A Bela Lillian Russell

... this time with music, from 20th Century Fox and director irving Cummings. Helen Leonard (Alice Faye) hopes for a career in the opera, but is told her voice isn't good enough. However, since she's so stunningly beautiful, she should still get musical training for the traditional theater, because that's how that works. Theatrical producer Tony Pastor (Leo Carrillo) discovers her and, changing her name to Lillian Russell, he makes her a stage star. Her talent wins her fans the world over, as well as the admiration of many powerful men, such as Diamond Jim Brady (Edward Arnold) and songwriter Edward Solomon (Don Ameche), but her heart truly belongs to hometown reporter Alexander (Henry Fonda).

People spend a lot of time in this movie telling Alice Faye as Lillian Russell how beautiful she is. A lot of time, repeatedly warning her that her beauty is so magnificent that her life will be difficult because of it. Faye is told how gorgeous she is so many times that it starts to seem like a self-esteem exercise rather than a narrative. And I don't find Faye that pretty, to be honest, so it makes the repetition that much more noticeable. Ameche plays a grouch, and Fonda has to do his wide-eyed sincerity good-guy shtick, while Arnold hams it up repeating a role he had played in an earlier film, and Warren William is completely wasted. Fonda was said to have regretted this movie the most of any he did under contract to Fox.

The musical aspects are also lackluster, with no major musical numbers, just pieces of songs here and there, and a couple of minor full performances. Like many of these biopics, it's also an excuse for some nostalgia wallowing, this time with Eddie Foy Jr. Playing his father doing an old stage bit, and vaudeville comedy duo dinosaurs Weber & Fields doing some hoary bits. The movie earned one Oscar nomination, for Best Art Direction (Richard Day, Joseph C. Wright).

Darryl Zanuck had high hopes for Lillian Russell, biographical picture of the turn of the last century stage star who was an American icon in the gaslight era. Even to hiring Irving Cummings as director. Cummings was a former stage actor who knew the great Ms. Russell back in her day. Alice Faye says he was of enormous help in capturing her character.

Unfortunately the film is not helped by a ponderous script that loses the character of Lillian Russell by trying to cram too much in. Though the main men in her life are dealt with, a lot of facts were taken liberty with including a couple of husbands that were dropped.

In her time Lillian was the most admired woman in America. She was a hefty woman in an era when that was the taste. Talk about full figured gal, take a look at a picture of Lillian if you can find one on the web. Jane Russell had absolutely nothing on her, in fact that is the only department where Alice Faye is deficient in her role.

Of course when Alice Faye sings that's when the film is really something to watch. Starting with In Old Chicago, Darryl Zanuck had the inspiration of casting her in these period costume dramas whereas previously Alice had been Fox's answer to MGM's Jean Harlow. These became her best work and most loved by her legion of fans.

Some new songs were brought in with some old standards. Alice's best moment is singing After The Ball twice during the film, a song very much identified with Lillian Russell. She also sings Come Down Ma' Evening Star which was the only song that Lillian Russell made an early gramophone recording of.

Henry Fonda hated the film. Hated it because he was lost in a whole crowd of male admirers of Faye that also included Don Ameche, Warren William, Leo Carrillo, Nigel Bruce. Fonda and Ameche played two of her husbands that didn't get left out of the script. Warren William was millionaire/gambler Jesse Lewisohn, Leo Carrillo was the fabled 19th century theatrical impresario Tony Pastor where Russell got her start, Nigel Bruce was W.S. Gilbert with whom Russell had a most unsatisfactory relationship when she went to star in one of the Gilbert&Sullivan operettas. And Edward Arnold who was born to play the role of Diamond Jim Brady and who had made it his own in a biographical film a few years ago, does the role again. I do believe Zanuck would not have done the film if he couldn't have gotten him.

Fonda in his memoirs felt he would get really top drawer parts after The Grapes of Wrath which he signed a studio contract with 20th Century Fox to get. Lillian Russell was not his idea of an upwardly mobile direction for his career. Though he did say he had nothing but good memories of working with Alice Faye.

Besides Russell and her men the film has Eddie Foy, Jr. once again playing his famous father and you have a once in a lifetime chance to see Weber&Fields probably the greatest vaudeville comics of their time doing one of their routines. If Lillian Russell has no other value, it's great that their art was captured on film for future generations.

So while the story leaves a lot to be desired, Lillian Russell is a great tribute to a star and her era as portrayed by another great star of another era, Alice Faye.

