A Story of Hope (Annie [1982] (DVD))

Member Name: arnoldhenryrufus

Product:	Annie [1982] (DVD)
Date:	18/07/07 (661 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A good family musical suitable for all ages

Disadvantages: none

Annie

Still working through my collection of musicals, my daughter and I decided to have a lazy afternoon and watch the musical Annie, which you simply can’t help but love, everyone loves a story of rags to riches and that is exactly what you get with Annie.

~~ The Film ~~

Set in the 1930’s the film starts within the orphanage ‘Hudson Street Home for Girls’ and we get to meet a little curly red head called Annie; as she sits there on a window ledge holding onto her dream of being reunited with her mom again. As the song finishes Annie’s attention is drawn to one of the other little orphans who has woken up scared and crying, this wakes the other girls as Annie mothers the little one.

The noises the girls make by complaining; wakes up Miss Hannigan and causes her to come into the room at the crack of dawn. The children chorus ‘we love you Miss Hannigan’; Miss Hannigan who does look very much worse for wear from too much of her home made alcohol, shouts for the girls to get to work, and so their day starts with cleaning and scrubbing. Annie manages to hide away in the dirty laundry basket and with the help of kind Mr Bundles, the laundry man keeping the sex starved Miss Hannigan occupied, the children bundle her into the back of his van and she manages to escape.

He kindly drops her off on the busy New York streets and she starts to walk along trying avidly to avoid the policeman on patrol. She soon comes across some naughty boys chasing a dog that they have tied tin cans to its tail (the poor thing). Annie seeing the dog takes on the boys putting her little fists out in front of her, she looks so cute and can swing a good right hook; anyway, the crunch of it is she frightens off the boys and saves the dog, who then becomes her constant companion and follows her on her way through the streets, even managing to convince the dog catcher that it is her dog. It was whilst she was convincing the dog catcher our not so friendly policeman catches Annie and returns her to the orphanage for her punishment which is to be locked in the cupboard.

It is whilst Annie is locked in the cupboard that we meet Grace Farrell who is the secretary of Billionaire Oliver Warbucks; Annie overhears Grace saying that Mr Warbucks would like to take in an orphan for a week. During the conversation Grace spots Annie in the cupboard, even though Miss Hannigan keeps trying to stop Annie, Annie manages to describe herself to Grace so that she will get picked; although Miss Hannigan insists she picks another little girl, Grace is persistent and insists on taking Annie and by taking Annie she gets persuaded to take Sandy along too.

Annie’s face is a picture when she first sets sight on Mr Warbucks mansion thinking that she is there to clean the place up, as she reflects on where to start the entourage swing into song and dance as they transform this little urchin in her dirty hand me downs into a sweet little princess.

It is at the mansion that we get to meet Punjab and his strange mystical powers and of course the infamous Oliver Warbucks as he gets to know sweet little Annie. We see the changes in Annie’s appearance, but inside her heart stays true as although she has gone through this amazing transformation her heart still holds the dream of being reunited with her mother and she has not forgotten her young friends at the orphanage.

The film would possibly get a little boring if it was all goodie, goodie, so we have to have a few baddies and a little slapstick, don’t we; so let us meet Rooster Hannigan who is Miss Hannigan’s jailbird brother and his girlfriend Lily St.Regis. So what can the baddies do that adds a twist to a sweet rags to riches tale; remember Annie’s dream of being reunited with her real mother and father, becoming part of a real family; well this is where our baddies come into the story with them posing as Mommy and Daddy to get the reward that Oliver Warbucks is offering to help little Annie achieve her dream. How does it all work out, you will have to watch and see, enjoying the wonderful singing and dancing along the way.

~~ Songs ~~

Tomorrow: you hear this song three times during the movie, through the opening credits and at the finale, but its main spot is when Annie sings with the President of the United States. It is a song of optimism that Annie spreads to the President and Oliver Warbucks; a song of hope which you cannot help falling in love with and singing it over and over again.

Maybe: A lovely tender song which again is full of hope, it is song by Annie at the beginning of the movie, when she is sitting on that window ledge about how she will find her mother and be reunited one day.

It’s the Hard-knock Life: this is performed by the orphans as they set to work on the daily chores; it shows unity and strength of survival with its vigorous rhythm and choreography. You cannot help but enjoy this song and be inspired by their energy as they do hand springs and jumping over the beds.

Sandy: No, this is not the song from the film Grease, this is a short song about Sandy the dog, and Annie sings her heart out telling us about her new found best friend Sandy.

I Think I’m Going To Like It Here: This is the first big production number with the entourage, dressed as Oliver Warbucks staff members introducing Annie to her temporary new home, and Annie thinks she is going to like it here with lots of fun, dancing and singing.

Little Girls: One of the comedy songs of the show performed by Miss Hannigan, she sings away in her gin-sodden stance of how she despises little girls; this has the little orphan girls jumping around and sneaking up on Miss Hannigan making her jump.

Let’s Go To The Movies: what else would a little orphan girl dream of doing, but dream of escapism and seeing a real movie at the theatre; this song is really easy to listen to and join in with; it is quite catchy and makes you feel like joining them and go to the movies; performed by Oliver Warbucks, Grace Farrell and of course Annie.

