Jan Kiepura Movies
Polish actor and singer Jan Kiepura started out in opera singing with the Warsaw State Opera. He later sang in Vienna and Milan before launching a career during the '30s. Usually he appeared in musicals opposite Marta Eggerth, his wife. The couple came to the U.S. later in the decade and while he sang with the New York Metropolitan Opera, his stateside film career never took off. Kiepura did continue to perform in a few European films following WW II. He retired in the mid-'50s. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1952
The German Land des Lachelns was released abroad as Land of Smiles. Based on an operetta by Franz Lehar, the film serves as a showcase for the splendid vocal talents of Martha Eggerth and Jan Kiepura (whose last movie this was). Eggerth plays a Viennese opera diva who falls in love with a Siamese prince, played by Kiepura. Both are slated for marriages of convenience, but that doesn't stop them from pursuing their romance. The King and I it's not, but it's still enjoyable. Comedy relief is provided by Ludwig Schmitz as the Harpo Marx-like servant to Prince Kiepura. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marta Eggerth, Jan Kiepura, (more)
- 1947
The Italian-American Her Wonderful Lie is based on the novel Latin Quarter by Murger. This literary work is better known as the source for the Puccini opera La Boheme, and indeed, Her Wonderful Life is a modernized adaptation of the Puccini classic, with a few songs from other operas thrown in for good measure. Marta Eggerth and Jan Kiepura sing and act the leading roles of the tragic seamstress and her headstrong starving-artist lover. Featured in the cast are such familiar American faces as Janis Paige, Douglass Dumbrille, Sterling Holloway and Isobel Elsom, not to mention dancer-choreographer Marc Platt. On the strength of its multinational cast, Her Wonderful Lie was distributed stateside by Columbia Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marta Eggerth, Jan Kiepura, (more)
Jan Kiepura and Marta Eggerth, a pair of gifted opera singers who were also husband and wife, were at the height of their fame in 1936 when they starred in this Viennese screen musical. Denise (Eggerth) is an aspiring singer whose audition for a production of La Bohème strongly impresses Rene (Kiepura), another performer hoping to land a role in the opera. Denise wins the leading role of Mimi, and Rene wins the heart of Denise as well as a part as her love interest, but their good fortune is soon shrouded in tragedy when Denise discovers that, much like her character, she has contracted a fatal disease which may prevent her from making her triumphant debut. Zauber der Boheme (aka The Charm of La Boheme) was designed to incorporate the music of Puccini's opera into a contemporary setting as a vehicle for Kiepura and Eggerth; this project marked their return to the European screen after a stay in Hollywood failed to make them into American matinee idols in the manner of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jan Kiepura, Marta Eggerth, (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)
- 1935
In this opera-oriented musical, a young tenor in Venice meets a young woman who sneaks into the opera house to try and get her fiance hired as the orchestra's pianist. She tells him her story, but calls her fiance her brother. He finds her out, but gives her a card that will get the pianist a job anyway. She feels guilty, breaks off the engagement, and decides to go along with her parents' choice of a wealthy society man as her husband, but changes her mind right before the wedding and marries the tenor. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jan Kiepura, Sonnie Hale, (more)
- 1934
Mein Herz Ruft Dir is a tailor-made vehicle for Polish singing sensation Jan Kiepura. The star is cast as the lead tenor in a travelling operatic troupe, who while taking a boat to Monte Carlo falls in love with pretty stowaway Martha Eggerth. When the troupe's Monte Carlo engagement is cancelled, Kiepura tries to use his splendid singing voice to find a wealthy patron for himself and his co-workers. Nothing seems to work until he stages an impromptu street performance of Tosca, drawing a huge crowd away from an indoor performance of the same opera. Oh yes -- he also ends up marrying Marta Eggerth, who like everyone else in the film plays second fiddle to Mr. Kiepura. Director Carmine Gallone filmed Mein Herz Ruft Dir three times: this German version, the French Mon Coeur D'Appelle and the English-language My Heart is Calling. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jan Kiepura, Marta Eggerth, (more)
- 1933
Polish opera star Jan Kiepura makes a rare film appearance in the British Be Mine Tonight. Kiepura plays an opera star who is besieged by his eager female fans. He heads to a tiny village where no one knows who he is. The peace and quiet rapidly drives him crazy, but at least he finds romance in the form of Magda Schneider. Be Mine Tonight was filmed simultaneously in English and German versions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jan Kiepura, Sonnie Hale, (more)
- 1932
He was known as Anatole Litvak during his Hollywood directorial career, but he was still Anatole Litwak when he helmed the German musical Das Lied Einer Nacht (The Song of Night). Famed Polish tenor Jan Kiepura stars as famed Italian tenor Ferraro. Escaping from his tyrannical manager, Ferraro switches identities with a young tourist (Fritz Schulz) and goes off on an unscheduled Swiss holiday. Still travelling incognito, our hero falls in love with a winsome mountain girl (Magda Schneider). Alas, both his romance -- and his freedom -- are placed in jeopardy when it turns out that the charming young fellow with whom Ferraro traded identities was actually a notorious swindler. Anatole Litvak also directed the English-language version of Das Lied Einer Nacht, Be Mine Tonight. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jan Kiepura, Magda Schneider, (more)
- 1931
Several European countries collaborated to create this drama. The story begins as a young British woman meets and falls in love with her tour guide during a vacation to Naples. Along the way, she hears him singing. Recognizing a good tenor voice when she hears one, she takes him back to England for special vocal training. The tour guide is one handsome heartbreaker and one of his lovers is angered by his desertion. In England he sings at a fancy party. They are so impressed, that he is immediately booked into an opera house the following night. During the party, he finds himself becoming increasingly jealous of his newest girlfriend's flirtatious ways. When he discovers that his operatic debut is being financed by other party goers, the tenor flies into a rage and begins attacking the backers. Naturally they cancel his performance. The tour guide returns to Naples and to his other lover. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jan Kiepura, Walter Janssen, (more)
