Jeanette MacDonald Movies

Art Carney plays the title role, so to speak, in this live, 90-minute Playhouse 90 adaptation of Brandon Thomas' classic stage farce Charley's Aunt. The play's basic premise--Oxford undergrad Lord Fancourt Babberly (Carney) must pose as the elderly aunt of his roommate Charley Wyckeham so that Charley and his friend Jack Chesney will have a proper escort for their two girlfriends--is merely the springboard for a whole new batch of complications cooked up by the author of the TV version, the redoubtable Leslie Stevens. For starters, Babberly is now forced to don old-ladies' garb for an amateur theatrical production or else he'll lose his standing in the Oxford shot-putt team, necessitating the creation of a character not found in the original play, athletics coach Sandeford (played by former child star Jackie Coogan). Additionally, the character of Babberly's sweetheart Ela Delahey is eliminated, and a conspicuous duck pond figures largely in the slapstick proceedings. One of the few Playhouse 90 installments to be performed before a studio audience, Charley's Aunt boasts an astonishingly stellar supporting cast, including former MGM songbird Jeanette MacDonald as Donna Lucia (the real Aunt), MacDonald's husband Gene Raymond as Sir Francis Chesney, humorist Orson Bean as Jack, future novelist Tom Tryon as Charley, waspish Richard Haydn ("Uncle Max" in The Sound of Music) as Stephen Spettigue, and Sue Randall, later to achieve fame as "Miss Landers" on Leave It to Beaver, as Kitty Verdun. Charley's Aunt is one of several Playhouse 90 episodes currently available in kinescope form on home video. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jeanette MacDonald made her first screen appearance in five years in the MGM confection Three Daring Daughters. Looking at least ten years younger than her 48 years, MacDonald is cast as glamorous magazine editor Louise Raton Morgan. Long divorced Louise returns from a Cuban vacation with a handsome new husband in tow: None other than famed pianist Jose Iturbi, engagingly playing "himself". Louise's three daughters Tess (Jane Powell), Alix (Mary Elinor Donahue, the future "Princess" on TV's Father Knows Best) and Ilka (Ann E. Todd) are appalled by their mother's choice of husbands. Refusing to accept Iturbi as their stepdad, the girls contrive to unite Louise with Robert-whether they like it or not. Before the Three Daring Daughters come to their senses, there's opportunity aplenty from musical solos by stars Jeanette MacDonald, Jane Powell and Jose Iturbi, with an additional solo from harmonica virtuoso Larry Adler (just before he was blacklisted from Hollywood and forced to scare up film work in England). Incidentally, the actress playing the flirtatious Mrs. Smith is Moyna McGill, the real-life mother of Angela Lansbury. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The final pairing of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, an adaptation of a Rodgers & Hart musical, stars Eddy as a playboy who fantasizes that he is romancing an angel (MacDonald). ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Adapted from the warhorse stage tearjerker by Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin, this 1941 film version of Smilin' Through is even hokier than two earlier movie adaptations, but it works beautifully thanks to the sensitive direction of Frank Borzage. Brian Aherne dominates the proceedings as the aged Sir John Carteret, who has lived in embittered seclusion since the tragic wedding-day death of his beloved fiancee Moonyean Clare. Upon the outbreak of WW2, Cateret's estate is visited by his orphaned American niece Kathleen (Jeanette MacDonald), who is the living image of the late Moonyean. Finding a new lease on life, Sir John hopes against hope to avert the romantic disasters of his past, but this proves difficult when it appears that the deadly rivalries which cost the life of Moonyean are poised to avail themselves once more. Costarring in the dual role of Moonyean's ex-lover Jeremy and Kathleen's current beau Kenneth is Gene Raymond, soon to become the husband of Jeanette MacDonald. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Previously filmed in 1930 with Lawrence Tibbett and Grace Moore, the robust Sigmund Romberg operetta New Moon was given another airing in 1940 as Nelson Eddy-Jeanette MacDonald vehicle. Set in 18th century Louisiana, the story concerns the relationship between haughty plantation owner Marianne de Beaumanoir (MacDonald) and her handsome bondservant Charles (Eddy). Actually a French nobleman in disguise, Charles leads his fellow bondsman in revolt, commandeering a ship and heading out to sea. He ends up capturing a vessel carrying Marianne and a cargo of mail-order brides. Though the bondsmen and the brides get along just fine, the romance between Marianne and Charles is noticeably strained, but the French Revolution comes along to solve everyone's problems. The soaring Romberg musical score includes such favorites as "One Kiss", "Stout-Hearted Men" and "Lover Come Back to Me", all performed con brio by the stars. Comedian Buster Keaton, whose supporting role was cut from the final release print of New Moon, can still be glimpsed among the bondsmen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

