Sweethearts

A high-budget offering for MGM stars Nelson Eddy and Jeanette Macdonald, and the studio's first film to be released in Technicolor (Maytime had been started but not completed in this process), centres on a lovey-dovey couple who have worked for years in a Broadway success and are offered the chance to work in Hollywood. How do their theatre collaborators stop them going there?

Unusually for films featuring the Singing Sweethearts, this one has a sparky and funny script (largely by Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell) from which it benefits. Not many songs have survived from the Broadway production of the real 'Sweethearts' (sadly, the omissions include 'The Cricket on the Hearth', which was really quite a sweet song), and others have been added to flesh out the Hollywood fantasy. Perhaps the best numbers are 'Pretty as a Picture' and 'On Parade'.

In support are Frank Morgan ('the Wizard of Oz'), Ray Bolger (not used anywhere near enough), and the poor man's Eddy and Macdonald, Douglas MacPhail and Betty Jaynes, who suffer from a total lack of charisma. The leads themselves are fine and do with the more meaty than usual material. Perhaps their more slushy collaborations such as 'Rose Marie' and 'Maytime' are better overall, but 'Sweethearts' is definitely worth a look.

This one is notable for being MGM's first Technicolor movie. "Sweethearts" won cinematographers Oliver Marsh and Allan Davey special Oscars for their work with color film. MacDonald looks gorgeous--black and white didn't do her justice.

The music is pleasant enough, but not memorable. The couple is nauseatingly in love through the first hour, starring in a long running Broadway production - "Sweethearts". Unable to find rest during their six year production, the two are enticed to go to Hollywood instead, being promised lots of breaks between films. The normally feuding creative forces/producers of "Sweethearts" realize that this is the end of the gravy train, so they hatch a plan to keep the two from leaving. Complications ensue.

When MacDonald and Eddy aren't singing, the film seems endless. Not even the scenes with animals make this amusing. Eddy is the one who brings off some sight gags--three of them to be exact. Frank Morgan and the rest of the cast are stranded without any funny lines. They just made me groan--and I'm an easy laugher. It's hard to make Frank Morgan unfunny.

Trivia I noticed--the opening operetta is on the same set that "The Great Ziegfeld" (1936) used for the "A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody" number. There is a lengthy end credit explaining that the actors on the screen didn't write the 1913 operetta "Sweethearts". MacDonald has a five minute fashion show and proves she looks good in any outfit, no matter how misguided.

If you see this, watch the first thirty minutes and the fashion show for the cinematographers playing with colors, then fast forward between songs.

While there films are not nearly so popular today, Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy were incredibly hot properties for MGM and this would explain why MGM made "Sweethearts" in full Technicolor...something they'd never done with a full length film. Many studios had made films using cheaper (and inferior) color stock such as Two-Color Technicolor and the new, improved full color from Technicolor was expensive and MGM pulled out all the stops for their big team.

MacDonald and Eddy play Gwen Marlowe and Ernest Lane, a pair of Broadway stars who have been packing theaters for years with their latest show, "Sweethearts". Not surprisingly, Hollywood comes knocking...and Marlowe and Lane's handlers do their best to try to hold on to them and prevent their defection to the West Coast.

As you watch this, you might think that the Technicolor is a bit garish and intense. This was often the case with early Technicolor...partly because of the film process and partly because its inventor insisted that his ex-wife, Natalie Kalmus, be the color consultant...and she determined the colors of the costumes, sets and the like. And, of the stars, MacDonald comes off the worst because she appears so incredibly ruddy in the film....and rather unnatural.

As you'd expect in one of their films, there is a LOT of singing...intense singing and big stage production numbers. This is the style of their films...a style which seemed to grow less and less popular into the 1940s and 50s. You either like it or you don't. As for the rest of the story, it's enjoyable and well made. I didn't mind the story at first, but found it really tanked when MacDonald's character changed...becoming rather demanding and nasty and VERY jealous. This was NOT a welcome story element. I also found the musical numbers difficult to enjoy because it's a style I've never been all that fond of seeing and hearing in films.

Not only was this their first color film, but this was the first story set in contemporary time (1938). Plus, the script has some funny "one-liners." However, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone but fans of Nelson and Jeanette.

Sweethearts was the first color film for Nelson & Jeanette, and they, and the film are quite beautiful.They portray a married couple, appearing in musical comedy. This shows Nelson at his most playful--the "Pretty as A Picture" duet was so personal, I thought I was privy to a private moment between them. Too bad, MGM never took advantage of Nelson's self depreciating talent, but this film is most interesting, because it gives us a fascinating glimpse of what might have been.