Review of Oklahoma! (1955) by Jeffrey L — 14 Sep 2010

Another vintage musical classic from the mid 20th century, Oklahoma! features a fine musical cast (especially Shirley Jones in her film debut) along with a fun, enjoyable story and enough catchy musical numbers to last forever. Despite incredibly long runtime, this is one is worth getting to know!

The delightful musical starts out with Gordon MacRae roaming around the rural prairie heading to see his young mistress, Jones. He starts by singing the classic, Oh What A Beautiful Morning which became an overplayed radio song in due time. It is not long before we are introduced to the rest of the clamoring cast and should enjoy each and every one of their presence and musical offerings.

The story has its share of dark moments as rivals threaten to take everything the people know of, but this makes the main cast even more admirable as they prove what worthy citizens they are. There is a fair amount of sexism and other slandering, but this also represents what often went on during this time period and what country folk had to deal with on a daily basis. Quite an education lesson when itâ??s summed up.

There is enough songs and dance numbers here to spare, but this is done with great skill as it is entertaining the entire way through and one simply cannot help but get in touch with their inner musical self. Some audience members (particularly males) may get bored by some feminine dance scenes, but few will doubt the skilled ballerina-like actors make it quite an amusing show.

The use of technology and color infiltration make the film all the more remarkable considering the technological advances at the time. One may, however laugh at some quite fake backdrops and styles of the 1950s (hairdos etc.). Regardless, enough segments of pure entertainment more than make up for other lacking areas. Check out the 2-disc DVD edition with a whole other version of the film.