Unsinkable Molly Brown, The (1964)
Directed by Charles Walters with a screenplay by Helen Deutsch, who had earlier collaborated on Lili (1953), this Richard Morris play was made into a slightly above average Musical comedy starring Debbie Reynolds, who earned her only Oscar nomination (Best Actress) for playing the title role. It's a biographical account of a backwoods tomboy (who survived a flood as an infant!) whose woodsman husband, played by Harve Presnell, strikes it rich only to find, per her crude ways, she isn't accepted in Denver's snobbish old money high society. So, she and her husband venture to Europe where she becomes educated in food and fashion while becoming the toast of Paris, charming many with her uniquely boisterous Americanism. The Browns then return to Denver with several of the titled Royalty they'd met in tow. They host an hilarious, outlandish high society party of their own which, instead of prompting their acceptance, turns into a brawl! Molly later becomes famous for her spirit and feistiness when she survives the sinking of the Titanic!
The film's Color Art Direction-Set Decoration, Cinematography, & Costume Design, as well as its Sound and Music Score, also received Oscar nominations. Unfortunately for the eventual Irving G. Thalberg Award winning producer Lawrence Weingarten, all of these categories were won by the Best Picture that year, My Fair Lady (1964). Ed Begley plays Molly's father, Audrey Christie the stuck-up neighbor; Jack Kruschen, Hermione Baddeley, and Hayden Rorke, among others, also appear. Most of the rest of the story revolves around the "on again, off again" relationship between Molly and her husband. Reynolds and Presnell sing all of the songs, the most memorable of which is Reynolds’s "Belly Up to the Bar Boys" number, or the frequently reprised "I'll Never Say No".
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