I like this movie because it makes fun of itself. It knows it's silly, irreverant, and totally over the top. That's the point of the movie, and it works. It's completely void of substance-my friend claims to loose brain cells every time she sees it, yet she wants to watch it all the time. It's just plain fun and Julie Andrews (my personal fav) is at her most adorable. Even though in real life she was 31 and the mother of a 4-year-old, she's totally convincing as Millie. It does drag sometimes, but it's still a darling musical that's just full of fun-exactly how it's intended to be.
Thoroughly Modern Millie
1967
Action / Comedy / Musical / Romance
Plot summary
In 1922 New York City, Millie Dillmount (Dame Julie Andrews) and Miss Dorothy Brown (Mary Tyler Moore) are just two of the girls living at the Priscilla Hotel for Single Young Ladies run by Mrs. Meers (Beatrice Lillie). Orphaned, Miss Dorothy, just recently arrived, is a naive, old-fashioned girl from a seemingly privileged background who has aspirations to be a stage actress. From more modest means, Millie, in New York City for three months, used to be old-fashioned, but now has a new modern sensibility and look to match, complete with bobbed hair and dresses with hemlines above the knee. Included in this new modern sensibility is Millie's goal of getting a job as a stenographer, with a quick promotion to being her wealthy boss' "Mrs." Love is not to factor into the equation. She believes she's found the right employer in the form of chisel-jawed Trevor Graydon (John Gavin) of the Sincere Trust Insurance Company. Millie's pursuit of Mr. Graydon is despite the fact that Mr. Graydon sees her as one of the boys, he has old-fashioned sensibilities, and Millie has a mutual attraction to another boy named Jimmy Smith (James Fox). Although she likes Jimmy, Millie feels that Jimmy, as a paper clip salesman with an overwhelming happy-go-lucky attitude, is not driven enough to be husband material. That doesn't stop Jimmy's pursuit of Millie. In her association with Jimmy, Millie meets flamboyant wealthy Renaissance woman Muzzy Van Hossmere (Carol Channing). Jimmy's father once worked as Muzzy's gardener. Originally from humble means much like Millie, Muzzy tries to convince Millie that true love will lead to happiness, as that is what happened when she met the now deceased Mr. Van Hossmere, who she had no idea was rich. In other goings-on amongst this new circle of friends, Miss Dorothy leaves New York City without a word to anyone except Mrs. Meers. Thinking this situation rather odd, Millie connects Miss Dorothy's leaving with that of other girls previously living at the Priscilla Hotel. With Mr. Graydon's help, Jimmy and Millie try to find out what happened to Miss Dorothy.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Pat Morita as Oriental #2
Julie Andrews as Millie Dillmount
Mary Tyler Moore as Miss Dorothy Brown
James Fox as Jimmy Smith
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU 1.36 GB
1280*682
English 2.0
NR
Movie Reviews
Reviewed by
fun in spite of itself
Reviewed by
My brief review of the film
A crazy but enjoyable parody of the films and fashion trends during the 1920s, it has everything from jazz music to silent movie title cards, and there is a hilarious kidnapping subplot tied in with the main storyline. It is a bit too silly, and plus 130 minutes is a little too long, with a few of the dance routines drawn out, but this is great entertainment otherwise. The title song, costumes and set design all reflect the era very well, the cinematography is excellent, making everything interesting to look at, and some of the editing work and the sound design are great too. The supporting cast adds a lot of flavour to the mix. Beatrice Lillie comes off the best but Jack Soo, Pat Morita, and just about everyone else are close behind. Maybe it is a bit silly, maybe it is overlong, but it is a delight and a compelling film due to its uniqueness and bizarreness.
Reviewed by
"This Is 1922"
George Roy Hill before he did such classics as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting did this nostalgic classic, a salute to the simpler times of the Roaring Twenties in Thoroughly Modern Millie. It concerns three delightful heroines of the Twenties and how their lives interact with each other.
Our starring role is played by Julie Andrews and her immediately preceding film was Hawaii, a much different kind of film and directed by George Roy Hill. No doubt Andrews was cast in Thoroughly Modern Millie in Hill's mind before Hawaii was in the can.
Julie is your typical Twenties girl living in a residential hotel for women when Mary Tyler Moore fresh from the sticks arrives. Her status as an orphan with no family interests the landlady Beatrice Lillie who has a lovely sideline in drugging her tenants like Moore and selling them off to the orient for white slavery. She spends a lot of time during the film trying to get Moore in a vulnerable position to make a sale.
But Andrews and Moore also make friends with ditzy heiress Carol Channing. And Moore collects men like moths to a flame, two of them being James Fox and John Gavin. That frustrates Andrews because she likes these guys also and it would be nice if Moore would share.
Both Carol Channing and Beatrice Lillie never could quite translate their stage appeal to the screen. Channing was fine her, in fact she took home an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. As for Bea Lillie, she's older now, playing a character role instead of being her daffy exuberant self. It's a bit of a disappointment. I highly recommend that folks see the Bing Crosby musical Dr. Rhythm from 1938 in which she co-starred with him. That's Bea Lillie at her best in one of the few films she made during her prime.
Thoroughly Modern Millie took home one Oscar for Elmer Bernstein's scoring. It got several other nominations though. The score is a curious mixture of songs of the period and new stuff written by various songwriters. The title song was written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn and was also nominated.
If the sets look somewhat familiar I'm also sure that George Roy Hill took careful note of them if in fact they didn't survive because The Sting which is set in the same period looks a whole lot like Throughly Modern Millie. Hill did a wonderful job capturing the ambiance of the Twenties.
So beat the drums cause here comes Throughly Modern Millie now. A real jazz baby.