Hitting a New High

Hitting A New High was the last of 3 films that Lily Pons did under her contract with RKO. As that brief vogue for opera sopranos ended as it began in mid 30s Hollywood, RKO and Pons parted company. She would make guest appearances however in other films in the future, most notably Carnegie Hall.

In this one the score is a mixture of operatic material with some original score music written by Jimmy McHugh and Harold Adamson. One of the songs I Hit A New High had some success on the pop charts.

I'm not sure what Lily Pons must have thought of this film. In it she's required to go to Africa as part of an elaborate con game to fool millionaire Edward Everett Horton into thinking he's captured a bird girl who has something like a five octave range. Then it becomes a struggle between Horton and opera impresario Eduardo Ciannelli for her musical services. Jack Oakie is press agent con man who fools Horton who really is quite a dunce in this film.

It all gets more silly than funny. Hitting A New High did get an Oscar nomination for music scoring.

I'm sure that Pons though she does display a bit of a flair for comedy here was grateful her Hollywood contract was at an end.

Press agent Corny Davis (Jack Oakie) has an issue with a lion shoot. He's taking media mogul Lucius B. Blynn on an African big game hunt. Jazz singer Suzette (Lily Pons) is trying to be an opera singer. Corny has a crazy idea to make her Oogahunga, the legendary Bird-Lady from the African jungle.

The overall premise is bonkers. Lily Pons is an European opera singer with passable acting skills. This starts with the crazy lion scene. That's a real lion. The premise is a mess, but it's a fun mess for the most part. I really wanted her to go full out with all the birds in the world. The fun start and the crazy premise eventually runs out of steam. It needs more jokes and better comedy.

For a brief while, I thought the MGM lion had strayed onto set and was going to shorten this feature for us, but he merely yawned and went back to sleep. Now that is quite an accomplishment as for much of this film we are treated to the pizzicato dulcets of aspiring opera singer "Suzette" (Lily Ponsj. Luckily for her, she is "discovered" by the very aptly named theatrical agent "Corny" (Jack Oakie) who is so determined to get her onto the stage that he dons his khaki and heads to the perilous depths of the African jungle - which, to be fair, does actually look more like a jungle than a few potted plants on a sound stage. Why? Well he and his nice but dim pal "Lucius" (Edward Everett Horton) conclude that Joe Public might be more engaged with their star if they gave her a foundling provenance akin to "Tarzan". When she hits the big stage, she goes down a storm but will she stick with her old team, or follow the new path offered by the dashing "Andreas" (Eduardo Ciannelli) who does actually know his Saint-Saëns from his Shostakovich. There is no doubt that Miss Pons can hold a tune. Even with the limited audio recording equipment available here she still hits her high notes with a crisp precision that well earns her the "bird" nickname. The rest of this is a bit of a mess, though, with Horton, Oakie and the underused Eric Blore either hamming it up or underplaying their weakly written and over-scripted scripted roles altogether. Luckily, there are quite a few musical interludes to sustain it and it actually illustrates just how far the talkies had come with some competent lip-synching and orchestrations. It isn't a film that you will need to watch twice, but given the plot is fairly hopeless, it could be a lot worse.

What can one say about a picture where Lily Pons sits up a tree making bird noises while Edward Everett Horton tries to get her down by saying "Pretty Polly"? Well, it certainly didn't appeal to audiences back in 1937, because sources indicate that this picture proved a financial bust and put an end to RKO's attempts to turn Miss Pons into a movie star. I enjoyed it though, and maybe some of the bizarre humour in "Hitting a New High" might go down better today. Of course the plot machinations are contrived and weak, but is there anyone who really watches this kind of movie for the plot? Raoul Walsh keeps things moving along at a brisk clip, and Lily Pons, while not the most charismatic of film personalities, is reasonably appealing as Ooga Hunga the "bird girl". She also gives a pretty unforgettable rendition of Saint-Saens La Rossignol during the proceedings as well, but purists may not approve. However, the film is really stolen by Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore, a not uncommon occurrence at RKO around this time, and for me they give this film most of the entertainment value it has today.

With the popularity of musical films during the golden era of Hollywood, the major studios dabbled some with bringing prominent opera stars of the stage to the general public. "Hitting a New High" is the third film by RKO to star French-born Lily Pons. She was a leading soprano with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, from 1931 to 1960. Besides opera, Pons was a successful concert singer. She was known especially for her exceptional ability to reach the super high notes - above high C which all good sopranos could sing. Pons regularly hit D above high C and was the only classical singer of her time who could sing F above high C.

Some of the musicals with opera singers did well, but many did not. The most popular opera singers with mostly successful films were Kathryn Grayson, Jeanette MacDonald, Jane Powell and Deanna Durbin. While just a few musicals by the opera stars were biographical, most were comedies and romance. One of the most successful overall was Jeanette MacDonald. She and Nelson Eddy were the most enduring couples in musicals, making eight films together. But she made 20 plus more films with various leading men of the day.

This film turned out to be a flop, and it was the last musical Pons made, with just one more small part in a later film. The problem with "Hitting a New High" is that it dwelled on Pons's coloratura talent - lots of vibrato and movement within long-held and repeated high notes that she just sang solo. She appeared to be warbling like birds that were in scenes with her. She only sings parts of two operatic songs in this film, and her frequent super high and chirping type of notes soon become tiring - even irritating. Still, the movie might have worked if it had a better screenplay to milk the great comedy talent assembled for the film.

With Jack Oakie, Eric Blore, E. E. Horton and Luis Alberni, this film should have caused lots of laughter. But the script hardly used any of their talents. It had a wacky plot of a singer being discovered in the jungle. That could have been developed with much humor, but it wasn't. Horton's frequent pompous and flummoxed high society character was overdone, with nary a humorous scene or funny line. He soon became irritating. Alberni wasn't used for comedy at all, and Jack Oakie's male lead was so weak in humor as to be dull. Eric Blore had one lively scene toward the end. Had the writers exploited the idea more that he was the father of the long-lost bird girl raised in the jungle, there could have been some great comedy. But RKO let that chance slip through its fingers.

As a result, this is a quite dull film that moves very slowly. It's wroth viewing for those who like music, to see and hear Pons reach those super high notes. Otherwise, it has just the small bit of humor added mostly by Blore. Most modern audiences would probably give up and quit watching this film before halfway through. I like musicals, and great comedies, so I stuck to the end.