Dramas shine at Palm Springs festival

Although it was the documentaries that soared at this year's chilly Sundance Film Festival, two weeks earlier at the sunny Palm Springs Film Festival, it was the very fine and very varied array of dramatic films from around the world that were most often on people's lips.

Not that documentaries didn't play a big part at Southern California's 12-day January fest as well; there were, in fact, three documentaries in particular that were right up there at the top of almost everyone's list: "Hollywood Singing and Dancing," "The Pixar Story" and "Autism: The Musical."

Watch for "Hollywood Singing and Dancing" when the extended three-hour version is scheduled to play on PBS this coming March. Hosted by Shirley Jones and accompanied by sparkling interviews with such stars as Debbie Reynolds and Liza Minnelli, it follows the Hollywood musical from presound days, through Busby Berkeley's black-and-white yet kaleidoscopic dance spectacles, through the heyday of "Singin' in the Rain" and other '40s and '50s favorites, right up through Bob Fosse's "Cabaret," Rob Miller's "Chicago" and the recent knockout, "Dreamgirls."

For once, musical numbers are seen in their entirety, such as Fred Astaire's breathtaking tap dancing up the wall and across the ceiling and tiny Shirley Temple mimicking her beaming old black partner as they cleverly tap dance up the wooden staircase and back down again. And if you've never seen — or forgotten — the jaw-dropping woodsman in "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" doing modern dance while brandishing a heavy ax, this is just one more thing in "Hollywood Singing and Dancing" that's definitely not to be missed.

"The Pixar Story" is a fascinating documentary of how the three-dimensional and highly detailed animation of today began — and how it has developed. What fun it is to watch Tom Hanks and Tim Allen at their microphones doing the voices for Woody and Buzz Lightyear.

"Autism: The Musical" is an eye-opener — and a guaranteed heart-warmer. It's uplifting to watch Elaine Hall dedicate her life to helping youngsters with varying types of autism find themselves and learn to cope in the world around them. And when an otherwise awkward and somewhat gooney-acting girl becomes transformed as she maturely, beautifully and flawlessly sings a Joni Mitchell song, you'll find yourself weeping with joy and wonderment.

And there were other enlightening documentaries such as "Black and White Plus Gray," chronicling the relationship between photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, promoter Sam Wagstaff and singer/poet Patti Smith; and "As Seen Through Their Eyes," recording the personal paintings and testimonies of survivors of the Holocaust.