Bitter Sweet

In the style of the great "Maytime " , director W.S.Van Dyke(San Francisco, Tarzan, the ape man ) adapted the original operetta by Noel Coward . The movie is a glamorous, romantic piece , wiht a magnificent photograhy, wonderful songs and a pair of unforgettable stars, Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy . Music, tragedy, love , all the elements are present in this beautiful picture , a joy for the moviegoer .Nelson and Jeanette sang with passion and his magic is beyond the scenes , his magic truly touched our hearts.

A previous reviewer reported the well known story about how upset Noel Coward was at this version of his work that he refused to allow Hollywood to do another adaptation of any of his works. Hollywood in fact never did.

Of course you'd have to have something to compare it to and I hope that TCM manages to find the 1933 version that Anna Neagle and Fernand Gravey did for the British cinema.

On its own Bitter Sweet is a mixture of the previous MacDonald/Eddy triumph Maytime with a good hunk of Anna Karenina thrown into the mix. Jeanette MacDonald on an impulse runs off with her music teacher Nelson Eddy to gay old Vienna where they live on love and starve a good deal of the time. In doing the elopement she jilts her fiancé, proper and stuffy Edward Ashley who's an up and coming man in their Foreign Office.

I'm sure Noel Coward didn't complain about what Jeanette and Nelson did vocally with his songs because they're sung beautifully. Jeanette is barely passable for British and Nelson is about as Viennese as John Wayne. MGM knew that and surrounded them with the German colony of Hollywood, Sig Rumann, Curt Bois, Felix Bressart, and Herman Bing. And George Sanders is his usual caddish self as the Baron Von Trannisch who's got a lustful eye for Jeanette.

Noel Coward's plays are comedies of manners with some satirical jibes at British society. His music is universal, but his wit is for the British Isles. I doubt he could have written a western. My guess is that that was what Coward objected to in this film.

Still Jeanette and Nelson fans will like it and until someone at TCM finds the Anna Neagle version that's all we're likely to see.

Any film with Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy can't be bad. But that's about as good as can be said for this one. "Bitter Sweet" is the second last of eight pairings Hollywood made of the couple. And the film is bitter sweet, in more ways than one. Other reviewers delve into the controversy involving Noel Coward over the Hollywood treatment of his play here. So, I'll stick to the film as its presented here.

Of course it has a bitter sweet ending. But throughout the film, the music itself seems so bitter sweet. There are no memorable tunes and much of Nelson's singing here seems almost bland. Together with that is his seeming dour persona for much of the film There's no bouncy, lively, energetic Eddy that was in his other films. He seemed to always have some dreary thought on his mind. Perhaps it was intended that he play it that way, sort of fitting the story, but I think it backfires. I think this must be about the least of the films that the otherwise lovely couple made together.

Jeannette MacDonald is an English woman who falls in love with her teacher (Nelson Eddy) and runs away with him to Vienna in "Bitter Sweet," a 1940 musical based on a play by Noel Coward.

Sarah (MacDonald) gets away from her family and a man she doesn't love to be with Carl (Eddy) who sings and composes. They have a hard time making ends meet but eventually start making money performing in a club. When a top producer is brought to the club to hear Carl's music, the future looks rosy. It's just an illusion.

The film was given a top-notch production in color, and Jeannette not only looks lovely but wears the most glorious gowns!

I have always preferred Jeanette's acting to Nelson's and Nelson's singing to Jeanette's. Both of them sound wonderful singing Noel Coward's music, including the beautiful "I'll See You Again." For some reason, both MacDonald and Eddy had uncredited "vocal stand-ins" - I would assume these people did not sing for them but perhaps rehearsed with the musicians, because Nelson and Jeanette sounded like themselves.

MacDonald's voice had a fluttery quality and her tone tended to straighten at the top, but the middle voice and lower tones sounded beautiful. And you can't beat her presence. Eddy, of course, was a magnificent singer, totally suited to the operatic stage. He just never seemed that comfortable in front of the camera.

Reminiscent of "Maytime," this is a treat for Eddy-MacDonald fans.

This movie is notable for pairing the popular duet of Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald with the original play, music, and lyrics of Noel Coward, England's most renowned Renaissance man of the theater. Coward's contempt for unromantic prigs is quite apparent in his portrayal of a Victorian lass and her dashing music teacher. This is my nomination for the best of the Eddy-MacDonald films, especially for the beautiful song "I'll See You Again." Apparently Coward thought the film was a travesty; I enjoyed it. --Musicals on the Silver Screen, American Library Association, 2013