richspenc This film is wonderful. Jeanette MacDonald and her singing is amazing and beautiful. Nelson Eddie is also talented, and he has made a whole group of romantic opera singing films with Jeanette. Jeanette and Katheryn Grayson were both beautiful opera singers in 1930s and 1940s films. Again, why are there so many negative comments about Jeanette's opera in her films and Kathrine's opera in her films? Why do so many people today hate opera so much? It was well loved and appreciated during the era these films came out. Jeanette and Katheryn were both well loved during Hollywood's golden age. Tastes have really changed since then, since we are talking about 80 years ago. Jeanette and Katheryn were both beautiful, wonderful women of the Golden Age, with their looks, spirit, passion, and singing. Those two angels are now in heaven. I love the first song Jeanette sings in her palace in 18th century France. She seemed to be pretty happy and in her element there. All except that she was not in love with her groom to be, and he was too controlling. I like how Jeanette has an independent streak and choses not to give in to a situation that would make her unhappy. She hops onto a ship set sail to America along with a group of women all going there to seek husbands. Jeanette must disguise her identity so she isn't found out, since she is sneaking away. I love the old time 1400s - 1700s sailing ships. It's what people traveled on in the days before steam ships. Sailing ships took 3 to 4 times longer than steam ships to cross the Atlantic too. Progress has been gradual. Before the first steamships and trains in the 1800s, people traveled land on horse and carraige/covered wagon and ocean by sailing ships. Both slower and less convenient than trains and steamships. I loved the slow way the ship started moving alongside the dock while Jeanette and the others sang the next beautiful opera song. That slow and smooth kind of movement along with opera music certainly creates a beautiful picture. I love the girl that Janette befriends on the ship, another sweet innocent type of woman from long ago. She finds true love soon after their arrival in America. Around the same time Janette meets Sergent Nelson Eddie, except their love doesn't hit it off as quickly. Whether it does happen between them in the long run or not I will limit my answers to here so not to be a spoiler. However, due to the style of film this is, it's not too hard to predict This film is not a mystery though and whether or not they end up together is not the main question of the film. The style and how things are done is what gives this film its meaning. It's what kind of ride this film is and it's what Janette, Nelson, and the other characters experience along the way. And of course it's the beautiful opera singing.I like the scene with Jeanette and Nelson in the restaurant where two men that Nelson knows are slurping their soup really loud, I like the dialogue that then develops between them all there. I also love the scene by the window when Nelson hears how good Janette's opera singing really is, and a group of other singers present also hear her, and love her. Anyway, there are a bunch more great scenes in this film but I don't have room to write them all. Overall, this film was fantastic.

blanche-2 Jeannette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy had their first teaming in the musical "Naughty Marietta" in 1935. They went on to make "The New Moon," "I Married an Angel," my favorite, "Maytime," and many others. Both performers were operatically trained, Eddy possessing a magnificent high baritone, and MacDonald a coloratura soprano. If her high notes don't have frontal placement and seem to back off, it's still a pretty voice, and of the two, she was the actor as well as being a great beauty.Though the film uses the Victor Herbert score, it differs in plot from the actual musical. Here, a princess ordered to marry one Don Carlo replaces her maid, Marietta, on a ship that carries women to New Orleans to look for a husband. Right before they arrive, pirates attack the ship and the women are rescued by mercenaries, headed by Richard Worthington (Eddy). With her beauty and obvious education, Marietta sticks out and begins a love-hate relationship with the vain Worthington. Soon, however, a messenger arrives - the King is looking for his escaped princess.The couple sing "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life," while Eddy leads his men in "Tramp, tramp, tramp," and MacDonald entertains with the "Italian Street Song," and "Chansonette" among other solos that each has.This isn't the greatest MacDonald-Eddy musical, but it was a huge hit and started them off on their partnership. Were they in love in real life? Supposedly they were and never got together because Eddy wouldn't have wanted her to work. But take a look at Gene Raymond. He kind of looks like Nelson Eddy.

travisanot This is just a flat out good movie! Maybe I should say a GREAT movie. Although I've been a fan over the past few decades of many films and performers of the 1930s--including the amazing dancing team of (who else?) Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers--until yesterday I'd never seen a film featuring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. Then, by chance a couple of weeks ago, I heard some singing by Eddy and started checking his and Jeanette's work on Youtube. This led me to many scenes and songs on good old Youtube. The singing was, well, fabulous, and the chemistry between the stars was kinetic, but I figured that, outside of the songs themselves, the movies would probably be syrupy sweet and impossibly dated. That seemed to be the buzz, and otherwise, why weren't they more popular with today's audiences. Still, I had to see a whole film after those tantalizing Youtube scenes. Still, actually finding their films isn't all that easy. There is nothing much on Netflix and few videos of any kind seem to be currently in print. Still, I managed to track down and buy a DVD of 'Naughty Marietta' from an independent outlet--and was amazed at how good it was, and not just the songs!It has a compelling plot, a whole variety of settings going up and down the social ladder from posh Louis XV Paris to the bayous of the rugged Louisiana frontier. It also features some appealing comic moments from MGM's team of crack character actors. Frank Morgan (later the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz) particularly stands out as the likably incompetent governor of French colonial New Orleans. And even in their non-singing scenes, the chemistry between the two stars remains electric. I somehow hadn't realized, at least until my Youtube explorations, that Jeanette MacDonald was drop-dead gorgeous--but she was. She also had a great deal of vivacity and charm-- and, boy, could she sing. Eddy's acting has been criticized, and maybe he didn't have tremendous emotional range, but he does have a real presence on the screen along with that electric connection with Jeanette. And when he sings, his voice acts for him! Moreover, as a singer, he's even better than Jeanette.All in all, the effect is remarkable and one can see why these movies were so immensely popular in their own time. Moreover, overall, I'd rate the non-musical elements of Naughty Marietta (plot, dialog, characterization, acting, setting, thematic development) as superior to most or all of the non-musical moments of Astaire-Rogers, although their movies are, of course, far better known today. In Astaire-Rogers one is often wishing they'll get through this silly scene of dialog and get to the next dance, but that doesn't happen in Naughty Marietta, where the songs seem to grow organically out of the intriguing dramatic situations.I'm going to track down more films in the Eddy-MacDonald series. This one certainly far exceeded my expectations!

lm4983 I love this movie & have watched it many times. It's funny, sweet and true love triumphs. And the duet on the stairs is one of the most passionate scenes I've ever had the pleasure of seeing in the movies - it never fails to bring tears to my eyes.