Pal Joey

Dir: George Sidney

1957

**

In my humble opinion, the likes of George Sidney's musical adaptation of Pal Joey is what is and what has been wrong with Hollywood since the 50s. The original musical was a moral tale with singing and dancing and a devastating finale. George Sidney's adaptation looks the same in many respects but makes two tragic changes. Firstly, it uses two hit songs from another musical (1937's Babes in Arms). These two songs (The Lady is a tramp and My Funny Valentine) are easily the best two songs in the film. While My Funny Valentine is one of the film's highlights (with Trudy Stevens singing for Kim Novak) The Lady is a tramp is completely out of place with regards to the scene it appears in. The musicals big numbers, Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered and I Could Write a Book are overshadowed and my favourite, Zip, is pretty forgettable. The second, and more important change was the poignant ending. The original version serves as a life lesson, a bit of much needed karma and is essentially the whole purpose of the story. Typically of Hollywood, this was washed over with a big happy ending, thus justifying the outrageous and despicable behaviour of the main character with 'It's alright though, he can sing' being the only plea in its defence. If Pal Joey was made today (and there is a reason it hasn't been) no one would accept it and rightly so. Frank Sinatra plays the role brilliantly and both Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak are sensational, it's just the dated story, screenplay and ideals that are at fault. I guess it doesn't bother many, it's just another classic musical with singing and dancing in it and while I agree there is much to enjoy, overall I think because of the change in the film's conclusion, it's fairly unpleasant and really nothing to celebrate.