Interesteg What makes it different from others?

Steinesongo Too many fans seem to be blown away

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

jacobs-greenwood Directed by W.S. Van Dyke, Noel Coward's play (treated by Lesser Samuels) and songs and the 1933 film was remade into this colorful costumer and musical romance drama for Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy (fans). It received Oscar nominations for its Color Art Direction and Cinematography. The cast also includes George Sanders, Ian Hunter, Felix Bressart, Sig Ruman, Veda Ann Borg, and Herman Bing (among others).In London, 1891, hopelessly romantic Sarah Millick (MacDonald) skips out of her arranged marriage to elope with her penniless Viennese music tutor Carl Linden (Eddy), much to the dismay of her mother (Fay Holden), her dullard foreign minister fiancé Harry (Edward Ashley), and his mother Lady Daventry (Janet Beecher), though her friend Dolly (Lynne Carver) is delighted. Carl & Sari (as he calls her) immediately leave for Vienna where, after she has a chance meeting with Baron Von Tranisch (Sanders), the couple is greeted enthusiastically by Carl's friends Ernst (Curt Bois) and Max (Bressart). The celebration is continued, later, at Mama Luden's (Greta Meyer) restaurant.After a year, the Lindens are still happy and poor. Sari begins to write a letter home to ask for money, but instead ends up offering her services as a singing tutor to a market keeper (Bing) for food. Unable to sell his completed operetta, Carl ends up inadvertently bungling her arrangement. Ernst & Max, who have a penchant for pawning Carl's possession for food & drink, have an idea - play outside the baths in Bonn in hopes of attracting a millionaire's ear. The four of them do just that and, hearing Sari sing Carl's operetta, British Lord Shayne (Hunter) believes that it brings him luck in his card game with the Baron and others. He sends them money to continue but, after the Baron loses to Shayne, he looks out the window and recognizes pretty Sari. The Baron then sends a messenger to take the makeshift band away, to a job working at Herr Schlick's (Ruman) café.Schlick doesn't know what to do with the players until he sees Sari, then he hires her & the others and fires Manon (Borg, barely in two scenes), who'd been the Baron's previous mistress. Even though Sari is never asked to sing, she & Carl are oblivious to the arrangement between Schlick and his regular customer the Baron, who insists that the café owner keep his mistresses employed for his (own purposes &) excellent patronage. When by chance, Harry Daventry visits with his wife Jane (Diana Lewis), the Baron's arrangement becomes clear to Sari, who then quits Herr Schlick. The Baron is naturally furious with the café owner when he learns that his new mistress won't be dining with him, but Schlick tells dishwashers Ernst & Max that the famous (producer?) Herr Wyler (Charles Judels) will be coming to his café that night. The friends tell Sari of it and, seeing a chance to sing Carl's operetta for him, she joins a surprised Carl (who plays the piano there) at Schlick's. But it is Schlick that is surprised when he learns that Wyler really is there, brought by Lord Shayne to hear Sari sing. Just as she's completed singing the operetta, the drunken Baron accosts her, initiating a fatal duel between the master military swordsman and poor Carl.But the show must go on. Sari refuses Harry & Jane's offer to return to London with them; her home is now the place that Carl loved, Vienna. With Wyler and Shayne's help, Carl's opera is produced, performed by Sari to great success, one which is "bitter sweet".The film ends with a fantasy sequence much like an earlier MacDonald/Eddy vehicle, Maytime (1937), does.

TheLittleSongbird Bitter Sweet is not up there with New Moon and especially Maytime(out of their collaborations), but it is not their worst, that would be- though from a personal perspective it wasn't as bad as heard- I Married An Angel. Bitter Sweet does have things wrong, the story is silly, at times draggy and also a little choppy, the Baron's wife is an annoying character and is played even worse and Nelson Eddy's acting is rather stiff, he also has as much conviction as an Austrian as John Wayne did as Genghis Kahn in The Conqueror. It's not as if his acting is like that in all his films, it was great in The Chocolate Soldier for instance where he does show some gift for comedy. Bitter Sweet looks incredible though, out of Eddy-MacDonald's outings it is one of their best-looking. The costumes and sets are very sumptuous, the set for Zigeuner stands out. The Technicolor photography is the very meaning of exquisite. Fabulous also are the songs, Noel Coward's first score and one of his greatest too, I'll See You Again and Zigeuner are the best of the bunch. The dialogue is snappy and sweet, with some appropriate seediness for the baron, the choreography does have energy and W.S. Wise's direction while not landmark-standard is perfect for the type of film Bitter Sweet is, charming and solid with a light touch. There is a good supporting cast, George Sanders is wonderfully smarmy and lecherous in another one of his caddish roles, Hermann Bing is very funny and Ian Hunter shines at being distinguished. Jeanette MacDonald is as beautiful and charming as ever, and her performance carries Bitter Sweet very nicely, she was always better in the acting stakes than Eddy. Though Eddy was the better singer, it is difficult to ever find fault in Eddy's rich, warm baritone singing and while personally it isn't a problem MacDonald's somewhat thin-toned at times, trilly soprano is an acquired taste. Both she and Eddy sing absolutely beautifully throughout, together and individually, and their chemistry is convincing. All in all, still much to enjoy but not one of their best. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Neil Doyle As starving artists living in a Viennese garret, MacDonald and Eddy certainly seem perfectly capable of singing their full-bodied songs with as much spirit as anyone would on a healthy diet of food. So much of the plot line of BITTER SWEET sounds like a recap of MAYTIME that it's unnerving to think that even with all of the opulent Technicolor on display here, they couldn't come up with a film that at least compared favorably to that B&W classic.Once again, Jeanette has to lose her lover (this time in a duel, which must be one of the briefest duels ever fought over a lady), and then, still pining for him, she manages to get one of his operas produced in time to conclude the movie with "I'll See You Again" while the disembodied voice of Eddy joins her in song. Ah, sweet mystery of life! Noel Coward, who wrote the original BITTER SWEET on which this is based, fumed and fussed when he saw what MGM had done to his stage work. He swore that from then on he would never let Hollywood touch one of his works.Well, I suppose he was justified. JEANETTE MacDONALD and NELSON EDDY are in their prime and sing beautifully, but none of it really comes to life. She's bubbling over with enthusiasm and he looks mighty uncomfortable most of the time, particularly in that brief duel with GEORGE SANDERS (as a wicked Baron) that lasts no more than five seconds.Fans of the singing duo will probably enjoy the lavish sets for the big production number and it's all filmed in gorgeous Technicolor--but that's about it. Take it or leave it.

jotix100 No wonder Noel Coward had such low esteem of what Hollywood could do to his plays. Judging by what comes out on "Bitter Sweet", Mr. Coward had a case. The problem seems to be in the adaptation of the material. Lesser Samuels took too many liberties with the musical, and in a lot of ways, it seems this is a rework of "Maytime", as other contributors to this forum have expressed.The film had all the right elements going for it, but somehow, this typically English musical is anything but English. W. S. Van Dyke, a director who worked extensively in the genre doesn't appear to have been inspired by the material. MGM gave this film its usual lavish production, yet, this Technicolor film lacks some of the magnificent look the studio gave "Maytime", a black and white movie.Jeanette MacDonald has a bigger role than her co-star. She also has a more passable British accent, whereas Mr. Eddy, who is supposed to be Austrian, doesn't sound credible. George Sanders is seen as the Baron Von Tranisch, a cad who has an eye for spotting good looking women. Ian Hunter, Sig Rumann, and others are seen in supporting roles."Bitter Sweet", while enjoyable, is not one the best films the singing stars duo did for MGM.