That Girl from Paris

If That Girl From Paris was made today there would be protesters at the screenings as Lily Pons is quite the illegal alien. I could just see the Donald leading a picket line protesting the fact that the heroine is a woman who stows away on ship to come to America and then is ready to get a marriage of convenience to stay here.

Not liking the arranged marriage she's been hammerlocked into Lily hooks up with a touring swing band consisting of Gene Raymond, Mischa Auer, Frank Jenks, and Jack Oakie. Of course all that doesn't sit well with Lucille Ball, affianced to Raymond and getting some of the best lines in the film.

Pons has some good numbers in all genres of music including a swing version of the Blue Danube Waltz and highlighting with her character's Metropolitan Opera debut in the Barber Of Seville.

This film was made right after Grace Moore scored such a success in One Night Of Love for Columbia Pictures. Studios went out and signed up opera singers, Lily Pons was RKO's catch. The vogue came and went quickly, this was Lily's second feature film after I Dream Too Much. She would do one more Hitting A New High and then she would return to the Metropolitan Opera for real.

But I'm glad some of these voices like Lily Pons recorded their art for posterity in films like That Girl From Paris.

Opera great Lily Pons plays a French singer who flees the altar looking for adventure and true love and ends up joining an American swing band (their hopped up version of "The Blue Danube" is a real treat). As charming as it is silly, the film is memorable for the way Pons bursts into song. Her version of "Una Voce Poco Fa" shows why she was such a magnificent stage presence. It's a shame that charisma did not quite make it on screen in the three movies she make for RKO (the other two being "I Dream Too Much" with Henry Fonda, 1935, and "Hitting a New High" 1937). Also notable is Lucille Ball's funny dance scene in which her character is sabotaged with soaped up dancing shoes, causing her to slip and fall every time she tries to dance; only a well trained dancer could have pulled it off.

Don't be put off by other negative critiques. Forget that Lily Pons was a highly regarded opera singer, or that somehow she condescended to appear in a movie. I don't know for sure, but I suspect that Pons was offered a great deal of money by RKO to make the three movies she made.

She gives a fine performance both acting and singing. The plot is typical 1930s fare, and I thought it amusing and better than average. I find Pons's characterization very charming.

As for Pons being tall and willowy, the lady was a petite 5 feet tall (see IMDb bio), but she sure had a superior voice in that little body. The "pop" tunes she was given to sing in this film were written with an operatic voice in mind, requiring a large range to sing.

No other mention has been given to Lucille Ball's very, very funny comedic dance. Her character is sabotaged with a pair of soaped-up dancing shoes, causing her to slip and fall every time she tries to dance. I've watched this over and over and I laugh out loud every time I see it. It takes a very good, well-trained dancer to be able to fall down as much and as well as she did.

Perhaps it made sense from a commercial standpoint: bringing a great lady of the opera, Lili Pons, to a level at which the public could more easily relate to her - perhaps even to identify with her in some respects. The result, ideally, would have been to create a leading lady in films who sang divinely as she was surrounded by "us." Miss Pons gave it her best try - here and elsewhere - but it just didn't work. Most unfortunately, the filmmakers effort to generate the common touch involved presenting her in the most commonplace outfits, makeup and coiffure, downplaying the "glamour" associated with grand opera. Supporting her with the buffoonery of Jack Oakie and his cohorts, having her hiding under blankets, climbing here and there, etc. doesn't register either. Though no beauty, Lili Pons can radiate elegance and charm (along with her great vocalizing), as she does, in full costume, when she sings "Una voce poco fa" in this picture. Her movies don't give us enough of the Lili Pons that made her a stage presence, and might have made her a screen presence. To have her play against (her own) type - here and elsewhere - was a mistake.

I wish I had a time machine and could go back to the old Met and hear some of these singers like Galli-Curci and Lily Pons, who had voices the size of gnats. Nowadays a straight coloratura would never be given Violetta to sing. I'm not even sure one would sing Lucia. They still sing Gilda, and by Act II, it looks like a silent movie. as no one can hear them.

Anyway, Lily Pons was a huge international breakout opera star who made three films for RKO in the '30s. She also did advertisements and gave concerts. Here, she plays a singer, Nikki Martin, a Parisian without a passport who takes off on her wedding day and winds up meeting musician Windy McLean (Gene Raymond) who plays with a band, the 'McLean Wildcats.' Nikki falls for him and stows away on the ship that takes him and his band back to America. Authorities find her, lock her up, and fire the band, which was supposed to play on the ship. Nikki escapes once the ship reaches New York and turns up at the Wildcats' apartment.

Windy's girlfriend, Clair (Lucille Ball) arrives and has a job for them at a roadhouse, which gets them out of town and away from the authorities, who want to bring them to justice for hiding Nikki. When Clair is injured, Nikki becomes very popular as the band's singer. Clair reports them, and soon, they're on the run again.

The band players (Jack Oakie, Hermann Bing, and Mischa Auer) are funny and lively. The film contains lots of music of all kinds. At the end, Pons sings one of her signature roles, Rosina in "The Barber of Seville." Today that role is sung by a mezzo-soprano.

Pons had excellent coloratura technique (but no trill) and, like most female singers of that era, backed off the high notes. It has to do with their training and the type of sound that was considered acceptable. She had a high F and was known for Lakme, an opera which isn't done much anymore.

This is an entertaining film that gives one a chance to see one a really big opera star of the day, during a time when opera was much more a part of the culture. Pons sang into her seventies and, even when I was a child, was still very well known.