Really good movie, worth catching next time it is played on an old movies channel.
The 1997 blockbuster, 'Titanic', began with its maiden voyage, and ended with its sinking. This movie, with Debbie Reynolds starring as Molly Brown and Harve Presnell as John J. 'Johnny' Brown, has about 2 minutes of the Titanic's sinking, near the end of the movie. All the rest of the movie is about Molly's life before and after that fateful event in history. This movie version of Molly Brown's story received 6 Oscar nominations, and was adapted from the very successful stage production.
I like this tiny Texan, Debbie Reynolds. She was so good in 'Singing In The Rain' a decade earlier with Gene Kelly, and here you can see how well the dancing instruction from Kelly paid off in her subsequent roles. She brings the appropriate Molly Brown spunk to the role, but is probably quite a bit more attractive than the real Molly Brown, whose home I visited while in Denver back about 25 years ago. It is fun to make all those historical connections.
I'm also a big fan of Presnell's. To me it shows how much it is worth to "be in the right place at the right time.' Presnell wasn't. He was a bit late for most of the big musicals, and as a result his wonderful trained baritone voice has gone mostly under-appreciated. I saw him on stage in Houston about 15 or 16 years ago, and to me was the star of the production. Now, in his later years he has had good dramatic roles (notably in 'Fargo' as the rich father in law), but he is an example of a very talented, and handsome, singer and actor who could have done so much more, had he been in the right place at the right time. This "success" business in acting depends so much on luck.
Molly Brown was born in Missouri as Maggie Tobin. As an 18-yr-old she moved to Leadville, Colorado and soon married JJ Brown. He gained wealth in the mining industry and they moved to Denver, Colorado where the established women of society rejected them as too unrefined. So she went to Paris to become a sophisticated lady. It was on her return trip in 1912 that she gained the eventual name "Unsinkable Molly Brown" for her positive attitude and helping others survive too.
