So if you’re Meredith Willson, how do you follow your colossal 1957 Broadway hit, The Music Man? Richard Rodgers advised him to wait until he found a story he really wanted to tell, and it turned out that Willson wanted more Americana—departing Iowa in favor of Colorado.

The Unsinkable Molly Brown retold the saga of a near-legendary figure from history, who rises from a poverty-stricken background in Hannibal, Missouri; marries a lucky prospector; tries to crash Denver society but is snubbed by that city's “beautiful people”; charms European royalty with her down-to-earth candor; and—this is true!—heroically commands a lifeboat while the Titanic sinks.

Lotta story for a musical, huh? And there’s even more. But the show became a Broadway hit with Tammy Grimes in the star-making title role. Four years later the MGM musical version arrived with Debbie Reynolds—who coveted the part—replacing Grimes. Near the end of her film musical career, Reynolds threw herself into it with an almost fanatical gusto that makes us forget her signature cuteness. Playing opposite Reynolds in his movie debut was the big-voiced Harve Presnell, who got to reprise the Johnny Brown he created on Broadway.

The film has topflight choreography by Peter Gennaro and some good Willson songs including (what else?) the march “I Ain’t Down Yet,” though inexplicably, much of his theater score went unused. The real problem in Hollywood, though, was the book trouble that had hampered the New York production.

That being said, Molly Brown is an entertaining if traditional musical blessed with spectacular Colorado vistas and a very, very strong woman.