Naughty Marietta (1935)

Based upon Victor Herbert's most famous operetta, which tells the story of a French princess(Maria), disguised as her maid(Marietta) for the purpose of escaping an imminent marriage arranged by her uncle, to dowdy Spanish nobleman Don Carlos, boarding a ship filled with French women, as potential wives for the colonials in and around New Orleans. She, however, falls in love with the leader(Captain Warrington) of a band of American frontiersmen, who have been hired by the governor to protect them from hostile Indians and pirates, and who rescue the women from a band of pirates, who captured the ship, and killed all the crew. In addition, she's not impressed with the quality of the colonists as potential husbands. Thus, she feigns being of disputable moral history, in order to dissuade marriage proposals by colonials. Supposedly, only casquette girls were brought on this ship. In contrast to most women sent as potential wives, because of their status as 'undesirables', casquette girls; mostly poor orphans, care for by church-supported charitable organizations, such as orphanages and convents, were often sought by the more discriminating colonials, because most were virgins. Thus, for Maria to admit that she was not a legitimate casquette girl was shocking.The screenplay simplifies Herbert's more complex plot, which includes the son of the governor of Louisiana, also being an infamous pirate leader, and with the ambition of making Louisiana an independent nation, with himself as king. He competes with Captain Warrington for Maria, who vacillates between the two. In this film, the arrival of Don Carlos and her uncle(as her dictatorial guardian) in New Orleans provides the equivalent conflict.In this initial pairing of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy as the singing leads, many of Herbert's songs are retained, often with additional lyrics by Gus Kahn. While still in France, Jeanette displays her pipes with "Chansonette", with chorus. As the ship is being prepared to sail, Charles Bruins, along with a chorus, sing "Antoinette and Anatole", which apparently is immediately followed by "Live for Today"(lyrics indistinct to me), by Jeanette and chorus, as the ship sets sail....As the ship nears the Louisiana shore, Eddy leads his men in "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp", as his frontiersmen make their way through the forest, presumably looking for trouble, which they find in the form of the pirates plus women. After the pirates are run off, the women's virtue intact, Eddy leads his men in "The Owl and the Polecat", to pass the time.Although Marie claims she's just a poor milkmaid, the (rather unlikely) aristocratic Warrington soon points out several reasons to doubt her claim, probably suspecting her of being a runaway from an affluent family. He soon sings the romantic "Neath the Southern Moon", to impress her with his singing talent. However, she is put off by his negative remarks relating to the desirability of marriage, in general. Thus, their relationship vacillates throughout the film. Yes, "Love is Like a Firefly", as Jeanette sings in a later film. Some humor is supplied in the exchanges between Eddy's and Jeanette's characters, as he continues to pursue an interest in her, and she continues to be put off by his negative comments about the desirability of marriage. Later, after Marie has been assigned to work for the Italian puppeteer Rudolpho, this Italian family initiates the familiar "Italian Street Song", which Eddy picks up on, then challenges Marie to sing it at well as Rudolpho's daughter. He's astonished that she sings it even better. Later, Marie takes part as the face and voice of a puppet, in a puppet show, as they sing "Ship Ahoy". Later, Eddy convinces Marie to take a ride in a row boat with him, as he again questions her who she really is. she responds "just someone". Eddy then sings "I'm Falling in Love with Someone".Unfortunately for the pair, Maria's uncle soon learned from Marietta where Maria had gone, and commissioned a ship to take him and jilted groom Don Carlos to New Orleans. They now arrive. Uncle is very angry and very insistent that she must marry Don Carlos, as he had promised the king of France. She reluctantly agrees to accompany them back to France, while hoping there will be some opportunity to escape with Captain Warrington. As she prepares her things to board the ship, she sings the well-remembered "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life", the melody of which had been swimming in her head since before she left France. Eddy then picks it up as a solo, followed by their duet. A plan by Warrington to foil the enforced departure of Marie works, and the film ends with a brief reprise of "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp", which gradually transforms into a reprise of "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life" by the duo, as they disappear into the surrounding wilderness, accompanied by some of Warrington's men.Frank Morgan injects some light humor here and there, as the frequently befuddled Governor of Louisiana, always getting in trouble with his wife for his wandering eye, which includes Jeanette. Thus, he tries to side with Eddy in trying to prevent her removal back to France. Of course, he would gain his greatest fame as the wizard of Oz, in the '39 classic. According to Wikipedia, in the original operetta, this tale takes place in 1780. Yet, a decree by King Louis XV, who died in 1774, is shown in one film scene. Furthermore, the presence of French troops is mentioned. Presumably, the story in this film takes place before the transfer of Louisiana from French to Spanish administration, in the 1760s!As with nearly all the Eddy-MacDonald films, shot in B&W. If you must have color and can't tolerate classic operetta singing, better skip this one. Along with the very similar "New Moon", this is my favorite of the JN & NE films I have seen. Presently available as a made-on-demand DVD.

