Au fond de mon coeur

Way back in the day when the big studios did biographical pictures about composers and songwriters all they were was an excuse to do a lot of musical numbers by that composer. The real lives of the composers were either too dull like Jerome Kern or like Cole Porter way too naughty to be discussed in earnest.

Sigmund Romberg hardly had a dull life and I wish that some of it would have been shown. Watching this film you would never know he was Jewish and came to this country to both escape the draft for the Hapsburg army and because of the vicious anti-Semitism in Vienna as typified by Vienna's mayor, Karl Lueger a precursor of Hitler. I think that's a theme that should have been explored and is crucial to understanding him.

The real Romberg who wrote those wonderful Viennese schmaltz melodies was a lot like the Jewish peddler in Ship of Fools, celebrating that culture which discriminated against him. Remember he was proud and rightly so of the Iron Cross he won in World War I. Romberg fortunately for him and the world of songwriting was not half the fool that the peddler was.

That being said, Romberg is delightfully essayed by that most castable of players Jose Ferrer. Ferrer with that impeccable diction, courtesy of the Triangle Club at Princeton, played every kind of nationality in his screen career and he's great here. He has a great monologue in this where he's describing a current project where he plays all the parts in the musical he's writing at the moment.

Merle Oberon rings true with her portrayal of Dorothy Donnelly who collaborated with Romberg on Student Prince and My Maryland. She was crushing on Sigmund big time, but Ferrer only had eyes for Doe Avedon who played his beloved Lillian Harris.

Operetta plots are so silly that productions are hardly ever done today. Criticism of such work as Maytime, Student Prince, Desert Song and New Moon rightly belong in those films, but speaking as someone who likes good melodies, Sigmund Romberg certainly composed them in abundance. MGM dragged out a good group of performers to do them. A particular favorite here is Tony Martin singing Lover Come Back to Me from the New Moon.

One of the reasons that this film came out in 1954 was also because Romberg had a posthumous hit running on Broadway at the time. The Girl in Pink Tights opened that year with lyrics done by Leo Robin to some unpublished melodies that Romberg had written.

My parents when they were alive remembered seeing Sigmund Romberg in concert. The film at the end gives a glimpse of Romberg conducting an orchestra as he did often in the last 15 years of his life and Ferrer does ring true with Romberg the performer. Also performing was Helen Traubel, Wagnerian soprano who was also enjoying a good run as Jimmy Durante's, Margaret Dumont. MGM took advantage of her small screen popularity by casting her in Deep In My Heart.

Don't expect the life of Sigmund Romberg here, but be prepared for a great melodic treat.

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!

I missed this film when it first appeared, and only saw it quite by chance very recently on the TCM channel. I felt it was a rather unappreciated gem that I would like to commend to other IMDb users. It purports to be a biography of early nineteenth century composer Siegmund Romberg. Unfortunately biographies are not Hollywood's strong suite, and this one does not "cut the mustard" as a biography. Romberg was a Central European Jew who came to the U.S.A. as a refugee from the pre-first world war Hapsburg Empire; and made a very successful career as a much admired composer of light music, much of which was coupled with romantic songs written by Dorothy Donnolley for Broadway musicals. Here surely is a great subject for a biography which shows the trauma of being a refugee and the problems of an artist in becoming accepted in a new country with a different language and very different culture. Unfortunately this chance was blown in favour of a script which paraded all the musical stars that MGM could command, presenting re-creations of a series of extracts from his stage successes. However if accepted at this level the film is unusually successful, helped by a great cast and the direction of the often under-rated Stanley Donen. Romberg is remembered for writing light Viennese style romantic orchestral music which was extremely popular in the pre-jazz era, and I was surprised how enjoyable this music made watching the film. For me, and probably others of my generation, the music in more recent musicals does not often compare with that in this film.

One of Romberg's best known stage works was 'The Desert Song', which has been filmed three times, (the 1929 version containing more of Romberg's music), and watching an Arabian Nights sequence featuring Cyd Charise and James Mitchell made me very sad that all colour copies of the 1929 film appear to have been lost (although a monochrome version prepared for TV has survived.)

The background notes above may be helpful to the many people today who have never heard any of Romberg's music, but as a review of this film the following (which alone would not have satisfied the IMDb 10 line minimum criterion) is all that is needed:

This is a perfect film to watch with a life partner, or significant other, at the start of a short vacation together. But it would be better seen in a cinema rather than on TV.

With a running time of 2 hours and 12 minutes, this film is a bit long, but well worth it. Where else can you see all this talent except in a beautiful M-G-M film from the 1950s? The music, acting as well as the clothes and sets are wonderful. Jose Ferrer, though not a favorite of mine, is a really great actor and he gives a tour de force when he performs his entire show, playing all the parts, in front of the woman he loves and her disapproving mother. It's quite funny and unlike how we usually think of Ferrer. He also smiles more in this film than any other and he possesses some charm. Aside from Ferrer, the music is the star and there is plenty of it, all displayed and performed by the top stars at Metro. We get to see and compare Gene Kelly and his brother Fred who have a cute number. There is also the only pairing of Jose Ferrer and his wife, the spectacular Rosie Clooney to whom he was twice married, for a total of five marriages in all. Tony Martin, Cyd Charisse, Howard Keel, Jane Powell, Ann Miller and Vic Damone all add their talents and are exceptionally appealing. The story is devoid of all the falsifications of other biographies such as Gershwin's and Porter's.

There is also great sentiment as when Romberg performs his Carnegie Hall concert and dedicates it to his wife. Helen Traubel sings quite a lot of songs in this film, but her voice is excellent, despite the rather simple role of restaurant owner-friend-singer.

Also nice, is seeing some actors who are still with us in character roles such as Robert Easton, Russ Tamblyn, and I do believe I detected a very young Robert Wagner as the "football player" in the Artists and Models stage scene, as an extra.

In all, this is an excellent film of the period, with very cute humor, and helps educate fully about Romberg's music.