Musica sulle nuvole

This movie improves with every viewing! Because it's a fantasy, every time you see it, you notice different things going on in the background. I used to mind the occasional cut-aways to Willie asleep on the couch, but I realize that even now---perhaps especially now---audiences need to be reminded that it is a dream they're watching. If some parts of the narrative are disconcerting, it seems that several scenes were cut before release, scenes that explain things like the crowd in the street in front of the Palaffi Bank when Willie arrives for work, Peter's sudden appearance and instant dislike of Anna, and how "all of a sudden" Peggy becomes Anna's best friend. But it is a delightful film with beautiful singing, memorable songs, and sly satire that works on several levels. A real treat: watch it! (Regarding Anna's wings at the party: Foil-covered cardboard and a costume made ofbed linen are jealous Marika's attempt to make Anna look foolish.)

It appears that there's no middle ground on this movie! Most of it takes place in a dream and, like most dreams, it's often foolish and illogical. It's also a gorgeous production with some great songs and fine performances, especially by our angel.

Jeanette's deadpan, unknowing insults and various other faux pas at the dream reception are hilarious, and her jitterbug with Binnie Barnes is a surprise and a delight. At one point, she gets to sing a snippet from Carmen, followed by the final trio of Faust (holding a lapdog, for some strange reason), then "Aloha Oe" on the beach!

It's a surreal comedy--tremendously entertaining if you can get into the groove.

One used to say, concerning Nathaniel Hawthorne, that his failures were more interesting than his successes. I believe that the same remark could suit to McDonald-Eddy's pictures. And especially this one.

It apparently possesses many characteristics of a failed movie: it's kitsch, the script, because of censorship, sounds inconsistent… Yet, this movie gets also some good points: good Rodgers-Hart's music ("I married an angel", "Tira tira tira la"), good acting with E.E.Horton and Reginald Owen.

Anyway, if you may dislike it, you can't forget it. This strange movie actually leaves a very strong, dreamlike, impression, and you are very likely to keep it in mind for days, maybe for weeks. Why? In the thirties and the beginning of the forties, movies didn't have the same mean than today: it aimed, like a dream, to divert the public in order to make it forget a difficult reality. Of all the the dream-movies that was made, in that time, this one stands as particularly powerful.

In short, let's say that the better way to appreciate this movie, is to watch it without wondering whether it's good or bad. To watch it, like you would watch a dream.

It was not planned that way, but as it turns out the film adaption of the Rodgers&Hart Broadway musical I Married an Angel turned out to be the last pairing of Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. Nelson in fact left Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer after this film and bought his own contract out for $250,000.00 according to a recently published book about the pair by Sheryl Rich.

They are in good voice and the songs of Rodgers&Hart never got a better treatment. Unfortunately the film ran into some censorship problems about celestial creatures doing some very earthly things. Rodgers&Hart were busy on Broadway and couldn't help. Two very big shows for them, Pal Joey and By Jupiter kept them occupied.

Nelson is a happy carefree Hungarian playboy who's grandfather started the Bank of Budapest. But Nelson would rather spend his time with wine, women, and song and since it's Nelson Eddy, song doesn't take third place to the other two. At his birthday party he's taken by a little known to him employee at the bank in an angel costume. Guess who that is? Feeling a little the worse for wear from the revelry, Nelson takes a little snooze.

During the dream Jeanette appears to him as a real angel and Nelson is smitten. He asks her to marry him and she agrees. She's without a dishonest bone in her heavenly body.

Unfortunately her time in heaven has not prepared her to deal with certain earthly hypocrisies. It's one wild celestial ride that Jeanette gives Nelson.

The title song, I'll Tell the Man in the Street, and Spring is Here are the big hit numbers from the Broadway show and the stars do them well. The satire comes off far better here than it did for Jeanette and Nelson in Bittersweet, but still censorship really crippled some of the best lines from Broadway.

Binnie Barnes, Reginald Owen, Edward Everett Horton and Douglass Dumbrille give good support to the singing sweethearts. Barnes practically steals the show as the wisecracking earthly friend of MacDonald who sets out to teach her worldly ways.

I think fans of MacDonald and Eddy and others who do knock this film ought to give it a second look. It's not as bad as some would make it out to be.

Based on the Broadway musical, "I Married an Angel" is a fantasy that takes place in Budapest. Released in 1942, it proved to be the last film for Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald, as Eddy bought out his contract and left MGM.

The story concerns a secretary, Anna (again MacDonald) who is in love with the her playboy banker boss, Count Pilaffi (Eddy), and has been invited to his birthday party. Because it's a costume party, a jealous girlfriend of the Count's (Mona Maris) makes sure that Anna is in a cheap makeshift angel costume, complete with aluminum wings, one of which falls off, and a halo that hits the Count in the face when he tries to dance with her. After being hit one too many times, the Count excuses himself and goes upstairs, where he falls asleep.

He dreams that an angel, Brigitta (MacDonald again) comes down from heaven to be his wife. She seems perfect, except that she's not used to the ways of the world - polite social talk, for instance - so she tells it like it is, thereby insulting a lot of important people. She gets some lessons from an earthy earth woman (Binnie Barnes) and manages to save the day for her husband.

This film is often criticized by MacDonald-Eddy fans. In truth, MacDonald was never more beautiful, sings well, and Eddy is in fabulous voice. The title song is the big one, along with "Spring is Here." Granted the plot is paper thin, but the couple wasn't known for making heavy movies. Lovely singing, pretty music, a not overly long film, "I Married An Angel" doesn't try to be anything but what it is - light entertainment. Take it on that level, and you won't be disappointed.