Zigeunerprinzessin

The story is pleasant, though artificial and inconsequential. The scene where the heroine was obliged to go swimming and thus reveal her true identity is almost identical to one in the earlier Girls Will Be Boys with Dolly Haas. The print I saw was from the Cohen Collection, looking superb, and what I really enjoyed was seeing Ireland and pre-war London and its people in colour, together with character actors like Mark Daly and D.J. Williams, previously confined to faded monochrome footage. And not least the legendary Irish tenor, John McCormack, whom I've long heard recordings of, but never seen. Annabella and Henry Fonda make an attractive leading couple.

"Wings Of The Morning" is a good movie. Not a great movie, but a good one and there are several reasons to watch it. First and foremost, it is a rare opportunity to see and hear Ireland's most famous tenor, John McCormack. He sings several songs as the featured entertainer at a dinner party. He doesn't appear in the picture until about an hour into it, but his gorgeous tenor voice delivers "Killarney" and "All Those Endearing Young Charms" and it is worth the wait.

This is also England's first Technicolor movie and it is pretty in its own right, but must seem primitive to film sophisticates. Especially eye-catching are shots of the Irish countryside as McCormack sings. Annabella makes her English-speaking debut in this picture and she is beautiful but her accent makes her difficult to understand at times.

Well, that's about it. The story is ordinary, the plot points telegraphed and it moves at glacial speed. I would have rated it lower were it not for the reasons mentioned above.

Shot partially on location in Killarney, Ireland in Glorious Three-Strip Tecnicolor, "Wings of the Morning" can claim to be the first film shot in that process on the British Isles. Iconic cinematographer Jack Cardiff gets his first Technicolor credit as the film's camera operator and would go on to one of the most illustrious careers in film history. However, although it was financially successful during its initial release, fans of John McCormack and Henry Fonda will be disappointed with it today.

John McCormack, the pride of Athlone, County Westmeath and arguably the greatest Irish tenor of all time, failed in several attempts to break into the movies. That's not surprising when one views his stiff acting and singing in this film. Although he sings three songs here, he evidently didn't even bother to memorize the lyrics and sings while looking at a notebook he carries with him. It's no wonder that the film editor decided to cut away from him to inserts of the idyllic Irish countryside during his performance rather than keep the overweight and unphotogenic singer on screen.

Fonda supposedly played a Canadian in this British movie shot partially in Ireland but clearly didn't have a competent dialogue coach because he plays his early scenes with a decidedly Southern drawl. He later lapses into his singularly un-Canadian Midwestern twang.

At this point in his career Fonda was a free-lancer and didn't have to do this film, which was designed as a showcase for French beauty Annabella in her English-speaking debut. After he did sign a long-term contract at Fox in 1940 as a condition of getting the role of Tom Joad in "The Grapes of Wrath," the respected actor chafed when required to play support for films designed to showcase other Fox stars. His unhappy experience on the Alice Faye vehicle "Lillian Russell" is a prime example. Why did Fonda agree to do the film? A good guess would be that the trip to Englasnd and Ireland, rather than the script, was enough motivation.

Although there had been earlier British colour films in other processes, this was the first in technicolour.Obviously Fox spent the money on the cast and colour,as the story is second rate. Lots of lovely country views and John Mccornick singing away.Curiously he keeps on looking at a small book for the lyrics.A very experienced cast many who had been in films since early silent films.

"Wings of the Morning" (1937) has the distinction of being the first Technicolor film shot in the British isles, made when the great cinematographer Jack Cardiff was operating a camera. It also introduced the Irish tenor John McCormack to the public. Wings of the Morning might have been important for being French actress Annabella's first English-speaking film, but Annabella was two years away from becoming very famous for another reason which basically stopped her film career.

Annabella has a dual role here, actually a triple role, in a film that takes place first in the 1800s and then in the present day. First, she is Marie, a gypsy, who is with other gypsies in Ireland in 1869. The Lord Clontarf (Lesley Banks) gives the gypsies rights to live on his land in perpetuity. He falls in love with Marie and the two marry, a union that is definitely controversial. When Lord Clontarf is killed in a fall while riding, Marie jumps on the gypsy caravan, and ever the roamers, they leave the area.

Fifty years later, Annabella plays Maria, Duchess of Leyva, who is Marie's great-granddaughter and engaged to Don Diego (Teddy Underdown). The gypsies must flee Spain due to a revolution, so they return to the Clontarf land in Ireland. Marie (now played by Irene Vanbrugh) is worried that Maria will not get out of Spain, but she does, dressed as a boy. While so dressed, she meets horse trainer Kerry Gilfallen (Fonda), a Canadian.

Eventually he discovers he's a she and falls for her. Maria has traded her great-grandmother's horse, Wings of the Morning to Kerry, not realizing the importance of the animal. Marie intends to enter it in a race in order to win money for Maria's dowry.

Henry Fonda was such a handsome young man, and always a good actor, but he doesn't come off as Canadian with that drawl of his. Despite being new to English, Annabella does a very effective job in all of her roles - she was, after all, a huge star in France. Singer John McCormack had a beautiful Irish tenor, but what a bore - no career in movies for him.

As far as the film itself, it's an interesting story but in the end, not a great film. The color isn't as sharp as we're used to today, but it doesn't diminish the incredible beauty of the Irish countryside.

Annabella met actor Tyrone Power on the set of Suez in 1938 and the couple married in 1939. Their boss, Darryl F. Zanuck, did everything he could to break them up -- he offered Annabella some films that were to be made in Europe -- but she refused to leave Power. Once they married, the star buildup for Annabella stopped. She would star on Broadway, work for the war effort, do radio, and a production of "Liliom" with her husband, finally returning to France after they were divorced in 1948. From what she said in interviews -- je ne regrette rien.