Carmine Gallone shot three versions of the movie - German, French and Italian - simultaneously in Germany. All starred Jan Kiepura, and all but the French (in which she was replaced by Danielle Darrieux) co-starred Marta Eggerth. Gallone took the prints to England, where long shots, crowd scenes and possibly whole sequences were incorporated in the British version. The singer Hilde von Stolz also appears in the German cast credits.
No doubt about it, Carmine Gallone is not just a polished all-rounder who can direct comedy with a Lubitsch touch, drama with the force of a John Ford and romance with the passion of Frank Borzage, he is simply the greatest director of musical subjects ever! His mastery of crowds, his dizzyingly imaginative camera angles and sweeping compositions are here joined to an engagingly amusing little romantic comedy of an opera company down on its luck in Monte Carlo and an appealing romance between the lead tenor and a charming stowaway. Fluff certainly, but winning entertainment all the way. And when it comes to the musical interludes, Gallone elevates them to prime status by directing with all stops out, each capping the other in expense and artistry.
Actually, dazzling as the climax is, with its vast evening-dressed crowds milling around truly enormous sets and its inspired cross-cutting between the two performances of Tosca, the sequence I prefer is the staggering Monte Carlo Casino episode in which the camera glides through packed salons as our tenor, keeping attendants at bay with a pair of stage pistols, magnificently launches into Puccini. Truly, one of the all-time great moments in cinema history!
Under Gallone's inspired direction, just about every member of the cast gives a joyous performance. It's hard to resist Sonnie Hale, comically exaggerated though his portrait certainly is, as he continuously plunges from heights of happiness to depths of despair, but always bouncing back. We admire his resilience, his gusto. As for our little heroine, she's a real charmer, and was never more appealingly photographed. M. Kiepura is an obvious egotist, but with a voice like his, who will blame him for an excess of energy?
Two delightfully contrasted portraits are offered by Hugh Wakefield as an absentminded Don Juan and Ernest Thesiger as his undertaker-like secretary. We enjoyed Johnny Singer's opinionated page boy too, and Marie Lohr in her brief bit as a knowing modiste.
In addition to his talented players, Gallone also has the support of a raft of creative technicians. The film editing is especially innovative with its climactic cross-cutting, its ingeniously clever shipboard wipes, its flash cuts (worthy of Hitchcock) in the razor episode, and its seamless insertion of footage from the other versions. The photography also so skilfully disguises the use of foreign shots, they are absolutely impossible to detect. Original audiences must have been absolutely floored by the seeming limitless expense of this exceptionally lavish production.
3 out of 3 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
