Watch The Mikado For Free

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Pretty Good

Fresh and Exciting

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Associate producer: Josef Somlo. Producer: Geoffrey Toye. This film was produced by arrangement with Rupert D'Oyly Carte. Made at London's Pinewood Studios.Music played by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Geoffrey Toye. Chorus from the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Songs, all lyrics by Sir William Schwenck Gilbert, music by Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan: "The Sun, Whose Rays" (Baker, reprized Colin), "Gentlemen of Japan" (chorus), "A Wandering Minstrel, I" (Baker and chorus), "Our Great Mikado" (Stroud and chorus), "Behold the Lord High Executioner" (chorus), "Taken from a County Jail" (Green), "Comes a Train of Little Ladies" (chorus), "Three Little Maids from School" (Colin, Paynter, Naylor and chorus), "Were You Not to Ko-Ko Plighted" (Baker and Colin), "I Am So Proud" (Granville, Green, Stroud), "With Aspect Stern" (Green, Granville, Stroud, chorus), "The Threatened Cloud Has Passed Away" (Baker, Colin, Granville, Paynter, Naylor, chorus), "Long Life to Nanki-Poo" (Granville, chorus), "Your Revels Cease!" (Willis, chorus, Paynter, Baker), "Braid the Raven Hair" (chorus), "For He's Going To Marry Yum-Yum" (Paynter and chorus), "Brightly Dawns Our Wedding Day" (Colin, Paynter, Baker, Stroud), "Here's a How-De-Do!" (Colin, Baker, Green), "Miya Sama" (chorus), "Obedience I Expect" (Barclay, Willis, chorus), "A More Humane Mikado" (Barclay and chorus), "The Criminal Cried" (Green, Paynter, Granville, chorus), "The Flowers That Bloom in the Spring" (Baker, Green, Colin, Paynter, Granville), "Titwillow" (Green). Deleted songs: "Young Man Despair", "I've Got a Little List", "So Pardon Us'', "Oh Fool", "Flutter Little Heart", "A Is Happy", "Alone And Yet Alive", "Beauty in the Bellow of the Blast", "For He's Gone and Married Yum-Yum". Copyright 10 May 1939 by Universal Pictures Co., Inc. A G&S Films (London) Production. New York opening at the Rivoli: 1 June 1939. U.S. release: 8 September 1939. U.K. release through General Film Distributors: January 1939. Australian release through G-B-D/20th Century-Fox: 15 June 1939. 11 reels. 91 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Rather than marry his father's choice, the son of the Mikado of Japan flees from the palace. NOTES: Universal's first full Technicolor release. COMMENT: Exquisite. Mind you, some viewers complained that Kenny Baker's American accent was distracting. Others were unhappy by the omission of Ko-Ko's famous patter song about his "little list". And many of the songs that are retained have been cut down to a few verses. But who could resist such a charmingly pastel-colored production, brilliantly enacted and sung, and so stylishly presented? Sound recording and other technical credits are superb.

This version of 'The Mikado' was released in 1939 and was an early Technicolor production. This, and the fact that most of the cast are D'Oyly Carte veterans and experts in the material, means it is extremely watchable today. Even the addition of American Kenny Baker as Nanki-Poo (who acquits himself very well in such exalted company) can't spoil the feeling of watching a superior piece of operetta.Of course there are a number of songs missing from this score, which is a shame. Chief amongst these is Ko-Ko's 'Little List', which I think was cut because of contemporary references which could seem offensive today. If that's true, it is a pity to lose such a show-stopper. I'd also liked to have seen more of Pooh-Bah, who has two songs deleted.If you like Gilbert and Sullivan, or operettas generally, or big stage production musicals, sung well and acted with style, 'The Mikado' is for you.

This was an unexpected delight. The only exposure I had to The Mikodo was a live "under the stars" show at the Open Air Theater in Washington Crossing Park, N.J. (starring Lee Bristol, president of Bristol/Myers) and the film Topsy Turvy. Kenny Baker was OK, but I can't help thinking that he was "groomed" to be another Dick Powell. I was laughing like a little kid more than once at the zany antics. A bit more physical comedy could have been displayed but that might have endangered the purity of G&S. Looking at Martyn Green's performance made me think of how Buster Keaton could have played Koko. And that brought to mind the old television version with Groucho Marx in the role. Despite the cuts, it was a fine program.

For many years it was fashionable to sneer at this early marriage of Gilbert & Sullivan, the D'Oyly Carte and the movies. But the distance of time has given us a more benign approach. There is very little - surprisingly so - damage done to the operetta; an aria or two juxtaposed and some odd casting. But most of what remains is charming, fresh and very lively.Martyn Green steals the film as KoKo, though Sydney Granville gives a time honoured performance as Pooh Bah. My only real gripe is that Darrell Fancourt, that doyen of the D'Oyly Carte, was not called upon to sing the title role. What a document that would have been! As it is, it is the seasoned artists who make the most of the material. And if I don't believe that this is the best of the G & S works, it is certainly a delightful way of spending an hour and a half.