The Girl of the Golden West ( 1938 )

Ramerez ( Nelson Eddy ) is a carefree caballero with a tremendous sombrero on his head. Also on his head is the price of $5,000 in gold, for Ramerez is a great bandito. Along with his band of hard-riding hombres, he holds up stagecoaches and steals their passenger's gold. But he is a good man in spite of his thieving blood. Like a Robin Hood of the Wild West, Ramerez takes his portion of the gold that he steals and secretly gives it to Father Sienna to give to the poor Indians.

One day, en route to Monterey, this masked bandit holds up the stagecoach carrying Mary Robbins ( Jeannette MacDonald ) and, instantly smitten with the feisty lass, pursues her to Monterey to the governor's ball. There, incognito as Lieutenant Richard Johnson, he woos her beneath the Monterey pines with fancy words and sweet melodies. 

"I suspect you tell all your girls that their eyes are like two spoonfuls of blue Pacific." - Mary

Ramerez is playing the part of a gentleman and Mary is also playing a part. She is not the lace-and-satin lady he believes her to be, but the owner of a saloon - "The Poker". Mary is proud of her saloon and, being the only woman in the gold-mining town of Cloudee, she is beloved by all the men there, especially Sheriff Jack Rance ( Walter Pidgeon ) who intends to wed her.

When the sheriff gets wind that Ramerez is town, he sets up a trap to catch the bandit at "The Poker". This is when Mary realizes that her beloved lieutenant is none other than the infamous Ramerez and must decide whether her love for him is great enough to shield him from the law and the sheriff. 

The Girl of the Golden West was the fourth film to feature "America's Singing Sweethearts": Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald ( known as "MacEddy" to fans ). Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer struck gold when they first teamed them up in the operetta Naughty Marietta in 1935. They were a dynamic duo whose on-screen personalities were a match made in heaven. They were often cast in operetta films with period settings and the Old California atmosphere of this picture suited them particularly well. 

Like many of their films, The Girl of the Golden West was based on an opera - Puccini's La Fanciulla del West which, in turn, was based on David Belasco's original play. Instead of featuring Puccini's music, MGM producers decided to hire Sigmund Romberg to write an entirely new score for the picture. Romberg had penned many popular operettas including The Student Prince, New Moon, and The Desert Song. Along with lyricist Gus Kahn, he wrote seven songs for this film: the robust "Soldiers of Fortune", the lovely ballads "Shadows on the Moon" and "The Wind in the Trees", the duets "Who Are We to Say?" and "Señorita", the grand "Mariachi" and Buddy Ebsen's solo "The West Ain't Wild Anymore". MacDonald also performs two classical pieces: "Ave Maria" and "Liebestraum". 

The Girl of the Golden West received mixed reviews at the time of its release but has since become a MacEddy classic. It is a charming mixture of romance and adventure with a touch of humor. What is especially appealing is the back history of Mary and Ramerez as children. Prior to becoming the great bandito, Ramerez was a little boy ( played by Bill Cody Jr. ) known affectionally as "Little Gringo" by his surrogate father, "The General" ( Noah Beery ). While riding with the General's gang, Little Gringo witnesses a group of settlers gathered around a campfire and hears a girl singing a song that he would never forget - "Shadows on the Moon". That girl is Mary. The long-lost love from his youth is found again...in true operetta fashion. 

Jeanette MacDonald was such a spunky actress and her character Mary is a glove-fit for her. Mary has no qualms about living by herself in a cabin in the mountains, nor does she mind being the only gal in town...on the contrary, she basks in the attention she receives from "the boys"! If such a character was portrayed in a film today, she would probably be acted out in an overly masculine fashion, but MacDonald doesn't lose any of her womanly charms in her portrayal. 

Nelson Eddy, who was often referred to as a wooden actor, was quite lively in this production and it is easy to see why Mary falls for the handsome luuuu-tenant. Eddy makes a hero out of his bandit character, just like Errol Flynn did with Robin Hood. 

