I had just finished watching “The Band Wagon” when I heard the news that director Stanley Donen had passed away at the age of 94. Obviously, the aforementioned Fred Astaire musical wasn’t directed by Donen but it was clearly influenced by his majestic reinterpretation of what the musical should be like.
The passing of the great Donen should not go unnoticed, hell, not only did he live a gloriously extravagant life as a maestro of the musical but he was dating director Elaine May (“A New Leaf”) until his very last day on earth. Bless his heart.
Donen brought color, and lots of it, to the Hollywood musicals of the late ’40s and ’50s, with his peak probably beginning with 1949’s “On The Town” (the first location-based musical), and peaking with 1952’s “Singin’ in the Rain,” one of the greatest movies of all-time.
Other career highlights would be found that same decade, especially 1957’s “Funny Face” and 1958’s “Damn Yankees.” His swift shift from musicals to romantic comedies in the ‘60s was hit and miss, much like his musicals phase, to tell you the truth, but he did produce the Cary Grant/Audrey Hepburn semi-classic caper “Charade,” also “Two For The Road “and “Bedazzled,” the latter of which was remade into a misbegotten Brendan Fraser/Liz Hurley flick in 2001.