Chante mon amour

Saw this film recently on a Turner Classic Movies TV broadcast and was dazzled once again by an incredibly deluxe production number in which the color palette was limited to aquas, subtle shades of pinks and rose, dazzling whites and ivories and that's about it. It's a song, mounted as part of an operetta, "Ziguener" ("The Gypsy"), in which Jeanette MacDonald is pursued over an enormous, multi-level stage by a flotilla of violin-playing, elaborately costumed musicians as she trills her heart out. It's Hollywood extravagance at its most eye-filling, and the gorgeous Technicolor justifies the Oscar nominations for art direction and color cinematography which this film received. M-G-M gave its "Singing Sweethearts," Jeanette and Nelson Eddy, a lovely vehicle with this one and its like will probably never grace a first-run screen ever again. Thank goodness that TCM occasionally exhumes this one from its vault to delight us every once in a while.

It's 19th century Austria. Music teacher Carl Linden (Nelson Eddy) and his star pupil Sarah Milick (Jeanette MacDonald) are in love. They run off to Vienna to escape her arranged marriage. They struggle to make it. They are literally teaching for food. Baron von Tranisch (George Sanders) takes a liking to Sarah.

This is based on a Noël Coward operetta and apparently, he hated this. It's not my type of music and this starts at a deficit. It doesn't help that the songs aren't that catchy or memorable. I don't particularly care about this couple. The story would work better with a younger Sarah. I'm not looking for a larger age difference. More naivety works better for the story. It did get a couple of Oscar noms for Cinematography and Art Direction. I can see that, but I'm not impressed.

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

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.

An obvious attempt to rework the studio hit Maytime and to an extent it works. The plot though slight, is not common as it actually tries to follow the trials and tribulations of a starving artistic couple, at least for the first hour. A few classic songs with those famous operatic voices is unleashed occasionally and the comedy is obvious but prudent. George Sanders as the heavy is very good and if not for his voice is almost unrecognizable. This movie contains a grand musical finale with technicolor used to its palest, so to speak with dancers following and trailing Jeanette as she dashes around the stage. Not great, not serious, not intelligent but pleasing, fun and touching.