Oeuvre: Minnelli: The Clock The great film critic David Thomson has called Vincente Minnelli’s The Clock an example of the absolute zenith of classical Hollywood’s stylistic achievements. While I’d personally give that distinction to Rio Bravo, or perhaps The Gold Rush, The Clock is nonetheless virtually perfect—scripted, lit, shot, acted and edited by professionals who easily pass for artists. There’s no sense in denying … Read More
Oeuvre: Meet Me in St. Louis Vincente Minnelli’s first masterpiece, Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), is not only an enduring classic in the director’s oeuvre but one of Hollywood’s best musicals. The film, the cinematic equivalent of a snow globe depicting a romanticized America in beautiful Technicolor, embraces nostalgia, but not without an undercurrent of darkness. This is his signature tenor, and though it first … Read More
Oeuvre: Minnelli: I Dood It Released less than six months after Cabin in the Sky, I Dood It follows an uneven debut with a picture so listless it nearly qualifies as a sophomore slump. Once again, Vincente Minnelli finds himself working with theatrical material; in fact, where Cabin merely looked the part of a live show, I Dood It essentially is one. The film concerns … Read More
Oeuvre: Minnelli: Cabin in the Sky Vincente Minnelli came to MGM from the stage, recruited by producer Alan Feed after rising the ranks from costume designer to stage director. Naturally, his film debut, 1943’s Cabin in the Sky, plays to his established strengths, with one foot (and four additional toes) planted firmly on the stage as a lonely digit dips into cinematic waters. Actors deliver their … Read More
