Call Me Madam

Amazon.com

A great star and a great composer can make a Broadway musical into a smash, as Ethel Merman and Irving Berlin proved with Call Me Madam. Not a bad place to start with a movie, either, and the 1953 film of the show has both Merman and Berlin represented in brassy fashion. Granted, Merman's platinum-throated talents were best suited to the stage, and the production overall has that dutiful, stodgy tone of so many Fox musicals. Extra points for the suavity of George Sanders (he's Merman's love interest in tiny Lichtenburg, where the lady has been appointed U.S. ambassador), and for the dancing of Vera-Ellen and Donald O'Connor. A year after crashing through the wall in Singin' in the Rain, O'Connor has a similar solo athletic workout to "What Chance Have I with Love." High point: Merman and O'Connor trading verses on "You're Just in Love," the best tune in a bouncy score. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful nostalgia trip.......2006-08-12

I originally saw this movie when I was 10 years old and over the years remembered the wonderful dancing and songs. I was disappointed that it never seemed to turn up on TV and was delighted to be able to buy my own copy. When I saw it again recently it was even better than I had remembered it. Donald O'Connor's partnership with Vera-Ellen is enchanting - I've watched their dances over and over. And Ethel Merman lights up the screen every time she is on - her interpretation of the memorable Berlin songs, whether belted out or sweetly romantic - is, I believe, unbeatable. I now want to get all the other Merman movies. And what a shame that George Sanders' deep, rich baritone wasn't more widely heard.

A Great Hit.......2006-07-05

Call Me Madame is a wonderful spoof on diplomatic practice. I intend to show part of it to my undergrad course in diplomacy at Georgetown University to demonstrate to the students how ambassadors should not conduct themselves.

Call Me Madam 1953.......2006-04-26

Brassy , belt-it-out Broadway Legend Ethel Mermann (1908-1984) , delivers a singularly show-stopping version performance in this beloved big-screen version of Irving Berlin (1888-1989) last big Musical comedy Success . It?s the story of a Washington D.C. socialite who becomes a U.S. Ambassador and finds Romance along the Way . Filled with Colorfully tuneful Berlin favorite like "The Hostess With The Mostes" and "You?re just in Love " And unforgettable dance sequences by Donald O?Connor (1925-2003) and lovely Vera-Ellen (1921-1981) CALL ME MADAM is Hollywood musical magic ! . High Quality digital transfer . Reccomended

call me madam.......2006-03-09

It is wonderful to view this excellent dvd of such an excellent
film.
Now the miraculous acting and singing of the great Ethel Merman as well as of all the cast can be fully appreciated

Call Me Madam.......2006-02-28

Call me Madam is an entertaining musical with songs you'll find yourself humming or sining around the house or while driving a car.

Call Me - The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss

Average customer rating:

Not a Real Nude Scene
Great News
UnType-Cast
so bad its good
A Star is Born

Call Me - The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss
Starring: Jamie-Lynn DiScala , Saul Rubinek , Emmanuelle Vaugier , Ian Tracey , and Natassia Malthe
Director: Charles McDougall
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0007PAM4W
Release Date: 2005-05-17

Product Description

The Sopranos Jamie-Lynn DiScala is a knockout as the woman at the center of Hollywood s most provocative scandal in this uncensored version that bares it all! Heidi Fleiss turns sex into success with a call girl business that caters to Hollywood s biggest celebrities, but the high life can t last forever.

System Requirements:

Running Time 84 Min

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com

The only-in-Hollywood saga of Heidi Fleiss gets a breathless TV-movie workout in Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss, a romp through the call-girl follies of America's most famous madam. The Heidi story had enough trashy aspects to sink a garbage scow, and most of them are aired out in this tale of a respectable girl who rose through the ranks to become a successful businesswoman--and the holder of the most explosive little black book in Tinseltown. Experienced TV director Charles MacDougall must have noticed the story's similarities to GoodFellas, because he loads the movie with oodles of Scorsese-like flash and dazzle, complete with hyperactive camera and punchy songs. At least this makes the TV-movies values more fun than usual to look at, and Robert Davi seems to be having a ball as Fleiss's conduit into the sleaze world, director Ivan Nagy. (How Oscar-winner Brenda Fricker got involved in this we'll pass over.) Playing Fleiss is Sopranos co-star Jamie-Lynn DiScala, who certainly conjures up the right note of spoiled vapidity. The unrated DVD has nudity (DiScala's body double, we're talking here), but the movie gets stingy on naming names--as though the identities of actors and filmmakers who turned up in the little black book hadn't leaked out already. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

Not a Real Nude Scene.......2006-06-16

A quick reminder to the audience about this movie...It is a TV movie. 2nd thing, I realize a lot of people want to see this movie for one reason. They get to see Jamie-Lynn DiScala (although she's now divorced and using the last name Sigler) disrobe. Well, as for the first comment...It's a TV movie and if you're watching it, it's pretty obvious what it is. But, it's not horrible for a TV movie. In the land of bio-pics, it's no masterpiece but it has its moments of entertainment and it's pretty interesting. The 2nd thing, despite various reports you do not actually see DiScala take her clothes off. She's using a body double and the network did not even attempt to hide this little fact. In the scene where DiScala is meeting Brenda Fricker, she opens her shirt. The camera pulls back, as Fricker asks for DiScala to come closer. Look at DiScala's face...It's not hers, then there's a quick cut and marvelously, DiScala's face has reappeared. So, for the naked DiScala seekers. this is the wrong spot. But, anyway, this movie basically tells you what you probably already knew (Heidi Fleiss is on every 'E Network' special there is). Heidi Fleiss became a prostitute to big names in the entertainment business and eventually took over as Madame and began banking more money than she could handle. Eventually she was caught, jailed, and released. DiScala's performance is far from Meadow, whom she plays on "The Sopranos", and there's times where she even looks like Heidi Fleiss (except, for the record, DiScala is way hotter) but sometimes the dialogue is really bad so it looks like a bad soap opera. It's hard for me to grade this film because it's really bad, but it's kind of good. So, this movie may not warrant the "B" grade in the same way a movie like "Crash" would warrant an "A" grade...But, oh well.

GRADE: B-

Great News.......2006-03-16

I watched this movie not expecting much but I loved it. It was a great news movie, if you like true stories about screwed up peoples lives you will love this........

UnType-Cast.......2006-03-08

DiScala was emotionally type-cast, and physically mis-cast, to play an allegedly desirable woman. She would, however, be perfectly cast as a fat-assed, shallow, narcissist. Oh, that's right, she has already scored that role on the Sopranos.

so bad its good.......2005-11-20

If you enjoy campy movies this one is for you! Some pretty bad acting and great lines you can quote back with your friends. A coked out Jamie Lynn is especially enjoyable in the court scenes. You'd do well to buy this movie with Showgirls.

A Star is Born.......2005-11-16

DeNiro. Duvall. Brando. Pacino. Depp. None of these great actors can hold a candle to Jason Stewart's performance as "Sunset Photographer" in Call Me. Stewart, the star of Murder at the Presidio and the best contestant Blind Date ever had, is mesmerizing as he delivers his trademark "Ivan! Ivan! Just a couple -- please!" off camera near the end of the flick. I know, I know, I always say that, and not to make a mountain out of a mole-grille, but J Stew just takes Call Me to another level.

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