Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

Bells Are Ringing (1960)

Director: Vincente Minnelli

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Minnelli's last musical before On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, and like it a curate's egg. The two stars are a pleasure to behold, particularly the genially dizzy Holliday, a telephone answering-service operator who can't help involving herself in the lives and hopes of her clients. And old Mr Nonchalance Martin sidles through his part as a doubting, drunken playwright with his customary charm. But their material just isn't up to the mark: Betty Comden and Adolph Green's script involves much jaded satire of jaded topics like Method acting, pop music and smart parties, while Jule Styne's infrequent songs don't really get the bells ringing. Something is also wrong with Minnelli's presentation, for the action tends to hang inside the 'Scope frame looking theatrical and inert; even the location stuff seems phony.

Author: GB 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Director: Vincente Minnelli

Producer: Arthur Freed

Cast: Judy Holliday, Dean Martin, Fred Clark, Eddie Foy Jr, Frank Gorshin, Jean Stapleton, Ruth Storey full cast

Genre(s): Musicals

Duration: 125 mins


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.