BITTER SWEET

Bitter Sweet
MGM, 1940, Color, 94 minutes, ***
Released November, 1940

Just listen to their rapturous harmonies and you'll know that Victorian lass Sarah and her dashing music teacher Carl belong together. So on the eve of Sarah's wedding to a priggish Londoner, she elopes with her mentor to Vienna, where life is as robust as a newly-tapped keg of beer... and as Bitter Sweet as the young couple's struggle for musical success.

Legends Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy star as the runaway newlyweds. Carl is unable to sell his music, so the duo starve for art and live on love. Passions flare as Carl defends Sarah in a duel with a lecherous Baron - and sets in motion the movie's touching conclusion: Sarah performing Carl's operetta before a cheering audience.

"Today," "I'll See You Again," and "Ziguener" are among the many songs to savor in this lavish musical. Bitter Sweet magnificently combines the talents of Hollywood's favorite singing partnership and England's most renowned Renaissance man of the theater: actor, writer, composer and wit, Noel Coward.
The film opens in London, 1891.

Produced by: Victor Saville
Directed by: W. S. Van Dyke II
Original Play, Music and Lyrics by: Noel Coward
Screen Play by: Lesser Samuels
Musical Direction: Herbert Stothart
Additional Lyrics: Gus Kahn
Dance Direction: Ernst Matray
Art Director: Cedric Gibbons
Associate: John S. Detlie
Set Decorations: Edwin B. Willis
Musical Presentation: Merrill Pye
Gowns by: Adrian
Men's Costumes by: Gile Steele
Hair Styles for Miss MacDonald by: Sydney Guilaroff
Make-Up Created by: Jack Dawn
Recording Director: Douglas Shearer
Director of Photography: Oliver T. Marsh
Photographed in Technicolor
Technicolor Photography by: Allen Davey
Technicolor Color Director: Natalie Kalmus
Associate: Henri Jaffa
Film Editor: Harold F. Kress

Awards: Academy Award nominations for Best Color Cinematography and Best Interior Decoration - Color

Cast: Jeanette MacDonald [Sarah Millick], Nelson Eddy [Carl Linden], George Sanders [Baron Von Tranisch], Ian Hunter [Lord Shayne], Felix Bressart [Max], Edward Ashley [Harry Daventry], Lynne Carver [Dolly], Diana Lewis [Jane], Curt Bois [Ernst], Fay Holden [Mrs. Millick], Sig Rumann [Herr Schlick], Janet Beecher [Lady Daventry], Charles Judels [Herr Wyler], Veda Ann Borg [Manon], Herman Bing [Market Keeper], Greta Meyer [Mama Luden]

Musical Program: [0:00] Overture (played by Orchestra behind titles); [0:03] I'll See You Again (sung by Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy); [0:09] unidentified Polka (danced by party guests); [0:13] If You Could Only Come with Me (sung by Nelson Eddy, seemingly extemporaneous); [0:14] What Is Love? (sung by Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, danced by Jeanette and guests); [0:29] Tokay (sung by Nelson Eddy and Chorus dubbing for Ensemble onscreen); [0:32] Love in Any Language (sung by Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy and Ensemble); [0:44] Dear Little Cafe (sung by Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy); [0:49] If You Could Only Come with Me (reprised by Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald); [0:52] Kiss Me (sung by Jeanette MacDonald); [0:59] Ladies of the Town (sung and danced by Jeanette MacDonald, Pamela Randall, and Muriel Goodspeed); [1:14] What Is Love? (reprised by Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, danced by Jeanette); [1:18] Dear Little Cafe (reprised by Jeanette MacDonald); [1:21] Zigeuner (sung by Jeanette MacDonald, danced by Chorus); [1:30] I'll See You Again (reprised by Jeanette MacDonald and Chorus, joined by Nelson Eddy)