The Great Victor Herbert (1939)

I give this thumbs up for being a very entertaining movie, in fact a really good one. But it's as close to Broadway history 101 as George Arliss's film versions of the lives of Alexander Hamilton, Disraeli, Voltaire and Cardinal Richelieu. The shell around this film (and those) is somewhat faithful, but when it comes down to it, they are nothing but excuses for Arliss (and in this case Walter Connelly) to interfere in the lives of young lovers. Director Andrew L. Stone strives for old fashioned style operetta like romance and succeeds, but the parallels to "Show Boat" are obvious. In the case of the lovers (Allan Jones and rising Broadway star Mary Martin), it makes sense for their love story to be surrounded by the music of Victor Herbert. They are indeed babes on Broadway, and for the grand old man of the operetta to be their fairy godfather is a nice touch. However, Connelly is totally supporting, his music (with various lyricist's) the star. Coming off the success of "Show Boat" (music by Herbert's protégé, Jerome Kern) and "The Firefly" (Herbert's "rival", Rudolph Friml the composer on that one), Allan Jones is handsome and romantic, if slightly bland. Mary Martin, on the other hand, a star to be, on stage, but unfortunately not on film. Their marriage strains as her career rises and his declines, an operatic version of "A Star is Born". Connelly is perfectly cast, lovable yet egotistical, and quite a character in his own right according to what I've read about the real Victor Herbert. The film bookends itself with the attempts of an operetta newcomer (Susanna Foster) to get through an opening night, suddenly breaking down in tears. From there, it flashes back to years before, and shows how Martin sweetly intruded in on Jones' singing of "Ah Sweet Mystery of Life" and then got an introduction to Herbert through husband to be Jones. In this duet, it doesn't appear that it's Martin's voice (as she never sings a solo line in it), but it is obviously her when she breaks into "A Kiss in the Dark". This is as close as the originator of "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" ever got to classical music, as her few films over the next four years were quite different than this. The parallels to both "Show Boat" and "A Star is Born" become obvious as the film advances, with Judith Barrett around as an old flame of Jones's who is furious over his sudden romance with Martin. So while Martin may have only been a flash in the pan during her four years in Hollywood, what was the movie industry's loss was the musical theater's huge gain. It's the music you will remember (to paraphrase the lyrics of a Sigmund Romberg song), and if you can get through Martin and Jones's duet of "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life" without thinking of "Young Frankenstein", I salute you. However, there's so much more, including "A Kiss in the Dark" and "I'm Falling in Love With Someone", not to mention the still performed "Babes in Toyland". Great photography and costumes complete the nostalgia of this look at the early days of legitimate Broadway, with a future Broadway queen rising up the ranks. It's interesting to note that 30 something years later, Stone remade "The Great Waltz" and filmed the old chestnut, "Song of Norway", and flopped miserably.

I cannot argue with other comments that the story line focuses more on the romance between the Mary Martin and Allan Jones characters, much in the manner of "Showboat", than on the life of Victor Herbert. But in the 1930's, would that have been a box office draw? Instead of the Life of VH, perhaps it should have been the Music of VH. There is an abundance of this.For me, the thrill of the movie came near the end of the movie when Susanna Foster sings "Land of Romance". It has been over a decade since I caught this movie for a second time at a local 'old movies' theater. At first the audience was stunned; then it burst into spontaneous applause. I remember the shivers running up and down my spine. My trivia memory recalled the information provided to an inquiring public by a local journalist when the movie first came out back in the late 1930's. 'That note hit by Miss Foster was a far F above high C.'She may not have had four octaves a la Yma Sumac but the then teen-ager certainly had a range!

An enjoyable film, but it is not really (in fact, not at all) a biography of Victor Herbert, as the title suggests. The music, however, is a delight, and although Herbert's music would now no doubt be considered 'dated' by many people, he did have a sure melodic gift. Many of his songs have a wide vocal range and are by no means easy to sing; one of his trademarks is the use of wide and unusual intervals (e.g. a major ninth in 'I'm falling in love with someone'; an octave plus a semitone, a major seventh and a tenth in 'Kiss me again'). This, combined with the sometimes flowery lyrics and his penchant for the slow waltz, give his music an old-world charm that is well served in this film by the performances, the set and the costumes. Allan Jones and Mary Martin are both worth seeing - and hearing. Allan Jones had a fine tenor voice, which he uses here to good effect. It is always interesting to see Mary Martin on screen - although she comes over as perfectly fine - indeed good - there is perhaps little to suggest that she would go on to become one of the very greatest musical stars of Broadway (and, indeed, also of the West End in London) of the middle years of the twentieth century. (Those who doubt that this film allows us to hear her real singing voice of these years should seek out a recording of her in Noel Coward's Pacific 1860 (London, 1946), in which she plays an opera diva, or of Peter Pan, in which her coloratura pyrotechnics can be heard.)All in all, an enjoyable film for those who like the music of Victor Herbert (and people who enjoy operetta music or musicals generally are likely to find Herbert's music worth exploring) and also for those who are fans of the stars.

Now I like Victor Herbert. And I like Mary Martin and Allan Jones. But it would have been nice to see a real biography of Victor Herbert. Walter Connolly as Herbert does have a decent resemblance to him in his latter yearsJones and Martin sing beautifully though. The Herbert music is just there to adorn the plot line concerning these two musical performers. Jones's John Ramsay is a frail character, very similar to Gaylord Ravenal in Showboat who Jones also played.As for Mary Martin, it's a mystery why she never had a good Hollywood career. She did films with Bing Crosby and Dick Powell as well as this one. She performed well, but movie audiences didn't take to her. The best musical moment in the film is Jones and Martin in a duet of Thine Alone. The recordings I have of the song are individual and it was written as a duet. There's also a pleasant scene with Jones and Martin riding bicycles swapping Herbert songs as they ride.The real Victor Herbert with his womanizing and his Irish patriot background and his musical training in Germany where he developed a love for all things German would have been a fascinating study. He was also a cello virtuoso before he turned full time to composing. I have to take strong exception to the reviewer who said Cuddles Sakall would have been a good Victor Herbert. Sakall as Irish, HELLO.Nice movie, but the real Vic would have been so much better.