Good 50's Films: Oklahoma!

1955 Musical
From The Samuel Goldwyn Company
Directed by Fred Zinnemann

Starring
Gordon MacRae
Shirley Jones
Gene Nelson
Gloria Grahame
Charlotte Greenwood
Eddie Albert
Rod Steiger
James Whitmore
Barbara Lawrence
Jay C. Flippen

If ever a film stood out in director Zinnemann's canon as the one that doesn't belong there, it would be Oklahoma.  He was one who thrived on well-written scripts that were drenched in reality and generally filmed in black and white.  This was also the only musical the esteemed director ever made and it wasn't a happy experience for him.  It was for me.  I had seen musicals before but had never seen anything the likes of this.  To add even more glory, this wasn't just a musical but a musical western.  OMG, pass the smelling salts.

It was also the first of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals to hit the silver screen that was based on one of their Broadway plays.  Oklahoma was a rousing success on The Great White Way, playing a whopping 2,212 performances.  The duo would be involved in nearly every aspect of the filming and were usually present on the set.  That didn't always make for ease of filming.

The story, set in 1906, concerns the struggles between farmers and cowboys but more specifically of two cowboys and the women they love.  Interestingly, for both women there are two more men in their lives who bring complications for the cowboys.

Shirley Jones and Gordon MacRae

Winsome farm girl Laurey (Jones) lives with her sweet Aunt Eller (Greenwood) on a nice spread and has an on again-off again relationship with a handsome cowhand, Curly (MacRae).  Jud, a moody, disagreeable and jealous worker on the homestead, is smitten with Laurey and is willing to do anything to keep her from Curly.

Then there's Curly's pal, Will Parker (Nelson) who's over the moon for Ado Annie (Grahame) who, in turn, flutters her eyes at a peddler man (Albert).  The focus on this trio is played for laughs.

Gloria Grahame and Gene Nelson

As a kid, when I first saw Oklahoma, I was in it for the glorious songs and for two of my favorite big screen performers, Grahame and MacRae.  After I saw it a couple of times as an adult, it  occurred to me it's an awful lot about sex. I trust I'm not alone in noticing this.  Everyone is so horny!  Ado Annie should have been Nympho Annie, helped along, of course, by her signature song, I Cain't Say No.

One of the intriguing things about this project at the time was how its songs were used.  Often on the stage songs were used to fill in some entertainment while sets were being moved and didn't always have much to do with anything beyond being a beautiful song.  With Oklahoma, R&H used songs that either defined a character or advanced the plot.

The film opens in a cornfield and as the rows of corn open we see Curly and his horse Blue coming toward the camera.  After the credits roll, MacRae makes us glad we've come aboard by his singing one of the film's most famous songs, Oh, What a Beautiful Morning, a fitting welcome.  Appropriately enough, the film ends with a little bit of the same song sung by most of the cast.

Curly meets up with Laurey in the farmyard where Aunt Eller (Greenwood) is amused at their fussing and posturing.  It leads to the romantic The Surrey with the Fringe on Top.  Beautifully filmed by Robert Surtees, it transitions from the farmyard with Jones closing her eyes while imagining a team of white horses.  The camerawork in this sequence is my favorite.

The rambunctious Will is introduced at the train station where he is returning from Kansas City and offering glamorous tales of the big city to Aunt Eller and others who are there to meet him.  (Everything's Up-to-Date in) Kansas City is a rousing tune featuring Nelson's superb dancing.

Most of the comedy is left to Ado Annie and shortly after meeting her she's singing that song at the edge of a lake while Laurey towel-dries her hair.  She is far more inclined to say no.

At the heart of the story is a box social where the cast will gather, dance, fight and bid for ladies' box lunches.  Before they head off for the event, the ladies congregate in Laurey's bedroom to freshen up... and sing Many a New Day, one of my least favorite songs.

Laurey and Curly's budding love affair is played out via the wonderful People Will Say We're in Love. Strolling through a fruit orchard, each enjoying solo parts of the song, their voices soaring, I expect most people would regard it as a favorite moment of the film.  The song is later reprised when the couple makes the decision to marry.

