Call Me Madam (1953)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Walter Lang

Writers:

Russel Crouse (musical "Call Me Madam")
Howard Lindsay (musical "Call Me Madam")

Release Date:

April 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Musical | Romance

Plot:

Washington hostess Sally Adams becomes a Truman-era US ambassador to a European grand duchy. |

Plot Keywords:

Ambassador | Singing | Dancing | Based On Musical | Male Female Relationship

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Ethel Merman	...	Sally Adams
Donald O'Connor	...	Kenneth Gibson
Vera-Ellen	...	Princess Maria
George Sanders	...	General Cosmo Constantine
Billy De Wolfe	...	Pemberton Maxwell
Helmut Dantine	...	Prince Hugo
Walter Slezak	...	August Tantinnin
Steven Geray	...	Prime Minister Sebastian
Ludwig Stössel	...	Grand Duke Otto (as Ludwig Stossel)
Lilia Skala	...	Grand Duchess Sophie
Charles Dingle	...	Sen. Brockway
Emory Parnell	...	Sen. Charlie Gallagher
Percy Helton	...	Sen. Wilkins

Also Known As:

Irving Berlin's Call Me Madam (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:U | Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #16117) | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Due to the expiration of 20th Century Fox's music rights, the movie was completely withdrawn from public exhibition (both TV and theatrical) for nearly 20 years. During that time, its only public showing (with special permission from Irving Berlin) was at a 100 year tribute at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in the 1990s. After the rights were renewed, the film was finally released on DVD in April 2004.

Quotes:

Cosmo Constantine: You are the most American American I have ever met.
Sally Adams: That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "American Masters: Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About" (2009)

Soundtrack:

You're Just In Love

Merriment, Grace and Pleasure

It's easy to forget how many great musicals 20th Century Fox has put out, and how varied - from "My Fair Lady" to "the Commitments." One of their very best has just been re-released on DVD: "Call Me Madam"...

Once upon a time, boys and girls, they used to make movies that you were supposed to enjoy. They didn't thrill you, or scare you, or wow you with effects and disasters. They simply gave pleasure by having people sing amusing songs and dance with grace and lightness and ease. Here you have a chance to see the kind of singer - the incomparable Ethel Merman - who could fill a theater without using a microphone, and you could understand every word she sang. And you have a chance to see some of the greatest dancers Hollywood ever knew - Donald O'Connor and Vera Ellen - who advance the love story simply by dancing together. I gotta admit, O'Connor's got a gleam in his eye Astaire never had, and that dance in the wine cellar did more for my imagination than thrashing naked bodies ever did. And I roared every time Merman said "Hello, Harry!" And who knew George Sanders could sing?

This is not life-changing cinema...It's simply wonderful entertainment. And the more I see of today's offerings, the rarer that looks.