Original film musicals rarely work, and this was a notorious flop despite the music of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. I wonder if they considered cutting the numbers out because it wouldn't have been hard to do - they don't really add anything except laughter. The songs aren't so bad by themselves, but they don't really work in the context of the film.
The script seems to follow the Frank Capra original, with a few dud tweaks (e.g. making one of the characters a stand up comic). But things that worked in 1937, don't translate very well - whites being Asians, the whole mystic aspect of it, the romanticism of Peter Finch's character. Also what was mysterious and strange in 1937 was a lot more familiar by 1973 - maybe this was impossible to do. Or maybe it was just ineptly executed.
Peter Finch does what he can in the role - it's a tricky part (who else could have played it?) and he doesn't suit it as well as Ronald Colman but he handles it well enough. Michael York is effective, Sally Kellerman gets on the nerves (part of it is due to her bad dialogue), Olivia Hussey is very pretty, George Kennedy is fine, John Gielgud and Charles Boyer bring on a few laughs pretending to be Asian. Liv Ullman just looks plain darned uncomfortable.
It didn't have the budget to blow the audience away with its sets and production design, like the 1937 film did, or the conviction. Could this have ever worked? Maybe with a cast with actual experience in musicals (none of them are known as musical comedy stars), a better script that tries to update the story while keeping its essence, stronger handling. Or maybe it was just impossible.
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