LILLIAN RUSSELL (20th Century-Fox, 1940), directed by Irving Cummings, is a nostalgic film tribute to Helen Louise Leonard, better known as Broadway legend Lillian Russell (1861-1922), as portrayed by Hollywood legend Alice Faye in one of her more challenging roles of her career. Faye doesn't attempt to act nor sing like Lillian Russell, although it's hard to determine the actual personality of this legend, yet makes her characterization simple, sweet and sentimental in the usual Faye manner without making it look too much like a typical Alice Faye musical.

The story opens in Clinton, Iowa, shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War, with the birth of the fifth daughter of Charlie Leonard (Ernest Truex), owner of a newspaper business, and Cynthia Leonard (Dorothy Peterson), pioneer for women's suffrage whom, after moving the family to New York City, runs and loses her bid as mayor. As for Helen, she grows up into an attractive young lady with a remarkable singing voice. Her grandmother (Helen Westley) wants her to be trained for grand opera by Leopold Damrosch (Joseph Cawthorn), who feels she'd be far more suited for something else. While "playing theater" in her backyard for her father, Helen is overheard by producer Tony Pastor (Leo Carrillo) who immediately hires her for his theater under the new name of Lillian Russell. Over the years she becomes a famous star, against her mother's objections, loved by wealthy suitors Jesse Lewisohn (Warren William) and the legendary Diamond Jim Brady (Edward Arnold). She eventually marries composer Edward Solomon (Don Ameche), settles in England for a time where she gives birth to their daughter, Dorothy. Before dying, Solomon completes a haunting ballad "Blue Lovebird" dedicated entirely to her. While going through fame and despair, Alexander Moore (Henry Fonda), a newspaper man, who has been coming in and out of her life for some time now, and assigned by his editor for her biographical interview, keeps to himself his everlasting love for the girl he known back home as Helen.

The motion picture soundtrack mixing old and new song standards include: "Back in the Days of Old Broadway" by Charles Henderson and Alfred Newman; "Under the Bamboo Tree," "Comin' Thru the Rye" (Scotch tradition melody by Robert Burns); "The Strawberry Blonde," "My Evening Star" by John Stromberg and Robert B. Smith; "My Blushin' Rosie," "Adored One" by Mack Gordon and Alfred Newman; "Blue Lovebird" by Gus Kahn and Bronislau Kaper; "Blue Lovebird," "Blue Lovebird" (reprises); "He Goes to the Church on Sunday" by E. Ray Goetz and Vincent Bryan; "Waltz is King" by Mack Gordon and Charles Henderson; "The Tales of the Vienna Woods" by Johann Strauss Jr.; "After the Ball" and "Back in the Days of Old Broadway."

A companion piece to ROSE OF WASHINGTON SQUARE (1939), with Faye in an unauthorized biography of Fanny Brice, along with supporting players assuming fictional names, ROSE and LILLIAN are met with production similarities. Originally a two hour piece, ROSE went through the editing process of 35 minutes, eliminating some great songs as well as comedy acts by the vaudeville comedy team of Joe Weber and Lew Fields. LILLIAN displays what ROSE might have been during its 127 minutes, indicating that maybe the wrong movie was dramatically downsized. A lavish scale musical-biography, LILLIAN succeeds most with its all-star cast, fine songs, plus added bonuses of Weber and Fields recorded on film, Eddie Foy Jr. playing his father, and for the second time on screen, Edward Arnold as Diamond Jim Brady, the role he originated in DIAMOND JIM (Universal, 1935). In spite of its pure accuracy in costume design and hair styles, recapturing the bygone era which ROSE didn't with its 1939 costumes in 1920s setting, the fault for LILLIAN lies on its weak script that might have be salvaged with Technicolor gloss instead of its standard black and white photography. Reviews then must have been mixed, but with fine support of big name and familiar actors, including Nigel Bruce and Claude Allister as Gilbert and Sullivan; and Una O'Connor as Marie, the maid, how could it fail? Yet, the big surprise is the third-billed Henry Fonda, straight from his triumph in THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940). Not necessarily associated with musicals, it's been mentioned by various sources, including Bob Dorian, former host of American Movie Classics, where LILLIAN RUSSELL aired regularly prior to 1989, that Fonda was unhappy with this assignment, feeling that after several important projects under the direction of John Ford that he would be offered the chance to star mostly in prestigious assignments. As it stands, this project should have been an honor for him for that Fonda's name at this point, supported by a strong cast, to be beneficial to LILLIAN RUSSELL, but of course he didn't or couldn't see it that way. While the real Lillian Russell married four times, the movie only depicts one briefly and the fourth possible prospect, eliminating husbands two and three. Maybe adding a roaster of other popular 20th-Fox actors as substitute to the film's weak points might have helped some with the continuity.

