NEW MOON
US, 1940, 105 minutes, Black and white.
Jeanette Mac Donald, Nelson Eddy, Mary Boland, George Zucco, H.B.Warner, Grant Mitchell.
Directed by Robert Z. Leonard.
New Moon is one of the later collaborations between Jeanette Mac Donald and Nelson Eddy, popular in the latter part of the 1930s and early 1940s for their operators. New Moon was written by Oscar Hammerstein and Otto Harbuch to the music of Sigmund Romberg (Student Prince, Desert Song). The operetta first appeared on Broadway in 1928. Romberg had also written the music for Maytime, one of the first collaborations between the singers.
As with Maytime, the scene is that of the French Revolution. This time the story opens on a boat going from Marseille to New Orleans with aristocrats and a group of revolutionaries to be sold in the markets in New Orleans. The leader of the revolutionaries is a Duke who sang subversive songs and was arrested. He is played by Nelson Eddy in, perhaps, a more vigorous performance than usual. Jeanette Mac Donald is an aristocrat, travelling with her aunt, the redoubtable Mary Boland (Mrs Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, director Robert Z. Leonard’s next film after New Moon).
Most of the action is set on a plantation where the Duke, unrecognised, has been sold as a servant for Marianne, Janet Mac Donald. There is some sparring between the two but he persuades her to sing at a social gathering, a banquet that he also has recommended and supervised. There is a touch of gossip about his response to her singing.
However, the chief of police arrives from France to round up all the revolutionaries and send them back to Paris for execution. Marianne realises who Charles, the servant, is and wants to sell him on but he takes the opportunity to round up the men and take over the newly arrived ship, New Moon. They do and are pursued by the police chief on a boat with women who were to be brides of settlers in Martinique. H. B. Warner portrays a kindly Franciscan friar in charge of the women. Marianne and her aunt go on the boat which is taken over by Charles and his crew, caught in a storm, wrecked, and they are able to save everything from the ship and able to set up an idealistic revolutionary community.
The main concern is Marianne’s haughty attitude towards Charles and its eventually breaking down.
This operetta is famous for some tuneful songs including Lover Come Back, One Kiss, Wanting You, Softly as in a Morning Sunrise, Stout-hearted Men. The musical had been made in the early sound era with Laurence Tibbett and Grace Moore.
1. The popularity of Jeanette Mac Donald- Nelson Eddy musicals? Operettas? This screen presence? Rapport? Singing voices?
2. The operettas of Sigmund Romberg? From the 1920s? The various film versions? Mac Donald and Eddy in Maytime? The popularity of the songs: Lover come back, One Kiss, Stout-hearted Men, Wanting You, Softly as in a Morning Sunrise?
3. 1789, the background of the French Revolution, the men deported from France, the aristocracy and their lifestyle, the governor of Louisiana, life in New Orleans and Louisiana, the police, military?
4. The introduction to Marianne, returning from France with her aunt, her gossiping aunt, society, her singing? The captain of the ship, the singing of the men? Her aunt’s complaint? Her going to the captain? Meeting Charles, mistaking him for a member of the crew? The interaction between them? His touch of the flirtatious? A response?
5. New Orleans, the plantation, the governor and the entourage, the plan to have a party? Marianne shock at Charles’s presence? His being bought in the market? The interactions between the two, the touch of disdain, yet the attraction? The lavish meal, Charles’s directions, Marianne’s reaction, enjoying it? Charles getting her to sing? The gossip about his response? Going for the walk, the slaves and their singing, the prayers and the tree? The melody?
6. The arrival of the police inspector? Telling Marianne about the men? About the Duke? Her summoning him, sending him to Baton Rouge? Her motives?
7. The arrival of the New Moon, Charles gathering the men, the march and Stout-hearted Men? The taking of the ship?
8. The ship going to Martinique with the brides, the care of the Franciscan friar, Marianne and her aunt wanting to go? The rival ship, the attack, Charles and his men taking over the ship?
9. The storm, washing up on the island, able to rescue everything and set up a colony? The French Revolution in practice? Citizens being equal? The men doing the work? The domestic work for the women? Charles as a peacemaker? The friar urging him to promote unions amongst the men and women? The ceremonies?
10. The men singing and courting Marianne? Her complaint to Charles? Her acceptance of the commune, milking the goats, her aunt and the goats? Charles and his agreeing to a former marriage? Marianne finally persuaded?
11. The arrival of the friendship, the interruption of the discussion on the wedding night between the two? The learning the truth about him, about his grandmother’s help, about his not being a ladies’ man?
12. The French announcing the Republic, the military and the islanders combining? And the happy ending?
13. The plot, melodrama – and the interspersing of the songs?
