Bitter Sweet (1940) User Reviews

"Learning Scales Will Never Be So Sweet Again"

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 15 February 2006]

A previous reviewer reported the well known story about how upset Noel Coward was at this version of his work that he refused to allow Hollywood to do another adaptation of any of his works. Hollywood in fact never did.

Of course you'd have to have something to compare it to and I hope that TCM manages to find the 1933 version that Anna Neagle and Fernand Gravey did for the British cinema.

On its own Bitter Sweet is a mixture of the previous MacDonald/Eddy triumph Maytime with a good hunk of Anna Karenina thrown into the mix. Jeanette MacDonald on an impulse runs off with her music teacher Nelson Eddy to gay old Vienna where they live on love and starve a good deal of the time. In doing the elopement she jilts her fiancé, proper and stuffy Edward Ashley who's an up and coming man in their Foreign Office.

I'm sure Noel Coward didn't complain about what Jeanette and Nelson did vocally with his songs because they're sung beautifully. Jeanette is barely passable for British and Nelson is about as Viennese as John Wayne. MGM knew that and surrounded them with the German colony of Hollywood, Sig Rumann, Curt Bois, Felix Bressart, and Herman Bing. And George Sanders is his usual caddish self as the Baron Von Trannisch who's got a lustful eye for Jeanette.

Noel Coward's plays are comedies of manners with some satirical jibes at British society. His music is universal, but his wit is for the British Isles. I doubt he could have written a western. My guess is that that was what Coward objected to in this film.

Still Jeanette and Nelson fans will like it and until someone at TCM finds the Anna Neagle version that's all we're likely to see.

Tokay

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 28 March 2006]

No wonder Noel Coward had such low esteem of what Hollywood could do to his plays. Judging by what comes out on "Bitter Sweet", Mr. Coward had a case. The problem seems to be in the adaptation of the material. Lesser Samuels took too many liberties with the musical, and in a lot of ways, it seems this is a rework of "Maytime", as other contributors to this forum have expressed.

The film had all the right elements going for it, but somehow, this typically English musical is anything but English. W. S. Van Dyke, a director who worked extensively in the genre doesn't appear to have been inspired by the material. MGM gave this film its usual lavish production, yet, this Technicolor film lacks some of the magnificent look the studio gave "Maytime", a black and white movie.

Jeanette MacDonald has a bigger role than her co-star. She also has a more passable British accent, whereas Mr. Eddy, who is supposed to be Austrian, doesn't sound credible. George Sanders is seen as the Baron Von Tranisch, a cad who has an eye for spotting good looking women. Ian Hunter, Sig Rumann, and others are seen in supporting roles.

"Bitter Sweet", while enjoyable, is not one the best films the singing stars duo did for MGM.

Nelson and Jeannette sing their hearts out

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 2 December 2006]

Jeannette MacDonald is an English woman who falls in love with her teacher (Nelson Eddy) and runs away with him to Vienna in "Bitter Sweet," a 1940 musical based on a play by Noel Coward.

Sarah (MacDonald) gets away from her family and a man she doesn't love to be with Carl (Eddy) who sings and composes. They have a hard time making ends meet but eventually start making money performing in a club. When a top producer is brought to the club to hear Carl's music, the future looks rosy. It's just an illusion.

The film was given a top-notch production in color, and Jeannette not only looks lovely but wears the most glorious gowns! I have always preferred Jeanette's acting to Nelson's and Nelson's singing to Jeanette's. Both of them sound wonderful singing Noel Coward's music, including the beautiful "I'll See You Again." For some reason, both MacDonald and Eddy had uncredited "vocal stand-ins" - I would assume these people did not sing for them but perhaps rehearsed with the musicians, because Nelson and Jeanette sounded like themselves. MacDonald's voice had a fluttery quality and her tone tended to straighten at the top, but the middle voice and lower tones sounded beautiful. And you can't beat her presence. Eddy, of course, was a magnificent singer, totally suited to the operatic stage. He just never seemed that comfortable in front of the camera.

Reminiscent of "Maytime," this is a treat for Eddy-MacDonald fans.

Yet another Jeanette and Nelson bonbon!

[gregcouture · 18 May 2003]

Saw this film recently on a Turner Classic Movies TV broadcast and was dazzled once again by an incredibly deluxe production number in which the color palette was limited to aquas, subtle shades of pinks and rose, dazzling whites and ivories and that's about it. It's a song, mounted as part of an operetta, "Ziguener" ("The Gypsy"), in which Jeanette MacDonald is pursued over an enormous, multi-level stage by a flotilla of violin-playing, elaborately costumed musicians as she trills her heart out. It's Hollywood extravagance at its most eye-filling, and the gorgeous Technicolor justifies the Oscar nominations for art direction and color cinematography which this film received. M-G-M gave its "Singing Sweethearts," Jeanette and Nelson Eddy, a lovely vehicle with this one and its like will probably never grace a first-run screen ever again. Thank goodness that TCM occasionally exhumes this one from its vault to delight us every once in a while.

started as a noel coward but made during film code.

