Música no Ar

This was Fox Studios' lowest-grossing film of its year (Fox merged with 20th Century only months later) and I can see why. It's not bad; it's just not all that good. This might explain why it hasn't been restored. At minimum, a cleaning of the monophonic soundtrack, especially in the crowd scenes, and the addition of subtitles, would certainly improve it.

This film was based on a very successful Broadway musical which ran for nearly 350 performances, but even the score by Kern & Hammerstein couldn't save the film. Its hit song, "I've Told Ev'ry Little Star," is still recognizable today.

I can't blame the actors, even though the ensemble might have been better-cast. Only one lead actor, Al Shean as Dr. Walter Lessing, was carried over from the play to the film, and one minor (non-speaking in the film), Marjorie Main as Frieda's maid, Anna. All were very good in their roles, but they didn't all "click" together, so I have nobody to blame but the script adapters and/or the directors, both main and casting (whoever the latter may have been).

This was one of nine John Boles films made that year. (Wow!) Gloria Swanson was a silent film star, but not one of several who failed the transition into sound films. As evidenced by her performance here, she not only spoke well, but she also had a fine singing voice. Nevertheless, after about a half dozen sound films, this was her last film for seven more years, and then another nine before her classic, "Sunset Boulevard," which earned her a Golden Globe for Best Actress. "Sunset Boulevard" also earned her her third Oscar nomination for Best Actress, but she lost out on all three to others.

... and believe it or not that weirdness factor alone - the factor of a director (Joe May) and one of the writers (Billy Wilder) both being people who found themselves in the American film industry precisely BECAUSE of them fleeing Hitler's Germany and yet painting a picture of Germany in which none of these fascists exist - earned this one an extra star from me just for the curiosity of it all. Without that curiosity factor this is a rather mediocre film. In fairness, this film was adapted from a 1932 musical that was, of course, pre Hitler.

At first I believed that this was all taking place in another time. The initial small town setting in Bavaria with horse drawn carriages and the traditional German garb complete with lederhosen allowed me to believe that. But then the small town folk arrive in Munich and when I saw the modern buildings, automobiles, and modern fashions (1934 that is) I realized I was in present day Germany, and I was thrown for a loop.

The script is the typical output of early 30's pre Zanuck Fox which primarily made films for rural audiences and talked up the values of rural life. A small town Bavarian composer ( Al Shean as Dr. Walter Lessing) is honored by the town fathers with a financed trip to Munich so he can try and advance his music. His daughter Sieglinde (June Lang) will accompany him. Karl Roder (Douglass Montgomery), the town schoolteacher, and Sieglinde have an understanding, so naturally he feels protective. So he joins a group of mountain climbers and hikes over the mountains to Munich to look after them both.

Meanwhile in Munich a couple consisting of singing actress Frieda Hotzfelt (Gloria Swanson) and composer/actor Bruno Mahler (John Boles) are constantly feuding. In fact they say they have been feuding for seven years but have been involved all of that time, yet are not married. At about the same time they are at the height of an argument that, to tell you the truth, looks silly and contrived, in come the professor, his daughter, and Karl seeking the professor's old music publishing friend. Bruno's partner in writing the music for a new show has left town, leaving an opening for the professor to get at least one of his songs into the show. Gloria is attracted to Karl, and seems to want to make a gigilo out of him as she packs for Venice and begs him to come along. Bruno thinks that Sieglinde would make a great new star to replace Freida. Will big town life corrupt these Bavarian babes in the woods? Watch and find out.

There really is one good song in the bunch - "I've Told Every Little Star" - and fortunately that is the one that is repeated the most. As for Bruno and Freida, they are portrayed ridiculously. There seems to be no substance to their arguing, and even though they are given German names they sound and act as American as apple pie when the film took great pains to make everybody else in the cast sound German. I've seen John Boles in a number of roles in the 30's and even the 20's (The Desert Song) and he was always believable, so I guess I have to lay the blame on him coming across as a ham on the director. I could say the same for Ms. Swanson. This was her last feature film role until 1941, and then she had no other role in a feature film until Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard". I wonder if them working together on this film had anything to do with that?

