Music for Madame

This film is an unexplained "sleeper".. Wonderful cast and plot, and the song " I Want The World To Know" as sung by Nino Martini is unforgettable. Film difficult to locate and purchase, and copies available are poor (at least mine is), but most comes through reasonably well, and when it does, a splendid and nostalgic tribute to the lost genius of Hollywood to produce classic entertainment on low budgets. Don't miss this one. For some reason, this film is not included in any of the listed ones of Joan Fontaine. In this film, her performance is adequate and her appearance unflattering, and this may be the reason why she may not wanted to make known her performance in it. Of course, the film was probably one of her first ones, and in which, unfairly I believe, she considered her performance very poor.

In the 1930s, Hollywood loved opera stars and cast quite a few of them in big films. The likes of Lawrence Tibbett, Colleen Moore and Nino Martini all were huge opera stars...and were tempted by Hollywood to appear in films. Oddly, despite Hollywood loving opera stars, none of them ended up making very many movies. And, in many cases it's because the scripts didn't seem to be able to make good use of these talented folks. An exception is "Music for Madame"...a film which was far more enjoyable than I'd expected.

In this story, Nino wants to become a big opera star but he's tricked by some thieves into working to help them! They sneak him into a big party filled with important folks (especially, the Maestro, played by Alan Mowbray). During Nino's surprise performance for these guests, they are all so transfixed by his amazing voice that the crooks are able to sneak in and steal a super-valuable necklace. Nine is clueless this is going to happen and the police assume he is working as a willing member of the gang. While he manages to escape, this poses a big problem...if he sings in public, he's likely to be recognized and the police will arrest him for the theft.

The best things about the film are Mowbray's over the top performance as the fat-headed Maestro, Nino's lovely voice and a lot of nice supporting actors. Well worth seeing and surprisingly fun.

The best thing about this film is the collection of co-stars... alan hale (who was in almost every black and white film made), twenty year old joan fontaine, erik rhodes. Jack carson, grant mitchell. Billy gilbert, who made a career out of sneezing. The story here is really secondary to the performances by nino martini, the lead. He was actually a professional singer in the met, and only made seven films. Martini made one more after this, and went back to singing. In the story, a singer who wants to break into hollywood meets up with some thugs who take him on a heist. While he's singing at an event, the thugs steal the jewels. Now he fears for his life. The rest of the film is nino singing while trying not to get knocked off. So much arguing. Lots of sneezing. It kind of goes on and on. I would have like more story and less singing, but that's just me. Directed by john blystone, who died at 45, the year after this was released. Fontaine would make the women, rebecca, and suspicion in the next couple years. Fun to see her in an early role.

"Music for Madam" is a light film from RKO starring opera singer Nino Martini and Joan Fontaine. It's fascinating to note that in the 1930s-1950s, opera was used in film plots and opera singers were hired for the movies. Then suddenly, it all stopped, even as musical films continued in popularity for a time after. The last attempt, a disaster, was Pavarotti in "Yes, Giorgio." What happened? Good question. But I'm sure if you took a poll, opera attendance in the U.S. is way down. I would venture to say cultural pastimes can't compete with the likes of the Kardashians, bubblegum music, and Honey Boo-Boo.

Martini plays a naive tenor Nino Maretti who comes to Hollywood to make it in the movies. While he's singing on the bus, some thieves planning to rob valuable pearls at the home of a famous film impresario a la Stokowski (Alan Mowbray) decide he's just the ticket to distract the guests while they do their pilfering.

After telling Nino that they can make him a star with their connections, they throw him in a clown costume and clown makeup and have him sing Vesti la giubba, giving them a chance to steal the pearls. At first, everyone wants to know his identity and several want to sign him to lucrative contracts.

Several minutes later, they think he helped steal the pearls. With no name and no look at his real face, they can't find him. And poor Nino, as a wanted man, can't cash in on his success. Broke and despondent, he is befriended by a lovely young composer (Fontaine) who attended the party to present her music to the maestro. Nino falls for her but can't tell her what happened.

Martini possessed a beautiful lyric tenor voice which he exhibits here, and also shared with audiences from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera. Though he was a lyric tenor, for some reason in those days lyrics often tended to heavier repertoire, as he did, singing some Verdi and Puccini, though the works of Donizetti and Rossini were really his specialty. Here, we get to hear part of Una furtiva lagrima, which was right up his alley.

It's a nice film, worth it to hear Martini and see a very young and pretty Joan Fontaine.

Rita and I enjoyed this film very much. It is obviously an attempt in the 1930's to make opera style music popular by mixing it with comedy. Nino Martini has a great voice, and with his Italian accent, reminded us a little of Roberto Benigni. The plot revolves around Nino, who is traveling to Hollywood in search of fame. He falls in with a gang of crooks who use his talent to distract everyone at a party while they steal the jewels. There are many great character actors doing their routines, such as Billy Gilbert with his sneezing, Alan Hale as an opera loving cop, Ward Bond as a thug, Alan Mowbray as the stuffy conductor, and co-starring Joan Fontaine as the love interest. There is also a great unbilled musical bit by Romo Vincent (I had never heard of him before) as a singing truck driver.