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 13 April 2024]

Original play by noel coward, so there will be some humor. Nelson eddy, jeanette macdonald, so there's going to be a lot of singing! And usually in grand, loud, duet style. Also hollywood regulars george sanders, sig ruman, felix bressart. Scared of being stuck in an arranged marriage, sarah and her music teacher carl run off to vienna together. They are happy, until the baron starts interfering. It's pretty good, but as this was made at the height of the film code, I'm sure many of coward's clever jokes and some naughty word-play were eliminated. And that weird ending just goes on forever... can't say too much. No spoilers here! Directed by woody van dyke, in technicolor. This was nominated for two oscars! But a bit of a cursed cast... herman bing and george sanders both offed themselves by suicide. Felix bressart died young at 57. Lynne carver died young at 38. Veda borg died young at 58. Director woody van dyke died young at 53.

Jeanette and Eddy, those sweethearts again

[raskimono · 7/10 · 12 October 2003]

An obvious attempt to rework the studio hit Maytime and to an extent it works. The plot though slight, is not common as it actually tries to follow the trials and tribulations of a starving artistic couple, at least for the first hour. A few classic songs with those famous operatic voices is unleashed occasionally and the comedy is obvious but prudent. George Sanders as the heavy is very good and if not for his voice is almost unrecognizable. This movie contains a grand musical finale with technicolor used to its palest, so to speak with dancers following and trailing Jeanette as she dashes around the stage. Not great, not serious, not intelligent but pleasing, fun and touching.

MGM's attempt to be high brow is a dull, humorless pretentious bore.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 26 January 2013]

Even though Jeanette MacDonald gets to make light fun of her sometimes shrill singing voice (where her lyrics are sometimes impossible to understand) and has a brief can-can musical number (showing off a rarely seen ability to dance), the movie surrounding those moments is colorless, even though it was grandly photographed in color. All the color does is show off her flaming red hair, which in the final is covered by a hat that looks like a pepperoni pizza with extra mozzarella. The fact that this is set in 1890's London and Vienna rather than Italy makes her choice of millinery attire somewhat odd.

In London, she is a singer being coached by operetta composer Nelson Eddy, obviously in love with him even though she is engaged to marry the stuffy Edward Ashley. She suddenly decides to break off her engagement to Ashley and runs off to Vienna where as a street singer, she is broke enough to trade singing lessons from a grocer whose untalented daughter sings like the chicken she is making the exchange for. She is noticed by the lecherous Baron George Sanders who arranges for her to get a job at a casino while Eddy tries to sell his unproduced operetta. Ashley arrives in Vienna as Sanders is making unwelcome advances to her with his new wife, a babbling female with a horrendous speech impediment, obviously added just to make her already annoying character seem even more annoying. When a drunken Sanders goes too far in his pursuit of the married MacDonald, Eddy steps in, setting up for a similar finale that we had already seen them do in "Maytime" and would be done better in MacDonald's remake of "Smilin' Through".

The ending probably had ladies weeping in 1940 but is so predictable. Sanders' character so unlikable that it makes him difficult to watch. He was best playing villains who were so urbane and sophisticated that their suave villainy was just one characteristic to their multi-layered personalities. The stars struggle with many bits made to be comical (which essentially stop the plot for shtick) but somehow the results are as empty as Sanders' baron's heart. Practically every character actor of eastern European decent (Herman Bing, Felix Bressart) pop in to predictable effect. W.S. Van Dyke, after such a unique career highlighted by mostly non-musicals, seemed an odd choice for this air-filled soufflé, so the result is even less than mixed.

Not one of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy's best, but still with much to enjoy

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 28 August 2013]

Bitter Sweet is not up there with New Moon and especially Maytime(out of their collaborations), but it is not their worst, that would be- though from a personal perspective it wasn't as bad as heard- I Married An Angel. Bitter Sweet does have things wrong, the story is silly, at times draggy and also a little choppy, the Baron's wife is an annoying character and is played even worse and Nelson Eddy's acting is rather stiff, he also has as much conviction as an Austrian as John Wayne did as Genghis Kahn in The Conqueror. It's not as if his acting is like that in all his films, it was great in The Chocolate Soldier for instance where he does show some gift for comedy. Bitter Sweet looks incredible though, out of Eddy-MacDonald's outings it is one of their best-looking. The costumes and sets are very sumptuous, the set for Zigeuner stands out. The Technicolor photography is the very meaning of exquisite. Fabulous also are the songs, Noel Coward's first score and one of his greatest too, I'll See You Again and Zigeuner are the best of the bunch. The dialogue is snappy and sweet, with some appropriate seediness for the baron, the choreography does have energy and W.S. Wise's direction while not landmark-standard is perfect for the type of film Bitter Sweet is, charming and solid with a light touch. There is a good supporting cast, George Sanders is wonderfully smarmy and lecherous in another one of his caddish roles, Hermann Bing is very funny and Ian Hunter shines at being distinguished. Jeanette MacDonald is as beautiful and charming as ever, and her performance carries Bitter Sweet very nicely, she was always better in the acting stakes than Eddy. Though Eddy was the better singer, it is difficult to ever find fault in Eddy's rich, warm baritone singing and while personally it isn't a problem MacDonald's somewhat thin-toned at times, trilly soprano is an acquired taste. Both she and Eddy sing absolutely beautifully throughout, together and individually, and their chemistry is convincing. All in all, still much to enjoy but not one of their best. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Jeanette and Nelson sing on an empty stomach...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 18 September 2006]