How much can be said about Lillian Russell that could stir up interest to a new generation today? Hard to say. At least with this depiction on her life, whether it be fact or fiction, Lillian Russell's name continues to live on, especially now whenever this screen treatment plays on the Fox Movie Channel. Thank goodness for film and what it represents. (***)

The actors were brilliant in trying to portray such a complex person in such a complex time. The costumes were beautiful.

You do not have to use any imagination to try to figure out the characters and the way they dressed and the way they spoke.

Thank you for doing such a wonderful job. This movie is a true treasure. We are surely blessed with such wonderful artists.

These are truly gifted actors portraying a special time in our history.

The theatre was such a huge part of the American culture. It was the only form of entertainment.

It must of been very magical to witness a play by candle light.

"Lillian Russell" is a disappointing biopic about a famous American performer and celebrated singer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As others have noted, this is a very sanitized and fictional story. It has three strikes against it. The first is its historical inaccuracies, deletions and fabrications (a polite way of saying something is a lie). The second is its failure to develop the character and persona of Lillian Russell. It doesn't let the audience see what it was about her that made her so all around liked and loved. She was known for her beauty, voice, and stage presence. There is a little bit of it in Allice Fay's portrayal, but it just plops onto the screen. The third is the singing - specifically, a lack of much music and especially of knowing what Russell sounded like. What was her voice like and what were the songs that so endeared her to the public?

Now, I enjoy Alice Faye and her singing. She was a very good singer. But her low, sultry voice was far different from the voice of Lillian Russell's. Perhaps that's why there is so very little singling by Faye in this film. And, that 's a waiving sign that this would not be a film very much about the talents and the person.

Lillian was born Helen Louise Leonard on December 4, 1861, and raised in Iowa. In real life, her mother left her father and moved to New York with Helen, in the hopes of her becoming an opera singer. It wasn't her father or grandmother who supported her singing, as the film shows. She did get training, as shown, from Leopold Damrosch. And, her voice was near operatic soprano. Alice Faye's voice, on the other hand, was a low or husky contralto. One can hear a recording of Lillian Russell on You Tube. It's from 1912, after her return to performing, and she sings "Come Down Ma Evenin' Star."

One can't fault Alice Faye for her excellent voice, because it's different than Russell's. But one can wonder why someone closer to Russell's character and voice wasn't cast in the part for this film. For instance, Jeanette MacDonald. There are pictures of Russell and MacDonald in which they even look somewhat alike. A person's size and physical shape otherwise isn't very important in making biopics, with the possible exceptions of portrayals of prize-fighters and Olympic weight-lifters. Except for Russell's buxom and full shape, at five and half feet, she was just one inch taller than Faye and two inches taller than MacDonald

And, Jeanette MacDonald had more going for her. She had made many musicals and had the persona and character of someone with a great stage presence. Indeed, with her soprano voice, the film could easily have had some more songs that Russell sang.

This film has one huge plus that enables me to rate it five stars. And that is the very good and considerable portrayal of Russell's relationship with Diamond Jim Brady. Edward Arnold was the right choice to play Brady, since he had played the lead role in the 1935 biopic about him, "Diamond Jim." That was a very good biopic, and while it showed some of Brady's relationship with Lillian Russell, it begged for more on that. Binnie Barnes played the role of Lillian Russell in that film and sang one number that very closely resembled Russell's voice. Early in her career, Barnes had worked as a chorus girl.

Hollywood has made many movies about the lives of historical figures and famous people of the past. Most of the good biopics have been based on biographies or autobiographies. While some have included a number of scenes at different times in a persons life, most of these concentrate on special adult years of achievements, discoveries, or works. Naturally, condensing a life's story or even a period of a few years into a movie of less than two hours requires many short cuts. But most movies about historical figures have tried to include the key aspects of the person's life and relationships that were of prominence during their lives. And, while some things are touched up, softened or glazed over, the films seldom tried to completely cover up some aspects of the life of the person.

Many musical biopics also have tried to closely follow the lives of their subjects, including controversies, conflicts and personal problems and trials. So, there are many very good and great musical biopics, such as: "The Fabulous Dorseys" of 1947, "With a Song in My Heart" (Jane Froman) of 1952, "The Glenn Miller Story" of 1954, "The Benny Goodman Story" of 1956, "The Five Pennies" (Red Nichols) of 1959, "Amadeus" of 1984, "Ray" (Ray Charles) of 2004, "Walk the Line" (Johnny Cash) of 2005, "La Vie en Rose" of 2007 (Edith Piaf).

Perhaps one day there will be a very good biopic done about Lillian Russell. One with a truer portrayal of her life. And, with an actress with a similar voice, beauty and presence. And with some good songs and scenes from operettas and shows that Russell performed in.