The Girl of the Golden West also boasts an impressive supporting cast. Walter Pidgeon is ideal as the gamblin' Sheriff Jack Rance. He is not a bad man in any sense, yet he becomes the villain when he threatens the happiness of the two lovebirds. Leo Carillo also stars as Mosquito, Ramerez's right-hand man. H.B. Warner is the kindly Father Sienna; Buddy Ebsen has a charming part as a blacksmith smitten with "Miss Mary" and some of the bar-room boys include Bob Murphy, Cliff Edwards, Billy Bevan, and Brandon Tynan. 

Naughty Marietta ( 1935 )

Jeanette MacDonald knew how to flaunt spunk like no other woman in her time and, incredibly, she reigned during an era of ultra-spunky women. Jeanette knew how to be feisty and flirty without losing any of her natural grace which made her ideal to play roles of princesses in the guise of commoners, a recurring theme in her films and one which began with Naughty Marietta (1935), the first picture to pair MacDonald with Nelson Eddy. 

Who would have predicted that an old 1910 Victor Herbert operetta starring two relatively unknown film personalities would become the smash hit of 1935? Ah, sweet mystery of showbiz! Producer Hunt Stromberg evidently recognized the wealth to be found in this gem of a pairing. MacDonald and Eddy were such an engaging duo that audiences immediately loved the unique quality of their onscreen comradery, their playful banter, scrumptious singing voices, and their fetching good looks. 

Naughty Marietta was hugely successful and established MacDonald and Eddy as the "Singing Sweethearts". Their first film together featured all of the special ingredients that would be included in each subsequent MacDonald/Eddy musical: adventure, romance, witty dialogue, humor, and beautiful music. 

"For 'tis love, and love alone, the world is seeking"

Jeanette MacDonald stars as Princess Marie of France, who is being pressured by her evil uncle (Douglas Dumbrille) to wed the foppish Don Carlos of Spain. To escape from this fate she swaps places with her maid, Marietta, and joins a shipload of casquette girls bound for America. Casquette girls were French women that were sent to the French colonies of Louisiana to be the wives of colonists. 

Just as they approach Louisiana the women are captured by a band of pirates and dragged to their lair in the swamps. It is the dashing Captain Warrington (Nelson Eddy), leader of a troop of mercenaries who comes to their rescue. Hoorah for Captain Warrington! He quickly recognizes the regal quality of Marietta's bearing but has no inkling that she is a princess in disguise. Instead, smitten with her charms, he begins to woo her and, within thirty minutes of film time she falls for his winsome ways....as does the audience. 

Naughty Marietta is pure entertainment from start to finish and justly deserved its Best Picture Oscar nomination that year. If the script seems to have that added sparkle it is because it was penned by the husband-and-wife team of Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, whose work included The Thin Man series and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. 

Victor Herbert's beautiful musical numbers included "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life" (which became MacDonald's signature song), "Italian Street Song", "Chansonette", "Tramp Tramp Tramp" and the lovely "I'm Falling in Love with Someone". 

MacDonald and Eddy were not only talented singers but adroit comedians as well. The "'Neath the Southern Moon" sequence and the marionette number are particularly amusing. To add to the merriment, MGM assembled a top-notch supporting cast which included Frank Morgan as Governor d'Annard, Elsa Lanchester as the Governor's wife, Cecilia Parker as Marietta's friend Julie, and Akim Tamiroff as Rudolpho, the gypsy king. 

The Pure Entertainment Preservation Society is hosting The Singing Sweethearts Blogathon celebrating the dynamic twosome of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. They fittingly scheduled it for Valentine's Day. Be sure to check out the complete roster here for more reviews and articles about this lovely couple. Happy Valentine's Day! 

The Student Prince ( 1939 )

This Valentine's Day, the Pure Entertainment Preservation Society is hosting The Singing Sweethearts Blogathon to celebrate one of the most delightful romantic couples to ever grace the silver screen - Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. I will be reviewing Naughty Marietta tomorrow but first, a look at one of the best musicals this twosome never made, MGM's adaptation of the operetta The Student Prince ( 1939 ).

