Bloodhounds of Broadway

Damon Runyon's "Bloodhounds of Broadway" (1952) is basically "Kissin' Cousins" meets "Guys & Dolls"; as New York bookie "Numbers" Foster (Scott Brady) stumbles onto calico-clad Emily Ann Stackerlee (Mitzi Gaynor) in rural Georgia and takes her (and her dogs) with him back to his New York City nightclub.

Simply put, no Hollywood actress ever glammed up or plained down with quite the degree of erotic fantasy contrast of Mitzi Gaynor, or at least of a young Mitzi (and she was only 21 when "Bloodhounds of Broadway" was filmed). The mind-blowing qualities of this disparity accounted for much of her popularity with audiences and producers, and gave a special sizzle to her most memorable films. On the other hand, her performances in films that failed to showcase this disparity (like "South Pacific") had a sterile flatness.

"Bloodhounds of Broadway" neatly exploits Gaynor's physical range, it is almost as if the storyline was written solely for this purpose. Her transformation deliberately lacks subtlety because the whole point is to overwhelm the observer with the contrast, causing them to participate in producing the synergy of the experience. It is plausible only because Gaynor has a unique physical quality which visually sells it, bookending the production at her most innocent with "In the Sweet Bye and Bye" and at her hottest (this side of Cole Porter's "Anything Goes") with "Jack of Diamonds".

The audience's reaction to the transformation of Emily Ann nicely illustrates the concept of a film as a semifinished product, to be used by the viewer to complete the artistic process rather than something they simply consume.

If you are buying the DVD used (or unsealed) be sure that the two-fold brochure and the 20th Century Fox envelope are included; the envelope contains four miniature black & white lobby cards on glossy heavy stock paper.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

I am an entirely biased Mitzi Gaynor fan. The most all around talent of them all. Singer, Dancer, completely natural actress and entertainer extraordinaire.

I think the less said about Scott Brady the better. Someone once said about an early Katherine Hepburn movie "she covered the range of emotions from A to B" ... well she was still two up on Scott. Couple of nice Damon Runyon comedy relief characters that did do nice work, however. The bloodhounds were fun and provided a great ending.

The number "Bout Eighty Miles Outside of Atlanta" knocked my socks off. Straight out of a Lil Abner scene in Dogpatch (only better) The other big number, "Jack of Diamonds" was also a good example of Mitzi comin' on full blast. Throw the rest of the movie away and just give me those two numbers and I am still happy.

Thank you for your attention .. go see the movie.

I LOVE the opening shot of Marguerite Chapman! Stunning Mid Century Hard Boiled Glamour Show Girl. Good voice, great figure, and lots of Technicolour screen presence. Flash but not trash. In the mould of Linda Darnell, Jane Russell, Dolores Grey, and even Lynn Bari in Orchestra Wives. Travilla, who dressed Marilyn and Jane in "Blondes", creates some stunning outfits for her too.

Nice to see a fresh faced Mitzi, but I wish Marguerite had been given a little more time on screen - a second song would have been great. Was Mitzi Gaynor star material? I think so. Sweet, but not cutsie. Loved her in There's no business like show business, and South Pacific. I do think she looks likes she's carrying a lot of weight in the bottom half of her body, but hey who cares.

All in all an easy to watch colourful musical!!

This Damon Runyon story feels slightly related to "Guys and Dolls", but it does not have the production values of the better-known musical that was released in 1955.

Crime boss "Numbers" Foster (Scott Brady) leaves New York by car when the heat is on, afraid he might have to testify before the Crime Commission. When his driver/minion, "Poorly Sammis", takes a wrong turn, they find themselves in the Georgia backwoods, where a beautiful young Emily Ann (Mitzi Gaynor) treats them right neighborly. Numbers decides to take Emily back to New York with him, along with her two pet bloodhounds.

When back in the city, Numbers---whose intentions might be avuncular; it's hard to tell---tries to find a job for Emily Ann. Surprise, she can sing and dance! That works well for everyone except Numbers' girlfriend, Yvonne (Marguerite Chapman), who feels threatened.

This is a decent musical, but definitely B level. Mitzi Gaynor is quite good in her role. The wardrobe and the choreo have notable moments. The music cannot stack up to "Guys and Dolls", but having two cast members named Mitzi is unique.

Mitzi is knockout in this movie, and shows what a wasted talent she was in Hollywood, every movie Mitzi appeared in, "she shined like a rare talent", but unfortunately at the wrong studio, she was great in The Joker is Wild with Frank Sinatra, which I consider to be his best film, and was one of the best casted films ever, also she was great in Les Girls and stole the show, in There's no Business like Show business she was an absolute knockout and her part was built up as it became apparent the work she was doing was so good, even though during the making of the film the studio sacked her, but they asked her back four years later to star in one of the greatest musicals of all time "South Pacific" which turned out to be a blockbuster, she later went on to be probably one of the greatest entertainers (certainly the greatest female entertainer) in Las Vegas and other cities, where she always got knockout reviews with sold out performances.look out for this movie being at last released on DVD