Maytime

Maytime
MGM, 1937, B/W, 132 minutes, ****
Released March, 1937


The entire story is told as a flashback as aging Miss Morrison (Jeanette) tells young Barbara Roberts (Lynne Carver) the story of her life. Marcia Mornay and Paul Addison met in Paris, and fell in love. Marcia was a major opera star, and Paul was a music student under the tutelage of August Archipenko (Herman Bing). Marcia was fanatically loyal to her mentor and manager, Nicolai Nazaroff (Barrymore), and was afraid to let herself fall in love with Paul. But, they had a number of secret outings together, and she fell in love with him in spite of herself. But when Nicolai asked Marcia to marry him, she agreed, more out of fear than love. But she never forgot Paul, and years later met him again when he costarred in an opera in New York.
The film is somewhat remiscent of "Svengali," especially with John Barrymore in the role of Nicolai. It's a wonderful and moving film! Probably the best of all the Jeanette MacDonald / Nelson Eddy films. If you're planning on watching only one "Eddy-Mac," make it this one!

Produced by: Hunt Stromberg
Directed by: Robert Z. Leonard
Screen Play by: Noel Langley
Based on the Play by Rida Johnson Young, Music by Sigmund Romberg
Special Lyrics by: Bob Wright and Chet Forrest
French Adaptation: Gilles Guilbert
Opera Sequences: William von Wymetal
Russian Opera based on: Fifth Symphony by Tschaikowsky
Dances Staged by: Val Raset
Musical Adaptation and Direction by: Herbert Stothart
Musical Score: Herbert Stothart and Edward Ward
Art Director: Cedric Gibbons
Associates: Frederic Hope, Edwin B. Willis
Gowns by: Adrian
Recording Director: Douglas Shearer
Photographed by: Oliver T. Marsh
Montage Effects by: Slavko Vorkapich
Film Editor: Conrad A. Nervig

Awards: Academy Award nominations for Best Score and Best Sound

Cast: Jeanette MacDonald ["Miss Morrison" / Marcia Mornay], Nelson Eddy [Paul Allison], John Barrymore [Nazaroff], Herman Bing [Archipenko], Tom Brown [Kip], The Don Cossack Chorus [vocals], Additional Cast: Lynne Carver [Barbara Roberts], Rafaela Ottiano [Ellen], Charles Judels [Cabby], Paul Porcasi [Composer Trentini], Sig Rumann [Franchon], Walter Kingsford [Rudyard], Edgar Norton [Secretary], Guy Bates Post [Emperor Louis Napoleon], Iphigenie Castiglioni [Empress Eugenie], Anna Demetrio [Madame Fanchon], Frank Puglia [Orchestra Conductor], Adia Kuznetzoff [Czaritza's Minister - Student at Cafe], Howard Hickman, Harry Hayden, Harry Davenport and Robert C. Fischer [Opera Directors], Harlan Briggs [Bearded Director], Frank Sheridan [O'Brien, a director], Billy Gilbert [Drunk], Ivan Lebedeff [Empress's Dinner Companion], Leonid Kinskey [Student in Bar], Don Cossack Chorus [Singers], Mariska Aldrich [Opera Singer], Alexander Schoenberg [French Proprietor], Henry Roquemore [Publicity Man], Russell Hicks [Bulliet, the Voice Coach]

Musical Program: [0:00] Overture (played by Orchestra behind titles); [0:01] May Pole (cited as "Now Is the Month of Maying" by some sources) (sung by Childrens Chorus at May Day Festival); [0:08] Will You Remember (Sweetheart) (excerpt sung by Nelson Eddy); [0:12] Mazurka (played by Orchestra, danced by guests of Emperor Louis Napoleon); [0:15] Napoleonic Waltz (danced by guests of Emperor Louis Napoleon); [0:17] Les Filles de Cadiz (sung by Jeanette MacDonald for the Emperor Louis Napoleon); [0:21] Le Regiment de Sambre et Meuse (sung by Jeanette MacDonald and The Don Cossack Chorus -- very rousing number!); [0:34] Students' Drinking Song (Part 1: Plantons la vigne) (sung by Nelson Eddy and Chorus); [0:36] Students' Drinking Song (Part 2: Vive l'Opera) (sung by Nelson Eddy and Chorus); [0:42] Virginia Ham and Eggs (or simply "Ham and Eggs") (contains elements of Caro Nome, Largo al Factotum, La Donna e Mobile, O Du Mein Holder Abendstern, Anvil Chorus, William Tell Overture (and maybe more), sung by Nelson Eddy and Chorus); [0:56] Carry Me Back to Ole Virginny (sung by Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald); [1:03] Excerpts from LES HUGEUNOTS: Nobles Seigneurs, Salut (sung by Mens Chorus) / Une Dame Noble et Sage (Page's Aria) (sung by Jeanette MacDonald); [1:15] Santa Lucia (sung by unidentified male singer, Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald at fair); [1:17] Will You Remember (Sweetheart) (arranged as a waltz, danced by Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy and May Day Chorus); [1:20] Will You Remember (Sweetheart) (sung by Nelson Eddy); [1:25] Will You Remember (Sweetheart) (sung by Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy); [1:28] Montage of excerpts from various operas, including "Miserere," "Liebestod," "Sempre Libera" and The Last Rose of Summer (used in the opera MARTHA) and Chi mi frena ("The Sextet" from the opera LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR, sung by Jeanette MacDonald); [1:42] Scene from Czaritza (opera sequence written specifically for this film, based on Fifth Symphony by Tschaikowsky, sung by Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy and Ensemble); [2:08] Will You Remember (Sweetheart) (sung by Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald and Chorus in final scene); There is considerable confusion in the literature about some of the songs written for the film, including "May Pole," "Students' Drinking Song," the opera written for the film "Czarita," and others.