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Actually, this is not really as bad a movie as some would say it is. I think that it would have been more appreciated if it hadn't come out on the heels of the super-money maker "Sound of Music" which saved 20th Century Fox from going down-under into bankruptcy because of the very flopish Cleopatra which starred Liz and Dicky-Boy! We, here we have the Aba Daba Honeymoon girl Debbie Reynolds, who converted to the Jewish Religion because of her marriage to Eddie Fisher, playing a Christian Catholic Nun! Debbie Reynolds had really come a long way in there career from the days of playing Maureen the sister of the Daughter of Rosie O'Grady with June Haver to playing Helen Kane in Three Little Words; Three Weeks With Love, with Jane Powell who was also born on April Fools Day same as Debbie was, having a record hit with her and Carleton Carpenter singing Aba Daba Honeymoon. Then she later went to game in Singing in the Rain, playing a dog reincarnated into a female human form, and later in the wonderful Unsinkable Molly Brown, but to Debbies credit, n The Singing Nun she does some of her finest singing and it's incredible to hear her since she really never had one singing lesson exact for some coaching in her M.G.M. days, and coaching is not the same as taking singing lessons. Her singing is wonderful to hear! Then we have the rest of the cast trying to not look embarrassed for agreeing to appear in this film. You sometimes think that Ricardo Montalban is looking around thinking, "Where's Esther Williams to throw me in a swimming pool to do a water ballet to save this turkey!" Agnes Moorehead looks like she's trying to still play Endora on Bewitched. Tom Drake looks like he's looking around to see if Judy Garland will save him by doing some kind of singing duet. Greer Garson is playing the Mother Superior trying to still be Mrs. Minever. Chad Everett is still acting like Dr. Gannon in which he could say, as he did almost every Medical Hospiital show he was on "It's an aneurysm!" I wonder if that's what he thought of the movie? Debbie Reynolds was in an interview on Turner Classics and even though she and Gene Kelly hated each other in the making of Singing In The Rain, she did say that if it wasn't for what she learned from him she wouldn't have lasted in this business for 60 years. So, put it all together, The Singing Nun is not that bad of a movie, and you should see it in a movie theater with it's wide-screen and stereophonic sound to really appreciate it for what it is which is a great entertainment package for the whole family to enjoy together. Wonder what ever happened to that kind of movie? But, again, to give her credit, Debbie Reynolds does her finest singing ever, and she is a real joy to watch in this film!

I read the review The Star That Fizziled with great interest. It's about time that someone has seen the imperfections in this movie and its problems. I know that there are a great many Judy Garland fans out there that probably do not remember her when she was at the peak of her movie career at M.G.M., but she never was at the top after she left M.G.M. and with A Star Is Born and others to follow, she just didn't have that magnetism on the screen that she had, let's say, with Meet Me In St. Lous, or Easter Parade.

I have to agree with the other reviewer, this movie is just Judy Garland playing Judy Garland. I have to agree with the fact that some of these songs should have been deleted, or even not filmed, and I have to agree that if they would have had Judy do a rousing version of Swanee, instead of the overlong and boring Born In A Trunk, which could have brilliantly been used in one of her T.V. Variety Show, it would have a much better effect as to why Vickie Lester was born for Stardom in Hollywood! They should have completely deleted Somewhere There's A Someone For Me, and when she tries to bite into that sandwich that was bigger than her mouth, have the door bell ring, and have Mason answer the door, etc. etc. etc.. This would have had a more powerful effect on the scene.

It's A New World was a perfect spot, and showed us the old Judy Garland as we all remembered her - a great singer! They should have deleted the Long Face number, and instead, have her talk to the head of the studio, Charles Bickford, as played, maybe with a little less hysterics, and then have them call for her on the set, and then film a musical number with her sing "Melancoly Baby" singing by a piano like in the Born in a Trunk number. As she's singing, she could show the pain she's going through with shots back and forth to Bickford showing the pain he feels for her. Then at the end of the number, she turns to the piano in tears; Bickford quickly goes to her side, and they both,in Bickford's arms, cry and share the pain with each other. Now, if they had done that; there would have been no dry eye in the theater, and even I would not have been able to contain myself, and there would have been no amount of boxes of Kleenex to go with what I would be feeling for Vickie Lester. That would have made more sense! Now, everyone will probably hate me for this, but James Mason was all wrong for the Norman Maine role. Originally, Judy Garland wanted Cary Grant, and he would have been great. Just think of Grant going from the debonair Cary Grant to the depths of degradation to suicide. He would have been perfect and I'm willing to bet that he would have been awarded the Oscar for his performance!

As for the length of the film. There were scenes in it that looks like they were drawn out because they felt that the longer the movie, the better the movie. Many of these sense could have been scaled down or deleted to make a more powerful punch to the story, for instance, the ride in the car after Norman picks up Vikie, Esther at that point in the movie, it was just a scene of babbling and could have been cut to get to the excellent scene when she asks him how he knows that she's a great singer and he simply says, "I heard you sing!" This whole scene is brilliant! They could have also deleted all that business on Norman going to sea on a movie and loosing touch with Esther. I wish, at the time, I had been able to get my hands on that script!

The one actor in the film that has been overlooked is Tommy Noonan playing Judy Garlands pianist/friend. His performance near the end of the film with Judy Garland as she's in her self-pity state and not wanting to go to the benefit is a great scene for Tommy Noonan while doing a better acting job in that film than Judy Berharts acting.

And one more thing before everyone decides to put my head on a chopping block: George Cukor was all wrong for the director. Who they "really" should have hired was Michael Curtiz. He was still alive and working for Warners. He would have seen all the problems and I believe,with Cary Grant playing opposite Judy Garland, would have got such powerful performances out of them that both would have received the Oscar!

The Adventures of Robin Hood has endured for years and is more popular today than ever before, but the credit not only goes to the casting of Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHavalland and others in the cast, but the direction and mostly the musical score, but more on that later.

Every second; every foot; and every scene is used to its best advantage which is the reason that there is no dull moment and the the pace is fast and enjoyable. To think that at one time this movie was to be made with James Cagney playing Robin Hood and Anita Louise playing Maid Marianne. Would it have worked? Maybe, if we can get the vision of Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHavalland out of our minds, but Cagney placed himself on suspension because of his movie assignments that he disliked, and this opened up the avenue for the casting of Errol Flynn as Robin Hood who was so right for the part. Then Michael Curtiz took honors with the directing, and as far as I'm concerned, Curtiz has been the most underrated director of Hollwood Films. Everyone remembers Casablaca, but does anyone know that he also directed musicals? Which ones? White Christmas with Bing Crosby and Night and Day, the story of Cole Porter starring Cary Grant as Porter.

So, with all the great performances and the ravishing Technicolor, what really turns this movie into the classic that it is? Erich Wolfgang Korngolds score for the film. Korngold didn't want to compose the music for the film, but he had no choice. He just didn't think he had it in him to do the score, and this was a rush job, and as a result it became an Acadamy Award Score. Isn't it funny what not wanting to do something and being rushed into it does for a person? It certainly helped Korngold! If you keep your ears opened while watching the movie, you'll hear all kinds of themes for the players and the situations that they are in, but if you really want to hear this lush, vibrant score for what it is; the complete score has been recorded on a Marco Polo C.D. and makes you sick to think that it was a shame they didn't have stereophonic sound for movies in those days.

Yes, The Adventures of Robin Hood is Perfection in Movie Marking and has remained a great classic to this very day.