Sigmund Romberg penned the score to this delightful operetta in 1924, musicalizing the 1902 Wilhelm Meyer-Förster play "Old Heidelberg". The story centers around the young Prince Karl Franz of Karlsberg, who is encouraged by his tutor, the kindly Doctor Engel, to attend the University of Heidelberg prior to capping the crown on his head. In this charming old German town, Prince Karl falls in love with Kathie, the barmaid at the local beerhall where all the students congregate after school. He wishes to marry Kathie but he is pledged to betroth Princess Margaret, and so his heart is divided between his personal desire and duty for his country.

This simple but engaging plot was interwoven with over 15 glorious Romberg songs, including "Drink, Drink, Drink!", "Golden Days", "Serenade", and "Deep in My Heart".

"The Student Prince" was an immediate success upon its Broadway debut in 1924, becoming the most popular musical of the 1920s, running even longer than "Show Boat". Hollywood brought it to the screen in 1927 as a silent film (!) starring Ramon Navarro and Norma Shearer and then remade it as a musical with Edmund Purdom and Ann Blyth in 1954, but between those years no screen version was made. I'd like to argue that Louis B. Mayer, head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, was blind to not see the potential box-office success of casting two of their biggest drawing stars - Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy - in a musical version of this story. 

The Student Prince ( 1954 )

1939 would have been the ideal release year for this film since MacDonald and Eddy would have just completed The Girl of the Golden West and Sweethearts but had no major release planned for the "golden year". MacDonald would have been marvelous as Kathie, the sweet and saucy barmaid whom all the college-men adored, while Nelson Eddy had the perfect royal bearing to portray Prince Karl. When Karl first arrives in Heidelberg he is stiff and overly curt, but as he gets to know Kathie and the other students his supreme-air fades away and he becomes beloved by all....a part that Eddy could have easily pulled off. 

The musical numbers were well-suited to both MacDonald and Eddy's voices and the rousing "Drink, Drink, Drink!" ensemble number would have been splendid with Eddy leading the chorus. 

Henry Stephenson could have been cast as Karl's father, the King ( a role that Louis Calhern played in the 1954 version ), Frank Morgan could have been the gentle Professor, Reginald Owen could have played Lutz, Karl's valet, and Elissa Landi would have made a charming Princess Margaret with her aristocratic stature. Herman Bing could have also provided comedic relief as the studdering prime minister. 

The Student Prince would have been a film that did not conclude with Eddy and MacDonald joining hands and singing into the sunset, but at least, it would have a happier ending than the tear-inducing Maytime ( 1937 ). 

Alas, Louis B. Mayer had too much on his plate to consider the project and The Student Prince was not filmed until nearly 25 years later....a version which is very entertaining but lacks the sparkle that MacDonald and Eddy would have given to the characters and the film as a whole. 

Click here to read some fabulous reviews of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy films from The Singing Sweethearts Blogathon being hosted by The Pure Entertainment Preservation Society.

The Nelson Eddy/Jeanette MacDonald Collection - New Release!

Ah, sweet mystery of release dates! This is what we MacDonald-Eddy fans have been pondering all these years, wondering when Warner Brothers was going to break down and give us our beloved singing duo's films in one DVD collection. And this month they have! 

Well, it's actually two collections but, huzzah! Now the "longing, seeking, striving, waiting, yearning" is over and we can sit down and enjoy these canaries when they were in their prime and looking grander than ever in glorious black and white. 

Included in Volume One of Warner Archive's Jeanette MacDonald - Nelson Eddy Collection are their first four films : Naughty Marietta, Rose-Marie, Maytime and The Girl of the Golden West. And in Volume Two you will find Sweethearts, New Moon, Bitter Sweet and I Married an Angel. 

The sets list for $40.99 USD each but if you head on over to the WB Shop you can find them selling for $32.49 USD. Now that's something to sing about.