Gladys Swarthout Movies
Operatic mezzo-soprano Gladys Swarthout spent five years singing with the Metropolitan Opera in New York before Paramount studios recruited her to come to Hollywood in the mid-'30s. Swarthout was once hailed as the newest rival to MGM's Jeanette MacDonald and Columbia's Grace Moore, but though talented and beautiful, her film career never took off. She did, however, find success on radio and television. Swarthout was born in Deepwater, MO, and got her start singing in a church choir at age 12. Following studies at Chicago's Bush Conservatory, she debuted in 1924 with the city's Civic Opera Company. She joined the Met in 1929. A bout with rheumatic fever in her youth left Swarthout with the heart condition that claimed her life in 1969. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1939
Finishing out her Paramount Pictures contract, opera star Gladys Swarthout sings not a single note in the tense little thriller Ambush. After pulling off a bank robbery, a clever gang of thieves squirrels itself away in a rural hideout. Complicating matters is the unexpected arrival of Jane Hartman (Swarthout), the sister of one of the crooks. Hoping to keep her brother and herself alive, Jane is obliged to coerce an honest truck driver named Tony Andrews (Lloyd Nolan) into helping the fugitives escape. Ambush is distinguished by the bravura performance of Ernest Truex, usually cast in milquetoast roles, as the brilliant but deadly "brains" of the outlaw gang. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gladys Swarthout, Lloyd Nolan, (more)
- 1938
Herman Bahr's German play The Yellow Nightingale from 1907 became Paramount's 1938 entry in the then-popular operetta cycle. Gladys Swarthout, formerly of the Met, stars as Ilona Boros, a peasant girl with a magnificent voice who becomes a pawn in the rivalry between opera tenor Tony Kovach (John Boles) and his business manager Zoltan Jason (John Barrymore). Both men are infatuated with the beautiful, but cold, Countess Foldessy (Claire Dodd), and Tony plans to make Ilona a star so that Jason will be attracted to her instead. The scheme backfires, of course, and soon both men are fighting over Ilona, the outraged countess left to instead pursue Jason's butler, Von Hemisch (Curt Bois). In between the comedy, Swarthout, Boles, and company perform such well-known selections as "Because," from the opera Jocelyn; "Habanera," from Carmen; "La Ci Darem la Nano," from Don Giovanni; and Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin's "Tonight We Love." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gladys Swarthout, John Boles, (more)
- 1937
Another of Paramount's efforts to transform Metropolitan Opera diva Gladys Swarthout into a popular movie star, Champagne Waltz casts Swarthout as Elsa Strauss, the daughter of a celebrated Viennese composer (Fritz Leiber). American bandleader Buzzy Bellew (Fred MacMurray) and his aggregation invade Vienna with their own special repertoire of melodies, and before long the Austrian capital has abandoned waltzes in favor of jazz. With her family's waltz palace in danger of going out of business, Elsa heads next door to Buzzy's establishment, hoping to persuade him to pack up and go home. Not unexpectedly, the two fall in love (he even teaches her the art of chewing gum), leading to a harmonious "marriage" of musical genres (intended as the film's highlight, this climactic scene was mercilessly raked over the coals by the movie critics of the era). Jack Oakie's performance as Happy Gallagher does much to lift this predictable tune fest from the ordinary. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gladys Swarthout, Fred MacMurray, (more)
- 1936
In her much vaunted screen debut, Metropolitan Opera star Gladys Swarthout takes on David Belasco's 30-year-old operetta about the female leader of a gang of vigilantes battling usurpers plotting to steal valuable land grants. The masked Don Carlos (aka Rosita Castro) uses her operatic voice as a call to arms, singing Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin's "If I Should Love You," "Thunder Over Paradise," "Where Is My Love?," and other selections, but her attempt to lynch accused bandit leader Joe Kincaid (Charles Bickford) fails when government agent Jim Kearney (John Boles) puts a stop to the unlawful proceedings. Despite interference from Don Castro (H.B. Warner), who has promised his daughter to Don Louis Espinoza (Don Alvarado), Kearney falls in love with the songstress, unaware that she is Don Carlos. But when Kincaid and his hordes storm the Castro rancho, Kearney is battling right alongside the lovely vigilante. Rose of the Rancho had previously been filmed in 1914 by Cecil B. De Mille as a vehicle for silent star Bessie Barriscale. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gladys Swarthout, Charles Bickford, (more)
- 1936
Charismatic Polish opera singer Jan Kiepura made his Hollywood debut in Give Us This Night. His thick Slavic accent notwithstanding, Kiepura is cast as Italian fisherman Antonio. In the habit of singing as he fishes, Antonio catches the attention of opera diva Maria (played by real-life operatic soprano Gladys Swarthout, in her second film appearance). Our hero ends up replacing Maria's burned-out leading man Forcellini (Alan Mowbray), leading to a series of duets and, naturally, romance. It was the same formula that MGM would later deploy for their Mario Lanza pictures of the 1950s, except that Lanza was a more persuasive screen presence than Kiepura. The highlight of Give Us This Night is the climactic operatic adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, composed by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gladys Swarthout, Philip Merivale, (more)
