Au fond de mon coeur

If you doubt the summary comment, ask a few of your friends under the age of 55 if they've heard of Sigmund Romberg (Sigmund who)? Since I took piano lessons as a kid - I did - yet when I stumbled upon this film in my local library I thought "when did this come out" (I was in the service overseas at the time). I was totally blown away by the musical score and the performances. By the way, this is about the only musical film I've seen structured as a Broadway musical play - overture through finale. The last number of the first act, so the speak, was Jane Powell and Vic Damone singing "Will you Remember" from "Maytime". This show was such a success a second company opened across the street - only time in Broadway history!

See for yourself, then try to find "The Student Prince" and watch that - and listen. He composed about 600 or 700 songs for Broadway. By the way, did you know Gene Kelly had a song and dance man brother? You'll see them together the only time in "Deep in my Heart"

DEEP IN MY HEART is one of the last of the great MGM Musicals, and almost unknown today. This is too bad, because it contains some wonderful musical numbers: Cyd Charisse at her most spectacular in a number from THE DESERT SONG, Gene Kelly and his brother Fred as song-and-dance men, Jose Ferrer doing a surprising one-man-show routine that is astonishing, as well as a charming song and dance with opera star Helen Traubel. It is supposedly based on the life of famed composer, Sigmund Romberg, and it is presented in typical MGM glossy style, but this was a composer of great melodies who deserved the plush treatment. This is a top-flight production that is well worth watching. You'll see additional numbers by Ann Miller, Howard Keel, Jane Powell and Rosemary Clooney!

"Deep in My Heart" is a 1954 MGM musical starring Jose Ferrer. It purports to tell the story of Sigmund Romberg, and while much I'm sure is left out, the film is filled with not only great music, but great singing.

Well directed by Stanley Donen, the movie shows us Romberg trying to fit in with the musical comedy style, but really having a talent with a more classical, operetta-like bend.

Not only is the music beautiful, but it is exquisitely sung by some of the best singers of that era. My favorite song, "Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise" from "New Moon" is initially sung by the great Wagnerian opera star, Helen Traubel.

And be still my heart, my second favorite song, "Lover Come Back to Me" is sung by Tony Martin and Joan Weldon. Martin was for me the best tenor of that time, better than Allan Jones, James Melton - absolutely phenomenal.

MGM pulled out all the stops, with Cyd Charisse and Ann Miller taking part in "One Alone" and "It" respectively; Vic Damone is on hand for a well-sung "The Road to Paradise," and he's joined by Jane Powell for "Will You Remember" from "Maytime," which in the beginning of the film is the operetta Romberg keeps insisting he wants to do.

Gene Kelly and his brother Fred Kelly sing and dance to "I Love to Go Swimmin' with Wimmin" - you a see from the titles that Romberg had a versatility. Howard Keel a strong "Your Land and My Land."

The song "Mr. And Mrs." is performed by real-life Mr. And Mrs. Jose Ferrer and Rosemary Clooney. One number after another, a fine film for a music lover.

The cast is interesting - Merle Oberon as Romberg's writing partner Dorothy Donnelly, Walter Pidgeon is Shubert, Paul Henried is Flo Ziegfeld, and Dorothy Avedon, who died some months ago, is Romberg's beloved wife Lillian.

All in all, a feast for the ears and eyes, with Ferrer doing a beautiful, energetic job as Romberg, even at one point performing an entire musical at full speed by himself. Very impressive.

A gem from MGM.

The music is, of course, the reason to watch this movie. Jose Ferrer does an admirable job of portraying the composer Sigmund Romberg, and an all-star cast performs some of Romberg's tunes.

Especially noteworthy is Rosemary Clooney, singing, most appropriately, the song "Mr. and Mrs." with her then-husband, Ferrer. "Deep in My Heart" was their only on-screen performance together.

Other memorable moments feature brothers Fred and Gene Kelly dancing and Ferrer performing a one-man show. Altogether, the film is long and somewhat slow but the music makes it worth watching.

This was the last of the musical biographies made in Hollywood.

They had falsified the lives of Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, so they looked up Sigmund Romberg, whose old fashioned but very sweet music had been lost in silly librettos. Note that his musical shows have not been revived in decades. But MGM put this biography in the capable hands of screen writer Leonard Spigelglass, who decided to tell the true but simple story with a tongue-in-cheek approach, and of first rate director Stanley Donen, who made miracles chiefly by employing a cast of people who really knew how to act. Especially Jose Ferrer. The result is a movie that manages to ring true, and not a sleep-inducing hit parade. Romberg was a composer for the twenties, full of viennese nostalgia like Friml and Herbert. None of them could survive the jazz invasion of the musical comedy, but their songs are always popular, naturally out of their theatrical context. Deep in my Heart deserves to be seen.The songs are still highly enjoyable, and Donen, Spigelglass, Ferrer and the rest of the cast gave their best to the film.