{"id":43549,"date":"2024-04-12T19:03:14","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T23:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=43549"},"modified":"2024-04-12T19:03:14","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T23:03:14","slug":"the-bootleg-files-follies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2024\/04\/12\/the-bootleg-files-follies\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files: Follies"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 861: \u201cFollies\u201d <\/strong>(fan film recreation of the legendary 1971 Broadway musical). <\/p>\n

LAST SEEN: <\/strong>On YouTube.<\/p>\n

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO:<\/strong> None.<\/p>\n

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS:<\/strong> An unauthorized presentation of inconsistent quality.<\/p>\n

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: <\/strong>Not likely.<\/p>\n

When the Stephen Sondheim musical \u201cFollies\u201d opened on Broadway in April 1971, the show\u2019s co-director Harold Prince was sowing the seeds of a potential film version featuring some of Hollywood\u2019s greatest stars. John Springer, who handled the publicity for the Broadway show, would later claim that a minor miracle was achieved when Bette Davis and Joan Crawford agreed to be in the film \u2013 albeit without being in the same scene; Springer also insisted Gloria Swanson, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton expressed interest in being part of the cast.
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Prince shopped the property to the big studios, but there was initially little interest. But that\u2019s not because Hollywood turned its back on Broadway. Contrary to revisionist film scholarship, musicals were still popular with audiences in the early 1970s \u2013 \u201cScrooge\u201d (1970), \u201cFiddler on the Roof\u201d (1971), \u201cThe Boy Friend\u201d (1971), \u201cCabaret\u201d (1972) and \u201cJesus Christ Superstar\u201d (1973) were box office hits. In April 1973, the New York Times ran an item stating the film version of \u201cFollies\u201d was being developed 20th Century Fox.<\/p>\n

That film version of \u201cFollies\u201d never happened \u2013 the studio opted to pursue another musical project, Peter Bogdanovich\u2019s \u201cAt Long Last Love,\u201d which was a box office flop. (20th Century Fox had another musical in 1975, \u201cThe Rocky Horror Picture Show,\u201d and that also flopped but then enjoyed a second wind as a midnight movie smash.) <\/p>\n

While \u201cFollies\u201d would enjoy multiple theatrical stagings over the years, a movie version proved to be an elusive concept. A potential big screen adaption was hyped in the media in 2015, with Meryl Streep leading a cast under Rob Marshall\u2019s direction. Four years later, Derek Cooke was the subject of news stories that he was going to film \u201cFollies.\u201d<\/p>\n

To date, \u201cFollies\u201d has never been made into a film. However, a YouTube account called 1971FolliesFan has offered a visual record of the original Broadway production that was pieced together from four different film sources \u2013 these appear to come from 8mm footage shot by audience members. Still photographs fill in the gaps where no moving image exists while the soundtrack also derives from multiple audio recordings of varying quality from the live performances.<\/p>\n

The resulting recreation of \u201cFollies\u201d is a fascinating but bewildering presentation. Some of the footage was shot from the rear of the theater and the actors look like blurry ghosts in the distance \u2013 which, perhaps, is somewhat appropriate given the show\u2019s focus on coming to terms with the past. And there are gaps that are maddening, most notably the severely abbreviated presentations of Yvonne De Carlo\u2019s rendition of \u201cI\u2019m Still Here\u201d and Dorothy Collins\u2019 jolting \u201cLosing My Mind.\u201d <\/p>\n

But when it does work, there are invaluable performances preserved on this rough little film, especially Ethel Shutta\u2019s show-stopping \u201cBroadway Baby\u201d (she’s in the photo at the top of this page) and Gene Nelson\u2019s offering of \u201cThe Right Girl.\u201d Shutta was a longtime actress who never hit stardom, but at 74 years old she achieved theatrical glory with her rowdy and invigorating take on the Sondheim tribute to working actresses. Nelson\u2019s number is particularly interesting because he never truly fulfilled his potential in 1950s movie musicals \u2013 he was usually cast as the second lead \u2013 and he retreated behind the camera for a successful career as a director. In \u201cFollies,\u201d his talent is on full display and it is hard not to wonder what he could have achieved if he received better parts during his youth. <\/p>\n

This recreation of \u201cFollies\u201d answers the question about why the show didn\u2019t get the big screen treatment. D.A. Pennebaker, who was associated with Prince\u2019s film proposal, commented the film executives in the early 70s saw the show as \u201ca downer\u201d \u2013 there was more bitter than sweet in too much of the story, and the absence of radio-friendly songs from the score didn\u2019t help in selling the concept. <\/p>\n

Also, MGM scored a surprise hit in May 1974 when it knitted together scores of classic numbers from its Golden Age musicals into the anthology feature \u201cThat\u2019s Entertainment!\u201d \u2013 and the studio recruited its old-time stars including Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Frank Sinatra and Elizabeth Taylor as on-screen hosts. By 1974, American audiences who grew depressed by the one-two punch that Vietnam and Watergate had on the national psyche embraced the old-school jollity of the yesteryear musicals \u2013 the cheerful and toe-tapping spirit of \u201cThat\u2019s Entertainment!\u201d was the polar opposite of Sondheim\u2019s uncomfortable introspection in \u201cFollies.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this point, it seems unlikely that \u201cFollies\u201d will ever become a movie. Mercifully, this fan-fueled record of the original Broadway show provides a tantalizing glimpse of what audiences in 1971 were able to enjoy.<\/p>\n