Pleasant musical comedy from the stage given a big boost by terrific performances by Gloria Swanson and John Boles. They play a bickering couple who get involved with a naive younger couple from an alpine village. And all the bickering revolves around a new operetta and who will play what parts. Familiar plot and OK music. The real attraction is the funny and charming performance by Swanson in the last starring film of her 20-year reign in Hollywood. Like Indiscreet and Tonight or Never, this should have been a hit but Hollywood legend tells us that after The Trespasser, Swanson's next five talkies flopped. Why? Her films were well made and her voice was superb. She had a singing voice reminiscent of Irene Dunne's. Music in the Air was a hit on Broadway, but who knows what was cut for the film version. The stars are joined by a solid supporting cast: Douglass Montgomery (better than usual), June Lang, Al Shean, Jed Prouty, Joseph Cawthorne, Reginald Owen, Marjorie Main, Sara Haden.
Swanson and Boles (usually so stiff) have so much fun as they throw themselves into their roles it's hard to resist. The two had starred in the 1927 silent film, The Love of Sunya. Hard to understand today why Swanson's career crashed. She made one other film between this one and her great success in Sunset Boulevard in 1950.
This may be the Hollywood debuts for German director Joe May and writer Billy Wilder! So although Music in the Air was a flop in 1934, in 1949 when Wilder was searching for the perfect Norma Desmond, Swanson's name was at the top of the list. Legend has it Mae West was the first choice for the role, but Swanson got and turned in the film performance of the century.