MGM's leading musical team of the 30's, Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy are paired once again in this fourth film version of David Belasco's creaky melodrama, featuring music by Sigmund Romberg and Gus Kahn. Jeanette MacDonald is Mary Robbins, the owner of a bawdy, rough-house saloon in a western mining town, who falls in love with the Mexican bandit Ramerez (Nelson Eddy), who has disguised himself as a cavalry officer. But when local sheriff Jack Rance (Walter Pidgeon) tracks down Ramerez and wounds him, Mary discovers Ramerez's ruse and begs Rance for the outlaw's freedom. The only problem is that Nance is also in love with Mary. Girl of the Golden West was originally tinted in a sepia-tone to create a look as burnished as the MGM production design. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this adaptation of the operetta by Rudolf Friml, secret agent Nina Maria Azara (Jeannette MacDonald) is working undercover for the King of Spain as a singer known as the "Mosca del Fuego" or "Firefly." Her mission is to uncover Napoleon's plot to invade Spain before it is too late. This film features a variety of songs including "Donkey Serenade," "Love Is Like a Firefly," " and "When a Maid Comes Knocking At Your Heart." ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

The MGM historical "spectacular" San Francisco was allegedly based on a three-sentence synopsis, submitted verbally to producer B.F. Zeidman by studio troubleshooter Bob Hopkins. The story begins on the Barbary Coast on New Year's Eve, 1906, as rakish but likeable political boss Blackie Norton (Clark Gable) hires demure young singer Mary Blake (Jeanette MacDonald) to perform at his rowdy Paradise gambling house. Local priest Father Mullin (Spencer Tracy), Blackie's best friend, disapproves of the exploitation of the lovely Mary, feeling that she's suited for classier surroundings. Jack Hurley (Jack Holt), Nob Hill socialite and Blackie's political rival, agrees with Father Mullin and offers the girl the opportunity to sing with the San Francisco Opera. Blackie, who's fallen in love with Mary but won't admit it to himself, jealously holds on to her contract, forcing Mary to walk out on him. For the rest of the film, Mary is torn between the "respectable" lifestyle offered her by Hurley and the baser creature comforts provided by Blackie. It looks for a while that Hurley has won out, but fate takes a hand in the form of the devastating San Francisco Earthquake of April 18, 1906 (a special effects tour de force for art directors Arnold Gillespie and his uncredited associate James Basevi). Hurley is killed in the holocaust, while Blackie, desperately searching for Mary in the rubble, at long last finds religion and prays to God for his sweetheart's salvation. At the end, an unidentified bit player shouts defiantly "We'll build a new San Francisco!" -- and by golly, they do! The Hollywood censors were not so much bothered by the sexual subtext of San Francisco or its harrowing earthquake finale as they were by a scene in which Father Mullin is knocked down by an unrepentant Blackie. To "purify" this potentially blasphemous sequence, screenwriter Anita Loos quickly added an earlier scene in which Mullin and Blackie, both dressed in turtleneck sweaters, genially duke it out at an exercise gym, whereupon the priest cold-cocks Blackie with the greatest of ease. By establishing that Mullin could have punched out Blackie, but chooses not to in the controversial later scene, not only allows that scene to pass, but also strengthened the priest's character. San Francisco proved to be one of MGM's biggest hits, remaining in almost constant reissue for the next three decades. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The first of MGM's phenomenally profitable Jeanette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy musicals, Naughty Marietta takes several beneficial liberties with the libretto of the original Victor Herbert operetta. MacDonald plays an 18th-century French princess who escapes an arranged marriage by posing as a "cake girl," a mail-order bride sent to the New World to marry a colonist. En route, MacDonald and the other brides are captured by pirates, but are rescued by mercenary Eddy and his roistering companions. To avoid marrying some lowly farmer or frontiersman, simon-pure MacDonald intimates that she is a woman with a "history," which makes her attractive to the glitterati of old New Orleans. Only Eddy sees through MacDonald's feigned "naughtiness," and in the end claims her for his own. The most memorable of the Herbert songs retained for the film version of Naughty Marietta was "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life", which remained one of Jeanette MacDonald's signature tunes ever afterward. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on the stage musical by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach, The Cat and the Fiddle stars Jeanette MacDonald as a music student and Ramon Novarro as a struggling composer. When the leading lady walks out of Victor's (Novarro) upcoming operetta, the star's husband pulls his financial support. The leading man ankles the production shortly thereafter, compelling Victor to play the role himself. All this scenario needs is fair Shirley (MacDonald) as the last minute-replacement for the missing leading lady -- but Shirley has given up music to marry philandering (but wealthy) Daudet (Frank Morgan). The fact that the film's final scene was lensed in Technicolor should indicate whether or not Shirley comes to Victor's rescue. Only one song from the original stage production of The Cat and the Fiddle was used in the film version; the remaining (and forgettable) tunes were penned by Kern and Harbach exclusively for the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of the most technically accomplished and sophisticated movie musicals of the 1930's, Rouben Mamoulian's Love Me Tonight (1932) had a profound effect on the shape of the musical genre (especially the films of Vincente Minnelli), and remains a candidate for best movie musical ever made, some seven decades after its release. And that distinction is based entirely on its style and structure -- it doesn't even take into account a hit-laden