The Great Victor Herbert *** (1939, Walter Connolly, Allan Jones, Mary Martin, Susanna Foster, Lee Bowman) – Classic Movie Review 12,858

Paramount’s huge-fun 1939 musical biopic film The Great Victor Herbert stars Allan Jones, Mary Martin and Walter Connolly as the big-hearted, amazingly successful Irish-American songwriter Victor Herbert. 

Paramount’s 1939 American black and white musical film The Great Victor Herbert is directed by Andrew L Stone, and stars Allan Jones as John Ramsey, Mary Martin as Louise Hall, Walter Connolly as Victor Herbert, Lee Bowman as Dr Richard Moore, and Susanna Foster as Peggy. The musical direction was one of three Oscar nominations.

Walter Connolly plays the big-hearted, amazingly successful Irish-American songwriter Victor Herbert in this expertly staged, huge-fun musical biopic, featuring 26 of his songs (‘Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life’, ‘Kiss Me Again’. ‘Thine Alone’, ‘All For You’, ‘Someday’) warbled by sweet songsters Mary Martin, Allan Jones and Susanna Foster.

On the principle that composers’ lives aren’t inherently interesting, the biopic element is hijacked by the story’s concentration on the lives of the performers of Herbert’s works – especially his star singers Louise Hall (Martin) and John Ramsey (Jones), and their love affair and marriage. Herbert is worked into this fictionalised framework as the mediator in the couple’s squabbles.

Director Stone much later went on to biopics of Grieg and Johann Strauss with less success. Song of Norway (1970), his $3.5 million musical biopic of Edvard Grieg, performed well, but his next film The Great Waltz (1972) was a flop. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his 1956 thriller Julie.

The film was nominated for three Academy Awards: Music (Scoring) – Phil Boutelje, Arthur Lange; Sound Recording – Loren L. Ryder; and Cinematography – Victor Milner, but no wins.

It is Walter Connolly’s last film.

The cast are Allan Jones as John Ramsey, Mary Martin as Louise Hall, Walter Connolly as Victor Herbert, Lee Bowman as Dr Richard Moore, Susanna Foster as Peggy, Judith Barrett as Marie Clark, Jerome Cowan as Barney Harris, John Garrick as Warner Bryant, Pierre Watkin as Albert Martin, Richard Tucker as Michael Brown, Hal K. Dawson as George Faller, Emmett Vogan as Forbes, Mary Currier as Mrs Victor Herbert, and James Finlayson as Lamplighter.

Release date: December 29, 1939.

Andrew Lysander Stone (July 16, 1902 – June 9, 1999).

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,858

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