Here we find various famous talents converging at the height of their fame and appeal. Where has this film been all these years? This was a big Depression stage hit for the Master, Jerome Kern, and one of his equally accomplished partners, Oscar Hammerstein II, and transferred to the screen with much of the original delight intact. Definitely a slight tale from a much more innocent era, the story is literally a competition between a team of singing divas each latching onto an attractive, naive, and somewhat star-struck fan visiting from a small Tyrolean mountain village. If it weren't so well done, you might call it all "kitschy," but the result is so sincere that one gets swept up. There are marvelous moments, but surprisingly, not too many involving the famous star, Gloria Swanson, and her handsome sparring partner John Boles. Nothing wrong with their singing, which is, well, glorious! It's the "Diva" act. Although they just skirt going over-the-top on many occasions, there is an overall lack of punch, with too many blasts sailing over their targets. There's a lot of layered shouting, as if everyone were struggling to "work the screwball angle." The best moments are enjoyed during the lush and enchanting music, and in the scenes involving the village, particularly the school-room sequences with teacher and leading bucolic Douglass Montomerey, who turns in the best performance I've seen him give, with not a hint of that namby-pamby, self-pitying, "gloomy Gus" he specialized in. Here he is robust, cheerful, positive, and often found wearing the complete Tyrolean mountain-climbing uniform, which he definitely had the legs to wear. Indeed, he, along with his fellow villagers June Lang and Al Shean, make an energetic, thoroughly entertaining lot, much better at mining the script than their more sophisticated counterparts. The settings are impressive, the period detail attractive, and the costuming, particularly Miss Swanson's wardrobe (although Mr. Boles is decked out to the nines as well), is sensational throughout. Director Joe May pulled off an impressive feat, bringing together unlikely, if somewhat battered giants like Kern, Fox, and Swanson, and making them work so beautifully together. I believe if you enjoy Lubitsch, or European flavor musicals of that era, you'll certainly appreciate this picture.

In many ways this is a very strange film. After all, three expatriates who escaped Europe due to the rise of Hitler all were major factors in creating this film. Joe May, Erich Pommer and Billy Wilder all worked to direct, produce and write this film...a film which brings us an incredibly idealized and Hitler-free version of Bavaria! In this fairy tale land, everyone is happy, there's no repression and militarization simply doesn't exist. I wonder how these three men felt about this. Was this their homage to the Germany they used to love or did they feel a bit dirty for producing such a pasteurized view of modern Germany? Who knows...all I know is that having these three men being responsible for bringing the play to the big screen is interesting.

As for the film, it has LOTS of music...lots and lots. And it's not necessarily the enjoyable type by today's standards--being the operatic style popularized by Jeanette McDonald and Nelson Eddy. Still, the main song is very hummable and the plot slight, but enjoyable. Plus, while her voice was not brilliant, I was surprised because Gloria Swansen appeared to actually be singing in the film...competently. Overall, a silly but enjoyable piece of fluff that is a nice time passer about folks learning to accept their lots in life. I can see why this film did nothing to help the career of Erich Plommer, as it wasn't a bad film but an easy one for the studios to ignore...as well as his subsequent efforts.

A whimsical, agreeably carefree Lubitsch-inspired operetta that has pleasantly melodic Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein music, a lyrical fairy-tale German setting, and a fine romance with an eccentric cast of characters. The stars, with their charm and enthusiasm intact, are joy to watch. Gloria Swanson and her bickering partner John Boles are secondary to the young vibrant couple, played by a handsome Douglass Montgomery and a lithesome June Lang. Montegomery's role as the school teacher Karl Roder in the German village may be the most cheerful role he has ever played. The most tuneful song "We Belong Together" is so melodious and beguiling that you might want to see the film again and again so you wouldn't forget it. Although the film was made for Fox and directed by the implacable German émigré Joe May, this kind of frothy European-style operetta is reminiscent of those by Lubitsch. The difference is that Lubitsch's operettas show irony and feeling for its characters, whereas Joe May's movie is merely a frou-frou, an inconsequential fluff only to showcase the musical talents of its first-rate cast.