Stanley Donen: to the rhythm of musicals
A walk through Donen's musical films to celebrate his centenary
To my English speaking readers: since my native language is Spanish, I apologise in advanced for any mistakes that you can find in the English version of this post. Thanks for your support! 😊
There are filmmakers whose movies, without exception, leave you with a well-being feeling that lasts way beyond the credit titles. Stanley Donen is one of these directors (Frank Capra would be another one). This year is his centenary.
Although most of his films share this feel-good quality, it is the musicals he directed which made history of cinema, and they contributed to the explosion of this genre in the 50s and 60s, leaving a legacy that lasts to the present day, and that is palpable in contemporary classics such as La La Land.
Stanley Donen was born in 1924, in South Carolina, in a Jewish family. Being raised in one of the few Jewish families of his town marked his childhood, as he experience constant bullying and anti-semitic comments from other children, which led him to take shelter in the local cinemas, where he fell in love with movies and with a particular star: Fred Astaire.
Inspired by his idol, the young Stanley took dancing lessons in New York and, at the age of 16, he was already performing as a member of the choir in the production Pal Joey on Broadway, starring Gene Kelly. There began a friendship between them that would last decades, becoming one of the most prolific artistic collaborations in the world of musicals. The following year, they worked together again, in the play Best Foot Forward, where Kelly was the choreographer and Donen was one of the dancers.
We always talk about Orson Welles as an example of a precocious filmmaker, as he directed his first film, Citizen Kane, when he was only 25. Stanley Donen was exactly the same age when he directed his first movie, On the Town, along with his already friend and contributor Gene Kelly. The film, starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, was released in 1949, and was such a success that MGM offered Donen a seven year directing contract.
After On the Town, Donen worked for the first time with his childhood hero, Fred Astaire, in Royal Wedding, which was vaguely inspired by Astaire’s own beginnings as a dancer along his sister. It was released in 1951.
Only a year later, in 1952, Donen released his next musical. For most, the ultimate musical film: Singing in the Rain.
The film is possibly the only one that has ever offered a positive outlook on the change from silent movies to sound, and follows the story of an actor that finds the way to adapt to the changes through music.
Gene Kelly co-directs the film and plays the leading role, while he choreographed music numbers that made history. He was joined by Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds in one of her most memorable performances. Donen and Kelly made the most out of the MGM’s resources for Singing in the Rain, using different sets, old fashioned equipment and even costumes used in silent movies made in the 20s.
After the huge success that was Singing in the Rain, Donen continued working for MGM and, in 1953, he released his next musical, Give a Girl a Break, where he worked again with Debbie Reynolds and with another (soon-to-be) musical legend: Bob Fosse.
Only a year later he released another classic, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, starring Jane Powell and Howard Keel among others, with a great success of both critics and audience. The film was a box office hit and got five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and getting Best Music.
In 1955 he worked with Kelly again in It’s Always Fair Weather. This would be their last collaboration, as they had been growing apart over the years.
After the end of his contract with MGM, Donen directed his first musical for Paramount, Funny Face, released in 1957. The film is set in Paris, in the fashion industry, and he works again with Fred Astaire and, for the first time (of many to come) with Audrey Hepburn. The film was presented in Cannes that year and, although it got mixed reviews, it has consolidated as one of Donen’s big classics.
After Funny Face he directed The Pajama Game, based on the namesake play, starring Doris Day and choreographed by Bob Fosse. In 1948 he released Damn Yankees, which would be his last musical for almost two decades.
In 1974 he took charge of a musical adaptation of The Little Prince, in which he worked with Fosse once again. The movie was not as successful as expected, and it would be Donen’s last musical film (he would, though, direct a musical play and he even directed Lionel Ritchie’s Dancing on the Ceiling music video).
Although Donen directed many great non musical films, such as Charade and Two for the Road, it’s fair to say that his biggest contribution to cinema is the consolidation of musicals. He shook up a genre that up to that point, due to its stage legacy and its rushed incorporation to cinema at the beginning of sound films, didn’t have its own codes. Donen worked hard to run away for those Broadway language and created the codes that have lasted to the present films, where his influence is tangible.
But, above all of that, what Donen did best was surrounding himself with the best of the best: Kelly, Astaire, Fosse, Hepburn… And he was so aware of that being the secret to his cinema that, when he picked his Academy Honorary Award (sad compensation from the Academy for never giving him an Oscar for Best Director) he said this:
“I’m going to let you in on the secret of being a good director. For the script you get Larry Gelbart, or Peter Stone, or Huyck and Katz, or Frederic Raphael — like that. If it’s a musical, for the songs you get George and Ira Gershwin, or Arthur Freed and Herb Brown, or Leonard Bernstein and Comden and Green, or Alan Lerner and Fritz Loewe — like that. Then you cast Cary Grant, or Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Sophia Loren, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Gregory Peck, Elizabeth Taylor, Burt Reynolds, Gene Hackman or Frank Sinatra — like that.
When filming starts you show up and you stay the hell out of the way. But you’ve got to show up, you’ve got to show up. Otherwise you can’t take the credit and get one of these fellas.”
Humble words from the man who, more than seven decades later, still makes us sing in the rain.