We Got Annie: a song put in the show to demonstrate the dancing talents of Grace Farrell; this is done in true Hollywood style of elegance with Grace and the entourage of the Warbuck staff; celebrating that Daddy Warbucks wants to adopt Annie.

Sign: this is another fun song where Oliver Warbucks is trying to get Miss Hannigan to sign the adoption papers, at the same time, this is a man in her room, and what else can a women do with a very rich man in her room but try to seduce him.

You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile: this is the radio stations theme song, but everyone in the show gets their own little piece of this song as Oliver Warbucks offers a $50,000 reward to help find Annie’s parents, even the girls in the orphanage sing and dance to this jingle.

Easy Street: I really like this number it is quite jazzy and performed by Rooster, Lily and Miss Hannigan as they look forward to ‘Easy Street’ once their plan of action is complete; it has a unique little dance routine that goes with the song, with Rooster stomping about in true Tim Curry style (for anyone that has seen him in the Rocky Horror Picture Show).

I Don’t Need Anything But You: a lovely happy song and a wonderful flamboyant ending to a spectacular movie, with the whole entourage; fantastic.

~~ Cast ~~

Albert Finney: played the part of Oliver ‘Daddy’ Warbucks the billionaire that loved his money, power and capitalism, but would never love children; well until he met Annie that is. Although Finney is not a singer I think he played the part exceptionally well and even got through his singing parts remarkably proficiently. To play this part he had to endure his head being shaved twice daily.

Carol Burnett: played the permanently sozzled Miss Hannigan who ran the Hudson Street Home for Girls and brewed her own gin. She was a tyrant to the girls in the orphanage and made them chorus ‘We love you Miss Hannigan’ at every opportunity. There were a few comical scenes with Miss Hannigan and her exploits; she fitted the part well, right down to her looks and her persona.

Bernadette Peters: plays Lily St. Regis named after the St. Regis Hotel she proudly announces; she comes across a common little tart with the dump blonde persona (sorry blondes), she is Roosters girlfriend and turns out to be an excellent con artist.

Tim Curry: well I have a soft spot for him after seeing him in one of my favourite musicals The Rocky Horror Picture Show; there is just something about him that attracts me to his style. I think it is that cheeky mischievous look he has in his eyes, anyway I digress; in Annie he plays Rooster who has just got out of jail and is on the scrounge off his big sis Miss Hannigan, his character is a man that you would not let anywhere near your Granny or your daughter, but you will also love him and hate him at the same time, he grows on you.

Ann Reinking: this is Grace Farrell the elegant lady that plays Mr Warbucks secretary; she lives up to her characters name with her graceful and elegant dance routines. Her character comes across and honest, trusting and very caring.

Aileen Quinn: little orphan Annie, she was picked out of 8,000 hopefuls to get picked for this part and this was to be her stage debut: I found myself really drawn to her cheeky impish appearance and I felt she played the part extremely well.

Sandy: Sandy bless him played his very cute self.

~~ Trivia ~~

Hubert Parson the President of Woolworth’s let them use his stunning Manson which was built in 1929, situated in New Jersey for Mr Warbucks home.

The movies choreographer Arlene Phillips is best known for her work with the 70’s dance group Hot Gossip. I will have to say here that the dance scenes in Annie were brilliant and definitely not as raunchy as Hot Gossip’s dance scenes; Arlene is currently on BBC1 in Dance X a new reality tv dancing and singing competition.

Annie opened at Radio City Music Hall in New York on 17th May 1982.


~~ Extras~~

Languages: English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

Isolated Music Score: This was interesting you could just watch the film with the music playing and no words.

Subtitles: Once again various subtitles to choose from

Scene Select: options once again to skip through the scenes there are 28 to choose from.

~~Special Features ~~

1: A theatrical trailer advertising the show lasting approx 3 mins

2: Original Advertising – you get the opportunity to flick through 8 posters advertising the movie.

3: Talent Files: This is done in the form of picture cards and writing about each persons career and what they have been doing, included in this are John Huston (Director), Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, Aileen Quinn, Tim Curry, Bernadette Peters and Ann Reinking.

~~ My Thoughts ~~

I loved the film, I love musicals and I love rags to riches story lines so I was very happy indeed. I also liked the way it slipped in some reality into the storyline; my hubby was bought up for his first 6 years of life in a children’s home in London in the early 1950’s. The children were regularly paraded in front of prospective parents, they scrubbed floors on a daily basis even at the age of 2, they also expected that they had to clean for the people that took them home for the weekend and quite often this was the case. So they touched on this slightly which is good and they got it right , what’s more important they achieved it in a light hearted way without glorifying it and without making it too depressing either.

I loved the way that even though it was made in the early 1980’s it still captured the exuberance and elegance that you got in the earlier musicals, it made you feel alive, happy and sad at all the right moments, reaching inside you and pulling at the heart strings. It is a film I will enjoy watching over and over again and I am still singing ‘Tomorrow’ in my head whilst I am writing this.

Finally would I recommend this movie, well most definitely it will brighten up one of these rainy days we are having a lot of lately.

Thank you for reading

Lyn x
(Arnoldhenryrufus).

Summary: A good family musical suitable for all ages