A few weeks ago, I stumbled across an old VHS documentary about the famed - in the puppetry world - Yale Puppeteers and their Turnabout Theatre. The documentary discussed how, in the early thirties, they had been asked to create a marionette sequence for a Hollywood film. The tape also showed a few scratchy but tantalizing scenes from the movie that included an elaborately staged musical sequence, some sort of trial run by Satan and some cameos by marionette versions of the Marx Brothers and Charlie Chaplin. Having an interest in puppetry . . .I needed to find that film. After an exhausting thirty seconds of google-ing, I found the name of the film, the stars and the fact that it seemed to have fallen into public domain and out of print. Luckily, some enterprising gentleman - and there seem to be many - had managed to get what appeared to be an old VHS copy of the film burned onto a DVD and was selling it on Ioffer. I offered and it arrived a few days later. I would have preferred that the quality of the DVD had been better, but I was able to watch it. Obviously a "B" picture, but still very enjoyable. As has been noted by other reviewers, Miss Harvey plays Suzannne, the main dancer and star attraction in a Paris theater. She is, in most ways, the puppet of her manager who tells her what and when to do everything and controls every aspect of her life, even attempting to control who and how she loves. Tony is a puppet-master at a failing, small theater nearby. Tony's whole life revolves around puppets to the point that it is the only way he can deal with people: as puppets. He even resorts to using a puppet to get to know Suzanne after he becomes smitten with her.
When an accident changes circumstances for Suzanne, she develops a closeness to Tony and, at one point, becomes his puppet. But, after a fun little dream sequence and a sort of puppet trial, Suzanne manages to sever the strings but maintain the connections and Tony learns that people aren't puppets. As one would expect since its 1933, all ends well.
The film suffers from the limited budget, a script that is never quite as good as its concept and themes and by a lead actress who is decent, but not great. There are, though, some fascinating dance sequences where Miss Harvey is thrown around the stage like a puppet. The marionette work is lots of fun with glimpses of performances, the puppeteers in action and even some of the puppet construction. It is, in many ways, a rare and wonderful glimpse at the power and popularity that puppetry had at one time.
When an accident changes circumstances for Suzanne, she develops a closeness to Tony and, at one point, becomes his puppet. But, after a fun little dream sequence and a sort of puppet trial, Suzanne manages to sever the strings but maintain the connections and Tony learns that people aren't puppets. As one would expect since its 1933, all ends well.
The film suffers from the limited budget, a script that is never quite as good as its concept and themes and by a lead actress who is decent, but not great. There are, though, some fascinating dance sequences where Miss Harvey is thrown around the stage like a puppet. The marionette work is lots of fun with glimpses of performances, the puppeteers in action and even some of the puppet construction. It is, in many ways, a rare and wonderful glimpse at the power and popularity that puppetry had at one time.