The Music Man

The Music Man is a 1962 film starring Robert Preston as Harold Hill and Shirley Jones as Marian Paroo. The film is based on the 1957 Broadway play of the same name by Meredith Willson.

The film was one of the biggest hits of the year and highly acclaimed critically. It also at last made Robert Preston into an "A" list star in motion pictures, after years of appearing in supporting roles in famous films and in starring roles in "B" movies. It also marked one of the first pictures in which Preston's character was not killed off, one of his former screen "trademarks."

After the success of the film, Preston began getting much better film roles. Although he scored a great success in the original stage version of the show, it is said that he was not first choice for the film version, partly because he was not a box office star. A common story is that Cary Grant was offered the role by Jack L. Warner, who was notorious for wanting to film stage musicals with stars other than the ones who played the roles onstage, and that Grant not only refused the role, but refused to see the film if Robert Preston did not star in it. Unusually for a musical film at the time, Morton DaCosta, who had directed the show onstage, not only directed the film, but produced it as well, ensuring that the film was extremely faithful to the show. The actress Pert Kelton and the Buffalo Bills (quartet) also reprised their stage roles, and practically all of the show's songs were retained for the film