This is just a flat out good movie! Maybe I should say a GREAT movie. Although I've been a fan over the past few decades of many films and performers of the 1930s--including the amazing dancing team of (who else?) Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers--until yesterday I'd never seen a film featuring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. Then, by chance a couple of weeks ago, I heard some singing by Eddy and started checking his and Jeanette's work on Youtube. This led me to many scenes and songs on good old Youtube. The singing was, well, fabulous, and the chemistry between the stars was kinetic, but I figured that, outside of the songs themselves, the movies would probably be syrupy sweet and impossibly dated. That seemed to be the buzz, and otherwise, why weren't they more popular with today's audiences. Still, I had to see a whole film after those tantalizing Youtube scenes. Still, actually finding their films isn't all that easy. There is nothing much on Netflix and few videos of any kind seem to be currently in print. Still, I managed to track down and buy a DVD of 'Naughty Marietta' from an independent outlet--and was amazed at how good it was, and not just the songs!It has a compelling plot, a whole variety of settings going up and down the social ladder from posh Louis XV Paris to the bayous of the rugged Louisiana frontier. It also features some appealing comic moments from MGM's team of crack character actors. Frank Morgan (later the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz) particularly stands out as the likably incompetent governor of French colonial New Orleans. And even in their non-singing scenes, the chemistry between the two stars remains electric. I somehow hadn't realized, at least until my Youtube explorations, that Jeanette MacDonald was drop-dead gorgeous--but she was. She also had a great deal of vivacity and charm-- and, boy, could she sing. Eddy's acting has been criticized, and maybe he didn't have tremendous emotional range, but he does have a real presence on the screen along with that electric connection with Jeanette. And when he sings, his voice acts for him! Moreover, as a singer, he's even better than Jeanette.All in all, the effect is remarkable and one can see why these movies were so immensely popular in their own time. Moreover, overall, I'd rate the non-musical elements of Naughty Marietta (plot, dialog, characterization, acting, setting, thematic development) as superior to most or all of the non-musical moments of Astaire-Rogers, although their movies are, of course, far better known today. In Astaire-Rogers one is often wishing they'll get through this silly scene of dialog and get to the next dance, but that doesn't happen in Naughty Marietta, where the songs seem to grow organically out of the intriguing dramatic situations.I'm going to track down more films in the Eddy-MacDonald series. This one certainly far exceeded my expectations!

This was a great movie. I do love operettas, and "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life," is a beautiful song. But I did not enjoy watching Nelson Eddy's wooden acting. His singing voice is good, but not spectacular, and it gets a little annoying watching his constant woodenness. Still, the musical score was spectacular. I have always loved the works of Victor Herbert. It is also very interesting to see a pre-Oz Frank Morgan, and pre-Andy Hardy Cecilia Parker, and also Elsa Lanchester, the same year she appeared as the "Bride." Jeanette McDonald's singing is at her best. This was overall a good movie, but I wish that they could have gotten someone different than Nelson Eddy.

This is truly one of my favorite classics. My grandmother gave it to me when I was five, after she saw my interest in and love of opera and musicals. It is light and romantic with some absolutely lovely duets between McDonald and Eddy. Though not as passionate and dark like the more modern musicals, it is quite charming and worth seeing.