Preludio de amor

Robert Riskin, who wrote the script for this movie, also wrote the scripts for Platinum Blonde (1931), It Happened One Night (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Lost Horizon (1937), You Can't Take It with You (1938), Meet John Doe (1941), and many other of the great movie classics of the 1930s. If I start by listing those masterpieces, it is to wonder how he could have written something as poor as this script. Because it is the script, and Riskin's sole turn at being a movie director, that sink this movie. The first part is very poor, the middle not as bad, but then the end, with the god-awful music festival done in neo-Grecian art deco, destroys any chance of actually respecting this movie. HOW could anyone have thought that the last number, a piece that talks about a "simple song" but is staged with a cast of hundreds in elaborate 18th century ball gowns and what not, would not look ridiculous? It's a shame that the script and direction are so often so poor, because there are good things in this movie.

Moore's singing of Sibonay early in the movie is magical. It's a great number, brought off wonderfully by Moore at her very best. The staging isn't great, but it doesn't sink what is really a great five minutes.

There is also a very effective 5 minutes dramatically when Cary Grant and Moore sit before a fire in his cabin. The scene comes off as very natural, and very convincing - one of the few such natural moments in the movie, unfortunately.

Several of the other musical numbers, done very simply, are very moving. The song Moore sings to the children about the wooden doll, her song out in nature (which then gets travestied as the finale at the music festival), her singing of a folk-song while lying on her back in the cabin. And while she was no Cab Calloway, she does a nice job with Minnie the Moocher.

But Riskin's direction kills a good performance of Shubert's Serenade, done, for no apparent reason, in neo-Grecian art-deco. And Moore's performance of Vissi d'arte from Tosca under the opening credits is never explained and leads nowhere.

The dramatic crux of the movie happens only because Moore's character fails to explain to Cary Grant's why she has to sing at the music festival. It makes no sense that she would not have explained this.

So, in summary: there are some golden nuggets in this movie, mostly the musical numbers - but not all of them. Most of the rest of it is poor.

Very definitely inferior to Moore's other movie from 1937, I'll Take Romance, which suggests that Moore could have made some good movies if she had had better directors and material.

When You're In Love will forever be known as the film where Grace Moore shed her opera image and did a low down version of Minnie the Moocher. For that and for the fact that she got Cary Grant as a leading man who in the end would way eclipse her in movie star power. Grace was on the decline in Hollywood and Grant was rising fast.

The film was produced, written, and directed by Robert Riskin, his only directorial credit. Riskin is primarily known as the screenwriter collaborator of Frank Capra in some of his most memorable films. He also had been romantically involved earlier in the decade with another soprano star Jeanette MacDonald.

In fact the Minnie the Moocher sequence was inspired I'm sure by Jeanette's turn at jazz in Rose Marie the year before where she sang Some of These Days.

Though it didn't appear so When You're In Love was also a milestone film for Cary Grant even though he was distinctly second billed to Miss Grace Moore. This was his first film after leaving his nurturing studio of Paramount. For the next fifteen year or so, Grant alternated primarily with RKO and Columbia as employers of his free lance services.

The plot borders on the silly. Grace Moore is an Australian opera star who overstayed her work visa in America and was deported to Mexico where she's languishing waiting for an immigration quota number. Her shrewd manager Aline McMahon hits on the idea of marrying an American to get back in the country immediately.

Well if you're going to get married you can't do better than Cary Grant for any purpose. He's a penniless artist and also would like to leave Mexico, but he does have some rather interesting ideas on the relationship himself.

Moore's character is no doubt borrowed from real life Australian opera singer Marjorie Lawrence whose life story would be told in the MGM film Interrupted Melody. Lawrence did marry an American, but not for her immigration status.

The subject matter of the film would be done in a far more serious vein by Paramount in 1941 in Hold Back The Dawn with Charles Boyer and Olivia DeHavilland. Those folks's immigration problems were far more real than what we see here.

Grace Moore has her usual mix of opera and concert material to sing in When You're In Love. In addition Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields also contribute two numbers as well.

But it's Minnie the Moocher, that red hot Hoochy Coocher for which this film will always be known. What must Cab Calloway have thought?

Another light hearted romp from the 30's. Who doesn't like Cary Grant? This is an early glimpse into the comedic side of the Cary Grant we loved in so many films he made afterward. Miss Moore lights up the screen with her singing. Grace Moore was an opera star from the Met that found her way into film. She was nominated for Best Actress for her 1934 film "One Night of Love". Here an Australian opera singer needs to get to America but cannot get over the border and agrees to a plan. This movie has quite a bit of charm. I love the scenes of Mexico. One song in particular is a bit overdone but, all in all this is a nice romantic film. It may not be Shakespeare but it's a lot of fun.

So-so musical romance starring Grace Moore as an Australian opera singer who marries American artist Cary Grant to get back into the United States for an important concert. He tries to win her over with predictable results. Not great stuff but pleasant enough I suppose. Notable for being the only movie directed by screenwriter Robert Riskin (he also wrote this). Also worth mentioning for Moore fans that, in addition to a few opera numbers, she sings "Minnie the Moocher" here. Let's just say it's not likely to be the best rendition of that song you've ever heard. Really, this is one for Grace Moore fans more than Cary Grant ones. He does perfectly fine with his role, don't get me wrong. He's charming and likable as usual. But it's just kind of a dull part for Cary. The supporting cast is nice but greats like Aline MacMahon and Thomas Mitchell are wasted in cardboard cut-out roles. See it for Grace or if you're a Cary completist. Or, heck, see it if you're really into opera (I'm not).

Here is a "screwball comedy" with music. Cary Grant and Grace Moore play two screwballs stranded in Mexico who must wed in order to solve their problems with the border patrol. The film seems designed to firm up opera singer Moore' movie-star status and establish Grant as Hollywood's most charming leading man, and it does so quite amusingly. The top musical treat is seeing Moore perform "Minnie the Moocher," Cab Calloway's decidedly unoperatic signature song. Along the way we get to hear Puccini and Schubert as well as couple of songs written by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields. Favorite line: Cary Grant saying he needs "a martini, with the speed of an antelope."