Susanna

A friend just sent me a great copy of this film. It is black and white, but primarily sepia-colored when the stage performances are shown.

From the first I felt an empathy for poor Suzanne who practiced for hours and was forced by her manager (well-played by Leslie Banks) to isolate from fans or friends. Her helper, "Mama", was in sympathy, but was out for what she could get. She tirelessly keeps Suzanne practicing her ballet steps.

When Suzanne meets Tony the puppeteer, her manager throws him out, as he fears she will leave the act. He is jealous in a personal sense as well. Even when Tony explains he wants to sketch a puppet of Suzanne, The Baron gets angry. Though he never appreciates her fine singing voice and her lovely stage dancing, he is quick to pocket a lot of Suzanne's earnings. He also uses psychology on Suzanne to get her to marry him. Hinting that she will be without her act if she does not, Suzanne is afraid to give up her dancing and singing. She almost tearfully asks "the Baron" to marry her and it is arranged.

When Suzanne (beautifully portrayed by Lillian Harvey) sang and did her stage performances, I felt pleasantly surprised by the lovely intertwining harmonies supplied by the puppeteers, who had their people sing and dance with lovely precision. The singing voices are reminiscent of the haunting harmonies of the voices in Merrie Melodies cartoons of the 30s and also films I love of the early 30s.

When Suzanne is doing her act "flying through the air" from the audience to the stage, Tony begs her not to marry the Baron. Thus, she recognizes feelings for him which cause her to miss-step. As she falls and ends up in hospital, Suzanne is encouraged by the doctor and Tony daily. Tony helps with her exercises and Suzanne is recovering. She does not wish to marry the Baron and tells him so.

I have not seen many puppet performances, but these are superb! The dancers are perfect replicas of Tony and Suzanne and dance beautifully in time to the music. I do like The Puppet People and a film with Lionel Barrymore where he wreaks vengeance on people, shrinking them to doll size. These are skillfully done, but show the real people in close-ups as well as the puppets.

In I Am Suzanne, we see more close-ups of the puppets. AS reviewers have already pointed out, Suzanne is confused about Tony's feelings when he proposes to her through the life-like puppet he has made of himself (and her). Later he explains that she, as a star, was an ideal to him. He never thought he would be close enough to propose marriage to her.

I will not spoil the denouement of the film for others. I think it is time well spent.

A young puppeteer falls for a dancer in a Svengali-like relationship with her overbearing manager. Unique and quirky early musical featuring Germany-based British star Lilian Harvey, whose life was worthy of a film of its own. Not sure why she never succeeded in the States because on the strength of her performance and personality here she certainly had all the necessary qualities. It's the puppets that make this otherwise ordinary romance memorable, though, especially in a nightmare sequence (which features creepy human puppets as well). Leslie Banks and Georgia Caine share an amusingly comical relationship as Harvey's manager and dance instructor. Not often you see the kind of tinting you find here in a talking picture

This is certainly different. Considering it's an arty, intellectual analogy about free will and what makes a person human, it's thoroughly engaging and surprisingly easy to both watch and to get the message.

It wasn't until the spectacular and quite disturbing 'trial by puppets' section that I realised what this was reminding me of: Pink Floyd's THE WALL. It's the same themes: isolation, control, individuality and emotional impotence. Here however instead of classic prog rock we have puppets. The puppets are the people whose lives can be changed. The real people are just helpless passengers, other people's constructs and everyone has built a wall around themselves.

Gene Raymond is in love with Suzanne. Suzanne is perfect for him because she behaves exactly as he wants her to...because he's not actually in love with the real Suzanne, it's puppet he made of her that he loves.

All people are puppets on strings says Raymond's character and that's the main point of this intriguing story. Nobody is really real. In the same vein as the story, the acting is not naturalistic, it's clunky and stylised, feeling almost childish but that's on purpose. The characters both Gene Raymond and Lillian Harvey play are not mature adults. They've been denied a normal childhood, they've not been allowed a grow up naturally so don't really know how to interact with real people. They are as wooden and artificial as the puppets.

Despite the deteriorated condition of the print (sadly a common trait with old Fox Films) it is visually stunning to watch (the un-tinted YouTube copy is slightly better). There's two problems however. Because the characters are purposely wooden (apart from Leslie Banks, who's great in this adding much needed dark humour), it's not that easy to relate to them. Secondly, Rowland Lee's direction and the editing are frequently truly awful which doesn't make sense since he made some fabulous pictures around this time.

It's still a great watch - a thoughtful yet also enjoyable film but a little too cold to make it into your heart.

You have probably never seen a movie like "I Am Suzanne!" Read the summary and you will get a feel for it, and it will save me from trying to explain why this is such a rewarding, heartwarming film - and those are adjectives I seldom use. I just wonder where the idea came for this picture - 'original' is hardly the word to describe it.

I think it is basically a love story and would be rated 'G' today, as it would have great appeal to children; think "Hans Christian Andersen" (1953) but minus puppets, and that would approximate the depth of the plot. The principals are childlike, and behave like children would think adults behave. Bland 30's leading man Gene Raymond is the puppeteer who thinks his marionettes are almost real, and Lilian Harvey is an unhappy dancer. They fall in love, although she is a greater success than he; few come to see his puppet shows and she is a celebrity.

Special mention should be made of the Yale Puppeteers, the real stars of the piece. When they are on-camera they steal the show, as much as possible for dolls on strings. So good are the Puppeteers that the dolls come to life in the several different set pieces they are in. I always thought puppeteers just stood above the puppet stage, but here they have intricate walkways to follow the movements of the puppets. The whole novel effect of the picture is fascinating and might have been better with a replacement for Raymond. Also if Fox spent a few more dollars on the production.

This one is worth it if you can find it. It comes in one-strip color but my copy was slightly blurry. Find a good movie pirate and buy it.

After he lost out in a power struggle at Paramount, Jesse Lasky went to Fox, where he produced some innovative pictures that were not particularly successful at the box office. This is one of them.

Most of what is interesting about this movie is the opportunity to see the handiwork of a couple of marionette companies of the era. Otherwise, there is one clear case of miscasting (Gene Raymond is supposed to be the neurotic scion of five generations of puppeteers who has a better relationship with his puppets than human when he looks and acts like a college football star) and some more subtle mistakes in acting and directing: Lilian Harvey is directed in the opening scenes as so withdrawn that I thought she might be playing an idiot, but as she gains in self control and knowledge, she becomes audible. Leslie Banks is quite amusing in a brief foray into the colonies and Georgia Caine handles the confidante-out-for-herself role very well.

Although this is a visually striking film, there are script problems. There is an interesting subtext about the relationship of identity and control as various people insist that they are Suzanne, the Lilian Harvey character, before the matter is sorted out. Had the film makers had a little more confidence in their audience, this might have turned into a better movie.