MAYTIME
US, 1937, 132 minutes, Black and white.
Jeanette Mc Donald, Nelson Eddy, John Barrymore.
Directed by Robert Z.Leonard.
Maytime was one of the most popular Jeanette Mc Donald- Nelson Eddy operettas. Set in the 19th century, both in France and in America, the film has an opera background and culminates in melodrama. It is also a romance with a sinister background, John Barrymore as a Svengali-like manager for Jeanette Mc Donald.
Based on a play, the film has music by Sigmund Romberg and some opera pieces based on Tchaikowsky's music. The film is set in the unreal world of operetta, something like soap opera with style and class. This kind of film was extremely popular in the 1930s and 1940s.
1. The impact of operetta entertainment? Its popularity in the '30s and '40s? This film as a classic of its kind?
2. M.G.M. production values, black and white photography, lavish sets and costumes, re-creation of period? Staging of musical numbers? The music of Sigmund Romberg? The use of Tchaikowsky for opera?
3. Audiences accepting the conventions of operetta? Period, characters, contrived and heightened situations?
4. The styles of Jeanette Mc Donald and Nelson Eddy? Singing? opera?
5. The setting: the Maytime atmosphere, the fair, the young lovers, the auditions for the heroine, the sadness of the hero? The encounter with Miss Morrison and her companion?
6. The flashback: Marcia Mornay and her career in Paris, success, society, the court of Louis Napoleon, Nikolai and his influence, Paul and his attractiveness, the time together, 'Sweethearts', Marcia's fear, Paul's visit to the dressing room, Marcia's choice, her gratitude towards Nikolai and rejecting Paul? The consequences?
7. The world of opera, of Louis Napoleon, balls, divas, spectacular careers? Nikolai and his presence, controlling the career, the sinister touch, his passion for Marcia?
8. Paul and his study, penniless, his tutor and friends, taking the front row in the opera, being ousted and applauding, his visit to the dressing room, Marcia's rejection and his being hurt?
9. The passing of the years ? Marcia and Nikolai and their success, the return home, the loveless marriage?
10. New York and the businessmen, the preparations for La Traviata, the change of opera, the irony of Paul being the leading man, the rehearsals, the performance?
11. The crisis at the end of the performance. Marcia and Paul loving each other, talk of divorce? Nikolai’s reaction? The shooting? Death and grief?
12. Miss Morrison reuniting the couple - and the heroine giving up her auditions! The happy reunion of the ghosts of Marcia and Paul and 'Sweethearts'? An appropriate ending to this kind of operetta?
