BALALAIKA

Balalaika
MGM, 1939, B/W, 102 minutes, ***½
Released December, 1939

Prince Karagin (Nelson Eddy) is a Cossack in Csarist Russia just before World War I. He meets and falls in love with Lydia Marakova (Ilona Massey), an aspiring opera singer currently working as a cafe singer in a small town in Russia.

Lydia's family is anti-csarist, and actively involved in an assassination plot. Coincidentally, Karagin doesn't reveal his full identity to her for fear that she won't be romantically interested in a prince. Through his contact at the Russian Opera (Frank Morgan), he manages to get Lydia appointed to the opera company, and she begins a career as an opera singer.

Later, she finds out who Karagin really is, and won't have any more to do with him. Meanwhile, The Great War breaks out, and Karagin is sent to the front lines. After the war, Lydia and Karagin meet again in Paris, where many of the Russian exhiles have fled, and take up their romance where they had left off.

Highly entertaining film, good performances by all. Eddy's "Stille Nacht," sung to the accompaniment of the enemy Austrian encampment in the distance on Christmas Eve, is one of the highlights of the film - a very moving number.

Produced by: Lawrence Weingarten
Directed by: Reinhold Schunzel
Screen Play by: Leon Gordon, Charles Bennett and Jacques Deval
Based Upon the Play "Balalaika," Book and Lyrics by Eric Maschwitz, Music by George Posford and Bernard Grün
Musical Adaptation and Score: Herbert Stothart
Conductor: Dr. William Axt
Additional Lyrics: Gus Kahn, Bob Wright, Chet Forrest
Orchestration: Murray Cutter, Paul Marquardt, Wally Heglin
"Russian Cossack Choir," Anatol Frikin, Director
Opera (Based on "Scheherezade") (by) Rimsky-Korsakov
Choreography: Ernst Matray
Art Director: Cedric Gibbons
Associate: Eddie Imazu
Set Decorations: Edwin B. Willis
Gowns by: Adrian
Men's Costumes by: Valles
Make-Up Created by: Jack Dawn
Recording Director: Douglas Shearer
Directors of Photography: Joseph Ruttenberg, Karl Freund
Film Editor: George Boemler

Awards: Academy Award nomination for Best Sound (Douglas Shearer)

Cast: Nelson Eddy [Prince Peter Karagin], Ilona Massey [Lydia Pavlovna Marakova], Charlie Ruggles [Private Nicki Popoff], Frank Morgan [Ivan Danchenoff], Lionel Atwill [Professor Marakov], C. Aubrey Smith [General Karagin], Joyce Compton [Masha, Lydia's Maid], Dalies Frantz [Dimitri Marakov], Walter Woolf King [Captain Sibirsky], Phillip Terry [Lieutenant Smirnoff], Frederic Worlock [Dr. Ramensky], Abner Biberman [Leo], Arthur W. Cernitz [Captain Pavloff], Roland Varno [Lieutenant Nikitin], George Tobias [Slaski, the Counterman], Paul Sutton [Anton], Willy Costello [Captain Testoff], Paul Irving [Prince Morodin], Mildred Shay [Jeanette Sibirsky], Alma Kruger [Mrs. Danchenoff], Zeffie Tilbury [Princess Morodin], Russian Cossack Choir directed by Anatol Frikin

Musical Program: [0:00] Overture (played by Orchestra behind titles); [0:02] Ride Cossack Ride (sung by Nelson Eddy and Mens Chorus); [0:06] Tanya (sung by Ilona Massey); [0:13] At the Balalaika (sung by Ilona Massey and Mens Chorus); [0:31] The Volga Boatmen Song (sung by Nelson Eddy); [0:42] Excerpts from the opera CARMEN (sung by Ilona Massey and Nelson Eddy); [1:05] Shadows on the Sand (from "Scheherezade," sung by Ilona Massey and Chorus); [1:09] Russian National Anthem (God Save the Noble Czar) (sung by Nelson Eddy, Ilona Massey and Chorus dubbing for audience at Imperial Opera); [1:15] At the Balalaika (reprised by Mens Chorus dubbing for soldiers at the front); [1:17] Stille Nacht (Silent Night) (sung in German by Nelson Eddy and Mens Chorus dubbing for Austrian Soldiers); [1:23] Otchi Tchorniya (excerpt sung by Ilona Massey); [1:27] At the Balalaika (sung by Nelson Eddy); [1:34] Flow, Flow, White Wine (excerpt sung by mens Chorus with solo by Frank Morgan); [1:37] Flow, Flow, White Wine (excerpt sung by Nelson Eddy and Mens Chorus); [1:38] Wishing Episode: "Mirror, Mirror" (excerpt sung by Nelson Eddy and various party guests); [1:41] Finale: Magic of Your Love (excerpt sung by Nelson Eddy, Ilona Massey and Chorus)