Hello, Dolly! (1969)

Barbra Streisand and Walter Matthau make for quite a formidable team in this entertaining comedy drama about a marriage broker ("Dolly") who is engaged to find a bride for the wealthy "Horace". He is a bit cantankerous so she has her work cut out for her, but undeterred - she travels to Yonkers where she embroils his two clerks "Cornelius" (Michael Crawford) and "Barnaby" (Danny Lockin) in more affairs of the heart with "Minnie" (E.J. Peaker) and "Irene" (Marianne McAndrew) before a denouement that we all expected, but is nonetheless fun to watch. This film really all belongs to a star very much at the top of her game delivering some pithy lines whilst attired in crippling corsets and dancing in some uncomfortable looking lace-up boots. Directed by Gene Kelly so you would expect the ensemble dance numbers to be top drawer, and the they are - synchronised to within an inch of their lives, but always looking natural and flowing enthusiastically. Jerry Herman certainly does the business with the lyrics - "Put on Your Sunday Clothes"; "It Takes a Woman" and the Louis Armstrong assisted title song all make this a quickly paced and enjoyable romp through all things mischievous, Jewish and one that is at times almost bawdy. Matthau is a revelation - he really enters into the spirit of things and Michael Crawford (though never my favourite singer) demonstrates a nimble fleetness-of-foot that adds a charm to the proceedings too. I couldn't quite believe that 2½ hours flew by so quickly and if you are a fan of top-end musical theatre then you are in for a real treat.