Poor Jud is Dead is sung by Curly and Jud.  It's an amusing putdown of the loutish Jud and why he's so wrong for the gentle Laurey.  Who doesn't love a good Rod Steiger musical?

I think my favorite song is Out of My Dreams, sung by Laurey in her rocking chair on the porch.  It is indeed a dreamy look at romance that makes one feel all warm and fuzzy... a beautiful melody and thoughtful words.  My only complaint is that it is so short.

This song, which features Laurey in a dream-state, turns into the film's unusual and very famous ballet.  Some have argued its ill-fitting in this story-- a western-- and while I have enjoyed it more as an adult, the segment is too long.  It features dancers Bambi Linn and James Mitchell as the dream Laurey and Curly and also showcases Steiger.  He said it was the hardest thing he'd ever done.  Who doesn't love a good Rod Steiger ballet?

The Farmer and the Cowhand is another spirited song and dance extravaganza featuring most of the cast and points up the problems people had during those times.  The only cast members missing from this number are Jones and Steiger who are battling one another on a runaway buckboard, an excitingly-filmed scene which ends with a team of horses challenged by a train.

Will and Annie treat us to the utterly delightful All 'er Nothin' which rubs the funny bone on monogamy.

Finally comes the title tune with most of the company on and around the porch after Laurey and Curly are married.  You want rousing?  Without a doubt, here it is.  Oklahoma would wisely  make it the state song.  Speaking of that porch, there's a famous bit of trivia involving Grahame.  She just disappears from a scene.  Poof.  Gone. There's a reason.

It's been discussed before in my posting on Grahame but let's give it a whirl again.  She was a monster on this film.  She actually sought the role (and Rodgers made it known he wanted her) but after getting it she must have suffered one of those be-careful-what-you-wish-for moments.  It was about the singing.  She was a dramatic actress through and through, heavily and accurately identified as a film noir queen.  She had appeared in a few movies as a singer but her voice was always dubbed.  And the rub?  She not only couldn't sing but she was actually tone deaf.  

She probably thought at one point that she was again going to be dubbed but Zinnemann thought it would not only be fine to use her own voice but would enhance the nuttiness of her character.  He had no idea how bad it would be.  

Annie was a soubrette role... therefore comedy but Grahame decided to play it sexy and that resulted in fiery words with her director.  The result sometimes was that Zinnemann just upped and cut her out of a scene... like the one on the porch during the singing of the title tune and also during The Farmer and the Cowhand.  He got fed up with arguing with her and her resistance to doing things his way so he just cut her out of scenes.

She developed such an attitude that she made everyone mad.  Nelson and Albert, with whom she shared most scenes, could hardly stand her by the end of filming, citing her unprofessionalism as something they hoped to never experience again.

Part of the irony here for me is that I think she was the funniest thing in the film.  Discounting her singing and the expert singing of others, she was also the best thing in the film.  Nonetheless, news of her antics on Oklahoma got around Hollywood and she would never again be in so prestigious a film.

Oklahoma was near the end of MacRae's film career as well.  He and Jones would immediately go into Carousel and then he would make two more before calling it a day.  Nelson's dancing career came to an end as musicals waned but he became a director of some note.  This was also the sixth and final pairing of MacRae and Nelson.

Jones (in her film debit), Albert and Steiger were never actors I gravitated toward but all turned in good performances.

I expect R&H wanted Zinnemann to steer their special project because he'd just won an Oscar for From Here to Eternity.  Despite never having helmed a musical, Zinnemann was known as a master craftsman who always strove for excellence and got the best out of his casts.  Too bad he was so unhappy making it.  

Zinnemann filmed all location shots, believe it or not, in Arizona.  He concluded Oklahoma, with all its oil wells, no longer looked like it did in 1906.  In Arizona corn was planted (not an easy task) for the opening number.

Oklahoma was filmed in a new Todd A-O, 70mm widescreen process which gave the outdoorsy flick a breathtaking look.  The musical was so successful that the rest of the R&H catalog would follow.

Here's the title tune.  Watch Grahame disappear.

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