El príncipe trovador

For many years it was fashionable to sneer at this early marriage of Gilbert & Sullivan, the D'Oyly Carte and the movies. But the distance of time has given us a more benign approach. There is very little - surprisingly so - damage done to the operetta; an aria or two juxtaposed and some odd casting. But most of what remains is charming, fresh and very lively.

Martyn Green steals the film as KoKo, though Sydney Granville gives a time honoured performance as Pooh Bah. My only real gripe is that Darrell Fancourt, that doyen of the D'Oyly Carte, was not called upon to sing the title role. What a document that would have been! As it is, it is the seasoned artists who make the most of the material. And if I don't believe that this is the best of the G & S works, it is certainly a delightful way of spending an hour and a half.

I saw this in 1939 when it was first released ( I was 8 years old ). What I remember most vividly was the fact that the audience was told that if they loudly applauded any number then they would replay it there and then, i.e. give an encore, and they did. I've never seen that done in any cinema before nor did I ever see it done again. The production is much better than I could remember or that I had heard about it since. The transfer to DVD has been done very well indeed. It is a pity about the cuts but even so the production is a delight with excellent diction and the 'cut glass' accents of the pretty maids is splendid.

With regard to the cuts: the biggest loss is Katisha's "Hearts do not break" and Katisha's duet with Koko " if that is so let's merrily marry". Yumyum's " The sun whose ray's" is truncated in that the second verse about the moon is omitted, however the Mikado's " I've got a little list " is there and his laugh is terrific, worthy of Boris Karloff. What did surprise me was that Nankipoo's song " A wandering minstrel I " had an unexpected resonance when combined with the date 1939, it gave his patriotic ballad section a shiver up my spine and brought back memories I would rather not have brought back.

Anyway Ken Baker's singing was excellent and as I said the whole thing was beautifully done. I run an opera group and am going to suggest that we show this one evening and try to re-create the encores.

With the exception of American radio tenor Kenny Baker, the members of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company are the cast of this filmed production of the Mikado. It was the first technicolor film done in the United Kingdom although in that same year, much better use of color was made in The Four Feathers.

A lot of history has passed since The Mikado made its debut in the 1880s. At that time Japan was considered the most exotic place on earth and with good reason. In 1853, the American expedition under Commodore Matthew Perry forcibly opened Japan to the world. Up to that time they had almost completely isolated themselves from the west for over 200 years. Westerners who found there way there, never returned. Only the Dutch had extremely limited trading facilities in Japan for years.

When they did open up, the curiosity of the west was unbounded on both sides of the Atlantic pond. In time the British would sign a treaty of alliance to protect each other's Far East interests. When that treaty was not renewed in 1923 it eventually set the two powers on a course for war.

But in the 1880s Great Britain was fascinated by things Japanese and Gilbert&Sullivan scored a big old satirical hit with The Mikado. If the music and manners of the cast sound British it's because from the safety of a land during the Middle Ages, the battling partners could get a few barbs in about British society and politics from a very firm safety net. The way Pooh-Bah collects offices and honors with the accompanying salaries was very much in line with the way the British courts over the years rewarded service rendered.

Starring in the role of Nanki-Poo the Mikado's son who has run away because he doesn't want to marry some old harpy dad's picked out for him is American radio singer Kenny Baker. He did several films, most notably the Goldwyn Follies where George Gershwin's last song hit during his lifetime, Love Walked In, became permanently identified with him. Baker was a regular on Jack Benny's radio program, later replaced by Dennis Day. Later on Baker scored a big hit on Broadway with Mary Martin in One Touch Of Venus. No doubt for reasons of export the British producers chose Baker to have some recognizable name away from the D'Oyly Carte regular company who no one on this side of the pond would have known. Baker's light pleasing tenor does justice to the Gilbert&Sullivan patter.

The film does lack production values though, it's a photographed performance of the opera. I would have liked to have seen better and outdoor sets possibly, but this is a never-neverland kind of Japan.

The Mikado got an Oscar nomination for color cinematography, but was just another casualty to the Gone With The Wind juggernaut of 1939. Still it's an interesting film and Gilbert&Sullivan fans who just care about the music should be pleased.

The Mikado is one of Gilbert and Sullivan's best works, and I was most interested in seeing this version after trying to view as many G&S productions as possible. I personally prefer the Lesley Garrett/Eric Idle 1987 version, but while flawed this Mikado is still interesting. Much has been said about the cuts, and I have to agree. I can understand why there were some, but some either didn't make sense to be cut or are just too good, KoKo's Little List number was especially true to this. I also thought the spoken prologue was rather pointless and characters have a tendency in important scenes in drift in and out of range.

However, visually and technically it is splendid, the Technicolour looks gorgeous and the costumes and sets are wonderfully authentic. The music is among G&S's best, and while you do wish it was complete it is beautifully performed and conducted. The comedy is sparkling and witty also, and the story is still charming enough. The performances are generally great, Kenny Baker is not quite as impressive as Nanki-Poo, vocally the singing is bright and clear and he looks the part but his acting is rather bland. On the other hand, Jean Collins sings Yum-Yum beautifully and Constance Willis is wonderfully arrogant and poignant as Katisha. John Barclay is an imposing Mikado, Gregory Stroud is good in the insubstantial role of Pish-Tush and Sydney Granville is delightfully pompous as Pooh-Bah. But the best performance easily comes from the splendid KoKo of Martyn Green, one of the best ever in this role, that's for sure.

All in all, interesting and generally well-made and sung, but at the same time perhaps not the most ideal of versions. 7.5/10 Bethany Cox

This is a remarkable film in many ways. The fact that it was shot in the UK in the new (and very vivid) technicolor, was a first for a start, and the preservation of the performances of a number of D'Oyly Carte principals makes this an important historical document. Sydney Granville (Pooh-Bah) had worked with Gilbet himself. Sadly, this seems to be a reissue of the version that was on general release in the cinema. The original cut of the film included a number of sections not present in this release - Ko-Ko's "Little List" song for instance was filmed and certainly was present in the original master copy (a copy of which was in the possession of a late member of the old D'Oyly Carte administrative staff). Hopefully, someday, a copy of the extended version will surface once again.