Kiss Me Again

Victor Herbert's tune-filled 1905 operetta "Mlle. Modiste" is cut to about half its length and drastically rewritten by the Hollywood know-it-alls, but it's still a melodic and lighthearted little picture. Benefit-of-hindsight bonuses include Edward Everett Horton butching it up as a soldier and Frank McHugh mincing around in the effeminate-comic role (maybe they should have switched parts), a stolid Walter Pidgeon warbling a little, and most of the unsung Herbert songs at least surviving as background score. Bernice Claire, who might have supplanted Jeanette MacDonald as First Diva of the Screen if her career timing were better, is a charmer -- spirited, pretty (she looks like Julie Andrews) and with a bell-clear soprano, nicely captured by the early sound equipment.

It was one of the last operettas made in the genre's first cycle, and too many musicals spoiled the box-office. But it's better-paced and less pretentious than most of its kind.

In this operetta, Walter Pigeon (who wasn't young, even in 1931) and Edward Everett Horton (!!) are two soldiers in love. Walter loves a shop-girl (who sings a lot). Edward loves Walter's arranged fiancée. Walt loses his girl, because papa writes her a check, and she uses it (after appropriate soul searching) to launch her opera career. Edward's in danger of losing her girl because the arranged marriage is going forward. Will true love triumph?

The musical numbers are OK, though sung in an operatic style that some may like, but most moviegoers now hate. The staging is very static. As for plot and acting -- nothing very good or very bad. Because Edward Everett Horton has a role outside of his usual range, he's subdued and seems a bit uncomfortable.

The bright spot here is Frank McHugh as the Brooklyn accented "Francois", who gets a comic number to himself in the opening reels. He shouts more than sings, but it's decent Broadway style singing. He also, in the same number, gets to parade about in drag. This is quite funny, and if you're in the right mood, worth seeing. His role, however, is entirely peripheral to the plot, and his speaking style is wackily out of place.

... because only the visual drabness of the remaining black and white print drags down this early talkie musical. Walter Pidgeon as Paul and Edward Everett Hornton as Rene are two French soldiers in Paris between foreign assignments. Paul has an arranged marriage in his future in the person of Marie, but Paul doesn't much care for the arrangements as he is in love with shop girl Fifi (Bernice Claire). Likewise Rene and Marie are in love. Fifi works in the high fashion shop of the elegant Madame Cecile, who for some inexplicable reason married, and for some even more inexplicable reason still keeps around after the divorce her ex-husband Francois (Frank McHugh) who keeps her shop in chaos with the kind of antics that will be familiar to you if you've seen McHugh's later comic work at Warners. Claude Gillingham and Albert Gran play the fathers of Paul and Marie, respectively, who would never allow true love to stand in the way of their arranged wedding plans. This is the setup of the very unremarkable plot.

However, plot was never really the point of this early talkie operetta. The point was comedy and good tunes and good fun, and at that it succeeds quite well. Don't let any other possible bad experiences with early talkie musicals deter you from watching this one - it's one of the best of the first generation of musicals. Even Claude Gillingham's talent at cinematic grouchiness is turned into an opportunity for a memorable song, and Edward Everett Hornton, with a song in his heart if not on his lips and underneath all of that ridiculous Technicolor makeup is still Edward Everett Hornton who is always uniquely hilarious as he verbally takes you through whatever predicament he happens to be in. As someone else mentioned, the singer of note here is Bernice Claire as Fifi who inexplicably disappeared from motion pictures in the early 30's. Her voice is right up there with Jeanette McDonald's.

The only bad thing I have to say is that because the Technicolor print is lost and only black and white remains, some of the scenes and shots do not make sense. In Technicolor no doubt the dance numbers and long shots of production numbers would have been a feast for the eyes with their oranges, pinks, blues, and greens. Since film choreography at this time is pretty much non-existent what remains are shots of dancing girls moving about rather slowly, no doubt so you could get a look at their costumes which in black and white are nothing to write home about.

Highly recommended for the early talkie musical enthusiast.

Sounds to me loike the music to Oklahoma stole some melodies from this movie (really the play). Terrible to see Walter Pidgeon's early (very bad) acting.

I think my score of 3 might just be generous for this movie....as it's really, really bad. To make it worse, the film has some amazing actors in the film. However, the godawful musical numbers are so bad and so hard on your ears that even the best actors couldn't make this one work! Yes, the likes of Edward Everett Horton, Frank McHugh, Walter Pidgeon and Claude Gillingwater* couldn't make this one work!

The film is supposedly about French folks, but you'll never hear anything close to resembling a French accent in the film. It's a film about a Legionnaire (Pidgeon) falling for a cabaret singer...and the father (Gillingwater) refusing to allow the marriage. As for Bernice Claire, she plays the woman...and her acting isn't bad but when she began singing my dog attempted suicide several times! Yes, her operatic style and the songs were just awful and you need to hear them to believe them!! My daughter also heard a few songs and said something like "Why are you torturing yourself with this movie?!"....and that pretty much sums it up. It's a movie with nice acting and a decent plot...but the singing is just horrible. This film is one of the reasons why after a plethora of musicals in the late 20s and early 30s, Hollywood stopped making so many for a few years until they realized the public did enjoy musicals...provided they didn't stink!

*While very, very few people would know his name, Gillingwater made a career out of playing old sour pusses...and he was great at it! He really was amazing playing such parts and here he's at his best.