The Music Man

Overlong but generally faithful and entertaining screen version of Meredith Willson's Broadway hit, with Preston in fine form as the con-man whose bogus music professor enlivens a small Iowa town by convincing the inhabitants they need a uniformed brass band, with himself on expenses. Zestily performed and choreographed, beautifully shot by Robert Burks, full of standards like '76 Trombones' and 'Till There Was You', and endowed with a warming nostalgia for old-fashioned ways.