GUYS AND DOLLS
This film musical was very expensive for its time - stars like Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra didn't come cheap, not to mention the cost of creating Times Square and its environs in the studio. This is one of those highly stylised and theatrical musicals where there would be no point in filming it on location because it's not interested in realism. All the colours are bright and garish, and everyone is moving and talking in a heightened manner. The source material for 'Guys and Dolls' is some stories by Damon Runyon, whose dialogue was slang expressed in a very formal style. This way of talking really grated on me for some reason, especially in the opening scenes which set up the world of illicit gambling in which the story is set. Or should I say stories, since the plot is really about two separate romances. The first is between Nathan Detroit (Sinatra) and his fiancée for the last fourteen years, Miss Adelaide (Vivian Blaine). I didn't find their r...