involving Russell and Brady, whose hard-bitten manner would be better suited to film noir.
Ellis's big feature is another Rodgers and Hart standard, "My Funny Valentine." She stays just this side of over-emoting, which in my estimation was always the danger with her singing - more so in her albums than in her many dubbing assignments. Alan Young comes in at the end, doing his own vocals, not particularly well, unfortunately. He is only marginally worse, though, than the person chosen to provide Brady's singing voice - arranger-conductor Robert Farnon. Apparently all the male vocal doubles were busy.
The title song was new, composed by the team of Herbert Spencer and Earle Hagen, both of whom had long careers in Hollywood, and Richard Sale, the screenwriter-producer-director of the opus. It's not a bad song, although in debt to "Always True to You in My Fashion" and especially the
Guys and Dolls title song. The normally reliable Johnny Desmond presents it in overbearing fashion.
It's not entirely clear who did what in the music department. Farnon apparently conducted and did the underscoring, but Hagen was the orchestrator and music supervisor, both with uncredited help from Angela Morley and Bill McGuffie, per IMDb.
The sound, as usual from the Decca family, is adequate. I love the cover, though - particularly the spray-tanned Johnny Desmond.
The related reup is the excellent soundtrack to
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which you can find
here.
