SNG Exploration Blog: The Band Wagon (1953) + Other Movies

Monday, December 1, 2025

The Band Wagon (1953) + Other Movies

Well, it's that time of month, Happy Holidays everyone!

Anyways, I want to start fairly normal right now. It's officially been a year since I did a series of posts that were ideas for an Artmania Christmas Special and to be honest, I'm not exactly sure about the whole thing. I changed my style a little more and became less keen on movies without a coherent plot whatsoever.

Recently I went on [FILMGRAB] and was inspired by pictures online, they felt like the best bits from the actual movies.

It's been exactly 5 months since I last watched The Band Wagon (1953), it's still mostly phenomenal work to this day despite some of the characters.

MGM musicals. While there isn't too much structure, their Technicolor movies are beautiful and have the best songs in cinema, that's why I easily like them especially when they create novelty sequences most of the time.

This movie is well-known for the third act. It's like nothing you'd ever see in older movies, so much effort and creativity, yet it moves at an equitable pace. Look at the red staircases and the camera angle. It's satisfying.

Here's another example from The 39 Steps, I bought it on DVD and it did not look like the scenes above mostly because I bought it at the flea market and expected it to be somewhat decent.

This movie has great cinematography. However what suffers it is it's wonky premise and bland characters.

I was slightly disappointed after watching the movie because I expected something more cruel, and frightening. It was just badly paced and characters spoke TOO fast.

Now am I judging or criticizing these films harshly? No. These were products at the time, and it's fair for me to express my opinions on a certain film. I have not once ever watched a film that ruined me ever, none of the films I watched wasted my time because why is that a considerably good thing to say? Nothing is a waste of time, it's part of learning and knowing your perspective.

I honestly like experiencing new things almost all the time. I would never know whenever I like a film or not. Here's another B&W movie, Winter Light (1963). It's a better paced film than The 39 Steps (1935). Realistic dialogue, a story that expresses real situations and events and more focus. It's a great film with a mix of Christian imagery.

Now if you mixed Winter Light and The Band Wagon simultaneously, it's something I would equally be interested in creating the most.

The Band Wagon (1953) has magnificent color schemes while Winter Light (1963) has phenomenal acting and pacing.

I don't remember everything from The Band Wagon, but this reminds me of Fantasia (1940) I have no idea if this was supposed to be animated, not gonna lie I doubt but I could imagine it like that. The two-tone colors are incredible, it could give a more abstract meaning on what's behind the situation or thought just like with Gene Kelly's fantasies with films like An American In Paris, and Anchor's Aweigh.