score by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, or a raft of delightful performances, several of them totally unexpected in their range and wit. The movie opens with an amazing double audio/visual montage sequence, in which the sleeping city of Paris awakens to a slowly rising chorus of sounds, street by street, house by house -- forming what the script describes as a "symphony" of sound -- which coalesces into a song. It is through the latter that we meet Maurice Courtelin (Maurice Chevalier), a young Parisian tailor who has just completed his first big job, an order of 15 suits for the Viscount de Varese (Charlie Ruggles), who has promised to pay him on delivery. He then discovers that the Viscount is little more than an upper-class ne'er-do-well who, among his other faults, has no money of his own -- being completely dependent on his crusty old uncle the Duke (Sir C. Aubrey Smith) -- and never pays his bills. In one of a half-dozen remarkable musical scenes, as Maurice's friend Emile (Bert Roach) ponders the matter of love in the new suit he has made for him, Maurice begins singing "Isn't It Romantic?", causing Emile to hum the tune as he strolls onto the street; the song is picked up by a taxi driver (Rolfe Sedan), and passed to his passenger (Tyler Brooke), a composer, who carries it aboard a train, humming it, where a group of soldiers hear it and end up singing it as they march across a field, where a young gypsy hears it and carries it to his camp on his violin, where the whole clan is soon singing. And the song is finally wafted across the surrounding fields to the estate of the Duke and the Viscount de Varese, where it is heard and sung by the Duke' niece, Princess Jeanette (Jeanette MacDonald). The two characters, Maurice and Jeanette, are linked for us in this way even before they meet, and the stage is set for the rest of the plot. For the Princess, living under her family's tradition-bound hand, romance is a source of unhappiness; there's no one at the chateau to interest her, and even if there were, she couldn't dare to be interested; already a widow from an arranged marriage at age 22 (her first husband was 75), she must marry someone of equal royal rank, and the only two known candidates in all of Europe are ages 85 and 12, respectively. Maurice journeys to the chateau with the clothes the Viscount ordered, hoping to confront him for payment, and is mistaken for one of the guests -- and he crosses paths with the Princess, and falls in love with her. Identified as the Count de Courtelin, he delights the rest of the guests with his joie de vivre and his way with a song, especially "Mimi" (which somehow managed to make it past the censors, despite some amazingly risque lyrics), getting the entire coterie of nobles singing it in his wake. But the Princess is resistant to his free and easy charm and flirtations, her staid upbringing and sense of station fighting her natural inclinations, while her other would-be suitor, the Count de Savignac (Charles Butterworth), is suspicious of this new-found rival. Also present at the estate is the Duke's other niece, Countess Valentine (Myrna Loy), who has a nymphomaniac interest in men under the age of 40, of whom Maurice is the only one at the chateau not related to her -- thus, he must fend off her advances while trying to woo a woman who wants nothing to do with him. Rumor soon spreads that Maurice is, in fact, a full-blooded royal prince traveling in disguise. And if he is a prince of the rank they think he is, then suddenly the Princess's marital and romantic prospects seem a lot more encouraging, especially as she begins to melt to his charm. Maurice wants to tell her the truth, but will she feel the same way about him, knowing that he is a commoner, a tradesman ... a tailor? Director Rouben Mamoulian had already jump-started the musical genre with the backstage drama Applause (1929), to great critical and financial success. In contrast to that movie's deceptively naturalistic approach to its subject, Love Me Tonight was highly stylized -- Applause had no actual musical numbers in complete form, while Love Me Tonight was filled with incredibly elaborate and subtle musical set-pieces that grow naturally out of the plot (adapted from a play by Paul Armont and Leopold Marchand) and advanced the narrative. Some of the scenes here helped set the stage for works such as An American In Paris and Gigi (one scene near the end, when Maurice's identity is revealed, seems to have been the model for "The Gossips At Maxim's" from the latter film) and Funny Face. Such is Love Me Tonight's reputation, that in the summer of 2007, 75 years after its release and more than five years after it showed up on DVD, the movie chalked up sell-out audiences when it opened the Mamoulian retrospective at New York's Film Forum. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

A musical remake of The Marriage Circle (1924), One Hour with You stars Maurice Chevalier as a Parisian doctor and Jeanette MacDonald as his loving wife. Chevalier is scrupulously faithful, much to the chagrin of his lovely female patients. But when MacDonald's best friend Genevieve Tobin insists upon being treated by Dr. Chevalier, it looks to many of those concerned that Tobin may succeed where the other willing ladies failed. The misunderstandings and reconciliations of the plotline are playfully staged with deliberate artificiality by director Ernst Lubitsch: Characters speak in rhymed couplets, Parisian gendarmes issue orders to their minions to the beat of a ticking clock, and Chevalier regularly talks directly to the audience. One Hour With You is a tuneful confection which is just as refreshing today as it was sixty years ago. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide