Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

atlasmb First, let me say that I am a fan of Judy Holliday. She displays her broad array of talents in this film, but that is about all this film has going for it. See "Born Yesterday" for a vehicle that better uses her abilities. In that movie, Judy's romantic interest was William Holden, and the chemistry was there. In "Bells are Ringing" her romantic interest is Dean Martin. I felt no magnetism between the two. And I felt that he was unsuited for this role. It was interesting that Dean's character, a writer named Jeffrey Moss, was afraid of failure in the wake of losing his former partner, with whom he had success. Dean himself was only 3 years beyond his split with Jerry Lewis, and must have wondered--at first--if he could duplicate the tremendous successes they had as a team.Jeffrey Moss, when we first meet him, is in his bachelor flat, surrounded by used glasses, presumably used for alcohol consumption. And he has three cigarettes smoking at the same time. He is obviously used to drinking around the clock and seems to have little if any genuine affection for the numerous women in his life. He is a writer frozen with fear of failure and looks to be on the road to achieving that end.The concept that Ella, played by Judy, interjects herself into his life and becomes his muse is a good one. But their relationship works only on that professional level. No sparks ensue. Martin's character did not even seem to know anything about Ella, let alone have any deep feelings for her as a woman.The story itself is very dated, but interesting because of that. The conventions of 1960 as sometimes funny, sometimes ridiculous. Note that the men from Vice equate modeling and a red dress with prostitution, though film standards prevent them from using that word. New York City is caricatured as an emotionally cold city, where buildings from the past are destroyed to make way for buildings of steel and neon lights. It was probably totally believable because it was partially true.I noted the movie sign for "Gigi", which--like this film--was an Arthur Freed production.Frank Gorshin got to use his Brando impersonation, delightfully, in his role as the aspiring actor Blake Barton.Some of the off-screen voices that Ella converses with sound like they could have been voiced by Judy herself.I thought I detected similarities to "Guys and Dolls" (1955) and "Li'l Abner" (1959)), which is no criticism, just an observation. And Judy's performance makes me wonder if Streisand ("Funny Girl" in 1965) might have seen her performance.I read elsewhere online that one viewer thought the dance in the park by Martin and Holliday was the best part of the film. For me, the number was painful to watch, in part due to their lack of emotional attachment, in part because it seemed so contrived.

Newavedist I first saw this film when they made a new 35mm CinemaScope/Metrocolor print for the Joseph Papp theater back in the seventies. I thought it was mildly entertaining but very stagy and padded with too many unrelated subplots. At least the color and CinemaScope looked good although the production value made the movie seem as if it had been made a decade earlier. By 1960, many musicals, were being shot at least in part on location (i.e. "Oklahoma!", "South Pacific") rather than on artificial looking studio sets. In terms of the cast, Dean and Gorshon were amusing. Holiday is an acquired taste. I thought she was good in "Born Yesterday" but her dumb blond act seemed a bit stale ten years later and she was too old for this role. The musical numbers ranged from good ("Just in Time") to ridiculous (The betting song, "The Midas Touch"). I recently screened the picture again on TCM and I found it even more dated. It's worth seeing once but don't expect the quality level of the director's earlier pictures.

moonspinner55 Director Vincente Minnelli gets this stagy adaptation of the Broadway success off to a splashy start; however, like most musicals helmed by the erratic Minnelli, he never quite lives up to that colorful opening. Beginning with a succession of ringing rotary phones--all in kicky colors--the prelude acts as an advertisement for Susanswerphone, a telephone answering service. It looks as though this going be pure genius, until we find out that nervously-wired Judy Holliday is the only operator Susanswerphone seems to have (and she's the kooky type, getting involved in other people's lives because she has nothing going on in her own). Holliday is in love with one of the clients, a Broadway playwright who thinks he's washed up, and feels guilty about dating him under an alias, but her situation doesn't seem exceptionally dire. Dean Martin (miscast) sings a nice, funny version of "Just in Time" with Holliday, but otherwise hasn't much to offer. The stale plot, trite and cozy-contrived, gets a boost from the musical moments, but even those are not staged with much excitement. Too bad...Susanswerphone had great possibilities. **1/2 from ****

krem9601 I was wondering why the end scene has Judy in a blue dress that is not at all a good shade for her. she should be in some color more her shade. the rest of her wardrobe is Hollywood style why not her last performance.