Comwayon
A Disappointing Continuation
Frances Chung
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
Marva
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
nancy6456
Did anyone realize that the Busby Berkeley number at the end was a tie in for the Lew Ayres character telling Jeanette MacDonald to take off her mask in the scene where she was crying? I believe that to be a direct tie in to the musical finale with all the masks. Although it was not the best of Jeanette MacDonald films It does show a side of her that is in direct juxtiposition for the films with Nelson Eddy. How many Canadian Mounty movies can she do. Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy were a tour de force that even had fans expecting or anticipating that the two were married. This movie is a relief for Jeanette MacDonald not to be type cast. I for one really enjoyed the final acte.
jjnxn-1
Conventional musical with some odd touches in the musical numbers. Jeanette MacDonald is in good voice and her numbers are a bit more varied than her usual sets with Nelson Eddy. As someone who has a limited tolerance for both operetta and MacDonald/Eddy musicals I enjoyed the substitution of Lew Ayers for Nelson. Unfortunately his character makes little sense, he initially pushes his wife to grab the chance she's given than when she starts to succeed acts like a churlish jerk almost instantly and yet still she pines for him. So the story is wanting but at least the cast is full of good actors, Frank Morgan, Ian Hunter, Rita Johnson, Virginia Grey, Esther Dale etc., all adding nice touches to the film making it much more pleasant than it would be.Shot for some unknown reason in inconsistent sepia tones which both add and distract from the flow of the film where this goes off the rails a bit is in a couple of musical numbers. The Madame Butterfly riff is interesting on an enormous stage that no theatre could possibly hold but with some beautiful almost surreal images. However the finale is like some crazy fever dream with a majority of the participants in creepy immobile masks. Not a major musical or even a major picture in any of the stars filmographies this is still an decent musical from the king of studios in the dream factory.
Neil Doyle
MGM probably wanted to give their singing sweetheart a break from doing every film with her usual co-star, baritone NELSON EDDY. So, they put her in this mess of a musical just to keep her busy. Her most ardent fans probably won't complain because she does get to sing rather nicely, but the story is--well, a mess with the usual contrived ending that lacks conviction, or any sense of reality.JEANETTE MacDONALD is a lovely singer with an aspiring song writer for a husband (LEW AYRES, taking a break from his Dr. Kildare chores). The two of them are facing a marriage on the skids because she's getting more popular while his star is fading--until he can write his great concerto for the finale.It's all old hat with even the presence of FRANK MORGAN and IAN HUNTER not enough to ensure anything approaching solid entertainment.The Busby Berkeley staged concerto is totally inappropriate and ends the film on a low note.Summing up: At your own risk.
PeterPangloss
Through no fault of the players, this must be one of the worst major studio films of a great year for cinema--1939. Jeanette is charming as always, although I'd like to see her try Butterfly on stage without amplification. I'm afraid the orchestra would win that round! That said, she warbles beautifully and is great fun to watch.Lew Ayres plays a nearly saintly husband (albeit with a temper) and the supporting cast is just fine. The problems: a hackneyed script, and an incredibly tasteless and vulgar Busby Berkeley number to end the affair. Of course we expect BB's numbers to be over the top, we just don't expect them to be so poorly designed. Without this final extravaganza, I'd have given this a 5 at least, but after seeing that debacle, I'm giving it a 3.
