Balalaika

"Balalaika" is strictly for fans of Hollywood's Golden Age. If you are one, it's got a great cast of character actors you will recognize pretty quickly and you will appreciate the singing of Nelson Eddy and Ilona Massey. If you appreciate good acting, Eddy is passable and Massey, not so. He is his usual limited self but she comes across as cold and humorless, which is the polar opposite of Jeanette MacDonald.

The storyline is thin and unconvincing, sort of like "The Student Prince"; he is royalty, she is not, so he passes himself off as a peasant to win her hand. An interesting aspect of the picture is that it treats the aftermath of the Russian Revolution and the dissolution of the upper class. Here, many of Russian royalty end up in Paris after WWI in menial jobs, much to their sadness and chagrin. Can't recall the subject having been broached on film before.

In short, the plot is forgettable, the cast is interesting and the music carries the day. Not for younger audiences but for those of us who appreciate Hollywood's past.

This movie asks the question, can a Cossack boy and a Bolshevik girl find true happiness either in old mother Russia or the new Soviet Union?

In this movie the answer is no. Nelson Eddy and Ilona Massey are attracted to each other, but background and politics strive to keep them apart.

While he was at MGM, Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald did very few films with other leads and in this one Nelson gets to act with the women who he did the second amount of co-starring with. Ilona Massey cuts a fine figure as a revolutionary with her father, Lionel Atwill who is a music teacher by day and a Bolshevik by night.

Nelson Eddy apparently liked Russian themes. He did two other films with Russian elements in them, The Chocolate Soldier and Northwest Passage. His singing in Russian of The Volga Boatman is the high point of Balalaika.

My favorite performer in this however is Charlie Ruggles. He plays Nelson Eddy's orderly and he plays the fool quite well. He steers clear of politics, but ultimately winds up the only real winner in this movie.

Not the best or the worst of Nelson Eddy's screen efforts, but enjoyable.

MGM gave NELSON EDDY a chance to co-star with someone other than JEANETTE MacDONALD, but they gave him a lumbering musical about a Russian prince who disguises himself as a commoner in order to woo a princess. It's the kind of story done countless times before and the only distinction here is the music.

Nelson sings some rousing Russian numbers and is joined in song by the beautiful ILONA MASSEY, who looks like a younger, blonder edition of Marlene Dietrich, sunken cheekbones and all. Given the complete glamor treatment with glossy MGM close-ups complimenting her vivacious good looks, Massey has what seems a contralto singing voice and not quite the soprano the songs want her to be. Neverthelss, she makes a striking picture opposite the robust baritone who is in excellent voice here.

As usual, there are comedy moments to lighten the rather dark story set against the Russian revolution, and these are handled rather indifferently by Frank Morgan, Charlie Ruggles and George Tobias. Sharp-eyed movie fans can catch a glimpse of actor Phillip Terry who is kept mostly in the background during the cabaret sequences.

Overall, it's a cumbersome story, with a predictable outcome, that takes too many long stretches between songs to tell a rather tedious story of lovers separated by their politics.

I am generally a soft touch for movies that have fictional characters in a well-known historical setting, and this one is no exception. Based on a 1936 underrated musical that opened in London, and set on the eve of both World War I and the Russian revolution, it involves a Russian Prince, Nelson Eddy, and a singer and revolutionary, Ilona Massey, who deceive each other as to who they really are, and fall in love. But even after they discover their true identities, they remain in love until separated by the war and then the revolution.

The sets and costumes are first-rate and director Reinhold Schunzel keeps the film moving at a nice pace and handles the crowd scenes extremely well. Mild comedy is provided by Charlie Ruggles and Frank Morgan. Although I'm not much of a fan of Nelson Eddy - he's somewhat bland in his acting - he does have a good voice, so I did enjoy lots of his singing. The stirring "Ride, Cossack, Ride" while the Cossacks are on horseback riding towards the camera, which keeps moving back to avoid a collision, is beautifully photographed. His rendition of "Silent Night" in German, while in the trenches during WW I, answering the Austrian enemy soldiers singing of that song, was a wonderful tender sequence. Eddy also sings the Toreador song from Bizet's "Carmen" which will surely will be liked by opera fans.

But I loved best the last 15 minutes or so, when the Russian emigrés who have gathered in Paris after the war, meet at the Paris version of the Balalaika Cafe to celebrate the Russian New Year. Instead of the joy you would expect on such an occasion, you see the sadness in everyone's eyes at having had to leave their homeland. Frank Morgan sings about his "Land of Dreams," and it moved me to tears.

Balalaika is not the worst of Nelson Eddy's films, that's I Married an Angel and even that for this viewer was not that bad. But it's not even close to the likes of Maytime, New Moon and The Chocolate Soldier. Balalaika is a decent and quite nice film but did come across as very problematic. Eddy has never been the best of actors(his best performances have been in Chocolate Soldier, Maytime and Let Freedom Ring), and Balalaika doesn't really change that perception. He is at least better than he was in The Phantom of the Opera and I Married An Angel and at least he is more convincing as a Russian than he was as an Austrian in Bittersweet. But he is very stiff and wooden here, he has charming moments but he never looks comfortable. The story is also very predictable, cumbersome and even silly(at times), and the pacing can be rather dull. The script fares little better, often awkward sounding and lifeless- the film was strongly censored at the risk of offending so that could be why- while the humour is mild and unfortunately not very funny. Charles Ruggles fares the best in the supporting cast, but excepting the last fifteen minutes where he's affecting Frank Morgan's comic talents are not really put to good use and his performance is somewhat indifferent. The costumes and sets are beautiful, and the crisp black and white photography is especially striking in the Ride Cossack Ride and Stille Nacht (Silent Night) sequences, ones that is stirring for the former and poignant for the latter. The score and songs are a treat to listen to, At the Balalika, Ride Cossack Ride, Song of the Volga Boatmen and Toreador Song are particularly great. Frank Morgan's song in the last fifteen minutes is also very moving, as is the ending itself. Even if his acting is not up to snuff, Eddy still produces some magnificent singing in Balalaika(the best thing about the film), always robust and beautiful and at its best in Ride Cossack Ride and Song of the Volga Boatmen. And extra credit for singing in four languages in one film, you don't hear that very often. Ilona Massey looks absolutely stunning- even that doesn't do justice to her beauty actually- and a worthy leading lady for Eddy. They work well together and blend nicely(if not quite as much as Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald). In conclusion, a nice decent film but a long way from one of Nelson Eddy's finest hours. 6/10 Bethany Cox