Bells Are Ringing (1960)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Vincente Minnelli

Writers:

Betty Comden (play)
Betty Comden (screenplay)

Release Date:

23 June 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Plot:

Ella Peterson is a Brooklyn telephone answering service operator who tries to improve the lives of her...

Plot Keywords:

Playwright | Coffeehouse | Restaurant | House Breaking | Secret

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Judy Holliday	...	Ella Peterson
Dean Martin	...	Jeffrey Moss
Fred Clark	...	Larry Hastings
Eddie Foy Jr.	...	J. Otto Prantz
Jean Stapleton	...	Sue
Ruth Storey	...	Gwynne
Dort Clark	...	Inspector Barnes
Frank Gorshin	...	Blake Barton
Ralph Roberts	...	Francis
Valerie Allen	...	Olga
Bernard West	...	Dr. Joe Kitchell, DDS (as Bernie West)
Steve Peck	...	Gangster (as Steven Peck)
Gerry Mulligan	...	Ella's blind date

Runtime:

127 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:U

Filming Locations:

East Village, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

A song written for the picture, "My Guiding Star" (music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green), sung by Dean Martin, was deleted. The vocal as filmed still exists and is featured on the DVD from Warner Home Video.

Goofs:

Factual errors: As Jeffrey Moss changes the paper as he works on the outline for "The Midas Touch," the carbon paper between the blank sheets is shiny-side up. This would give him a mirror image on the back side of the first sheet instead of an original and a copy, which as an experienced typist, he would surely know.

Quotes:

Ella: I'm going back where I can be me, at the Bonjour Tristese Brassiere Company!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Nanny: The Party's Over (#3.8)" (1995)

Soundtrack:

I Love Your Sunny Teeth

A warm and witty film that is nearly a classic.

Judy Holiday is enough to justify watching any film, and she is as splendid as ever here. Dean Martin is either wonderful or awful and manages the former quite comfortably. Sadly the plot and the score let these two stars down. The chemistry between Martin and Holiday is wonderful and gives the film a warmth and an innocence that is exceedingly appealing forty years on, the fact that this was Ms Holiday's last film adding to the pathos.

You'll enjoy watching and it will raise several smiles so it has to be a good film.....it is just sad that the plot and score stop a good film becoming the classic which its cast deserved.