Bitter Sweet (1940 film)

Bitter Sweet
Bitter Sweet
	Title card
Directed by	W. S. Van Dyke
Screenplay by	Lesser Samuels
Story by	Lesser Samuels
Based on	Bitter Sweet; 1929 operetta; by Noël Coward
Produced by	Victor Saville
Starring	Jeanette MacDonald; Nelson Eddy; George Sanders
Cinematography	Oliver T. Marsh; Allen M. Davey
Edited by	Harold F. Kress
Music by	Gus Kahn
Production; company	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Distributed by	Loew's Inc.
Release date	November 8, 1940;
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.1 million
Box office	$2.2 million

Bitter Sweet is a 1940 American Technicolor musical film directed by W. S. Van Dyke, based on the operetta Bitter Sweet by Noël Coward. It was nominated for two Academy Awards, one for Best Cinematography and the other for Best Art Direction by Cedric Gibbons and John S. Detlie.^[2]

The film is based on Coward's stage operetta, which was a hit in 1929 in London. It was filmed twice, first in 1933 in black-and-white (in Britain, with Anna Neagle and Fernand Gravet in the leading roles). The 1940 film is much cut and rewritten, removing much of the operetta's irony. The opening and closing scenes are cut, focusing the film squarely upon the relationship between MacDonald's character, Sarah, and her music teacher, Carl Linden. The opening scene was a flash forward, in which Sarah appears as an elderly woman recalling how she fell in love. One reason for dropping this scene is that it had been appropriated for MGM's 1937 film Maytime. Coward disliked the 1940 film and vowed that no more of his shows would be filmed in Hollywood.^[3] In 1951, he told The Daily Express, "I was saving up Bitter Sweet as an investment for my old age. After MGM's dreadful film I can never revive it" on stage.^[4]

Plot

Set in late 19th century Vienna, the story focuses on the romance between music teacher Carl Linden (Nelson Eddy) and his prize pupil Sarah Milick (Jeanette MacDonald).^[5]

Cast

Jeanette MacDonald as Sarah Millick, later Sari Linden
Nelson Eddy as Carl Linden
George Sanders as Baron Von Tranisch
Ian Hunter as Lord Shayne
Felix Bressart as Max
Sig Ruman as Herr Schlock
Diana Lewis as Jane
Lynne Carver as Dolly
Edward Ashley as Harry Daventry
Curt Bois as Ernst
Fay Holden as Mrs. Millick
Janet Beecher as Lady Daventry
Charles Judels as Herr Wyler
Veda Ann Borg as Manon
Herman Bing as Market Keeper
Greta Meyer as Mama Luden

Production

Filming started June 1940.

Reception

Noël Coward later wrote about the film in his diaries in July 1946 when he saw the film for a second time with some friends:

Having only seen it once we had forgotten the full horror of it. It really is frightening that the minds of Hollywood could cheerfully perpetrate such a nauseating hotchpotch of vulgarity, false values, seedy dialogue, stale sentiment, vile performance and abominable direction. I had forgotten the insane coquetting of Miss Jeanette MacDonald allied to a triumphant lack of acting ability. I had forgotten the resolute, flabby heaviness of Mr Nelson Eddy. I had forgotten the sterling work of the gentleman who saw fit to rewrite my dialogue and lyrics, whose name is Samuels... this vulgar orgy of tenth-rate endeavour.^[6]

Soundtrack

"I'll See You Again"
- Written by Noël Coward
- Sung by Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy
"Polka"
- Written by Noël Coward
- Played at the party and danced to by the guests
"If You Could Only Come With Me"
- Written by Noël Coward
- Sung by Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy
"What Is Love"
- Written by Noël Coward
- Sung by Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy
- Reprised at Schlick's
"Kiss Me"
- Written by Noël Coward
- Sung by Jeanette MacDonald
"Tokay"
- Written by Noël Coward
- Sung by Nelson Eddy and the patrons at the cafe
"Love In Any Language"
- Written by Noël Coward
- Sung by Jeanette MacDonald at the cafe
- Partly dubbed by Ann Harriet Lee
"Dear Little Cafe"
- Words and Music by Noël Coward with additional lyrics by Gus Kahn
- Sung by Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy
- Reprised by Jeanette MacDonald
"Ladies Of The Town"
- Written by Noël Coward and Gus Kahn
- Sung by Jeanette MacDonald and 2 uncredited female singers
"Una voce poco fa"
- From Gioacchino Rossini's The Barber of Seville
- Danced by a dancing ensemble
"Zigeuner (The Gypsy)"
- Written by Noël Coward
- Sung by Jeanette MacDonald in the operetta finale

References

^ ^a ^b Turk, Edward Baron "Hollywood Diva: A Biography of Jeanette MacDonald" (University of California Press, 1998)
^ "NY Times: Bitter Sweet". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2012. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved December 13, 2008.
^ Dugan, Eleanor Knowles, John Cocchi and J. Peter Bergman. The Films of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, pp. 399–400, Grand Cyrus Press (2011) ISBN 0979099455
^ Barber, John. "Now Noël Coward takes his bitter-sweet revenge on Hollywood", The Daily Express, November 29, 1951, p. 3
^ "Bitter Sweet". allrovi. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
^ Coward, Noel (2000). The Noel Coward Diaries. Da Capo Press. p. 59.