Hello, Dolly!

It relies almost exclusively on the celebrated eyes, ears, nose and throat of Streisand. Her musicianship remains irreproachable. But her mannerisms are so arch and calculated that one half expects to find a key implanted in her back.

Emphasis has been placed on extravaganza, when it should really have been placed on getting good performances out of a talented cast.

Gene Kelly directed, a long way from Terpsichore apparently, though not, alas, from the Thanksgiving turkey.

A magical, old-fashioned musical.

Streisand is a unique performer, with that inborn vitality which marks great personalities.

The Jerry Herman score is unmemorable, Michael Kidd's choreography is foreshortened to accommodate yards of additional dialogue by Ernest Lehman, and the rest is Streisand capably doing her thing in a series of plushily colossal sets.

An old fashioned, rousing musical with some of the most spectacular singing and dancing numbers ever filmed.

...fares best with the ensemble dance numbers that elegantly combine group movement and individual footwork.

It's an exercise in star turns, surrounded by elephantine blandness.

Hello, Dolly! is only the fourth best screen musical of 1969, and I find that a relaxing thought.