As starving artists living in a Viennese garret, MacDonald and Eddy certainly seem perfectly capable of singing their full-bodied songs with as much spirit as anyone would on a healthy diet of food. So much of the plot line of BITTER SWEET sounds like a recap of MAYTIME that it's unnerving to think that even with all of the opulent Technicolor on display here, they couldn't come up with a film that at least compared favorably to that B&W classic.

Once again, Jeanette has to lose her lover (this time in a duel, which must be one of the briefest duels ever fought over a lady), and then, still pining for him, she manages to get one of his operas produced in time to conclude the movie with "I'll See You Again" while the disembodied voice of Eddy joins her in song. Ah, sweet mystery of life! Noel Coward, who wrote the original BITTER SWEET on which this is based, fumed and fussed when he saw what MGM had done to his stage work. He swore that from then on he would never let Hollywood touch one of his works.

Well, I suppose he was justified. JEANETTE MacDONALD and NELSON EDDY are in their prime and sing beautifully, but none of it really comes to life. She's bubbling over with enthusiasm and he looks mighty uncomfortable most of the time, particularly in that brief duel with GEORGE SANDERS (as a wicked Baron) that lasts no more than five seconds.

Fans of the singing duo will probably enjoy the lavish sets for the big production number and it's all filmed in gorgeous Technicolor--but that's about it. Take it or leave it.

A remake of the 1933 film for music duo Jeanette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy

[jacobs-greenwood · 6/10 · 15 December 2016]

Directed by W.S. Van Dyke, Noel Coward's play (treated by Lesser Samuels) and songs and the 1933 film was remade into this colorful costumer and musical romance drama for Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy (fans). It received Oscar nominations for its Color Art Direction and Cinematography. The cast also includes George Sanders, Ian Hunter, Felix Bressart, Sig Ruman, Veda Ann Borg, and Herman Bing (among others).

In London, 1891, hopelessly romantic Sarah Millick (MacDonald) skips out of her arranged marriage to elope with her penniless Viennese music tutor Carl Linden (Eddy), much to the dismay of her mother (Fay Holden), her dullard foreign minister fiancé Harry (Edward Ashley), and his mother Lady Daventry (Janet Beecher), though her friend Dolly (Lynne Carver) is delighted. Carl & Sari (as he calls her) immediately leave for Vienna where, after she has a chance meeting with Baron Von Tranisch (Sanders), the couple is greeted enthusiastically by Carl's friends Ernst (Curt Bois) and Max (Bressart). The celebration is continued, later, at Mama Luden's (Greta Meyer) restaurant.

After a year, the Lindens are still happy and poor. Sari begins to write a letter home to ask for money, but instead ends up offering her services as a singing tutor to a market keeper (Bing) for food. Unable to sell his completed operetta, Carl ends up inadvertently bungling her arrangement. Ernst & Max, who have a penchant for pawning Carl's possession for food & drink, have an idea - play outside the baths in Bonn in hopes of attracting a millionaire's ear. The four of them do just that and, hearing Sari sing Carl's operetta, British Lord Shayne (Hunter) believes that it brings him luck in his card game with the Baron and others. He sends them money to continue but, after the Baron loses to Shayne, he looks out the window and recognizes pretty Sari. The Baron then sends a messenger to take the makeshift band away, to a job working at Herr Schlick's (Ruman) café.

Schlick doesn't know what to do with the players until he sees Sari, then he hires her & the others and fires Manon (Borg, barely in two scenes), who'd been the Baron's previous mistress. Even though Sari is never asked to sing, she & Carl are oblivious to the arrangement between Schlick and his regular customer the Baron, who insists that the café owner keep his mistresses employed for his (own purposes &) excellent patronage. When by chance, Harry Daventry visits with his wife Jane (Diana Lewis), the Baron's arrangement becomes clear to Sari, who then quits Herr Schlick. The Baron is naturally furious with the café owner when he learns that his new mistress won't be dining with him, but Schlick tells dishwashers Ernst & Max that the famous (producer?) Herr Wyler (Charles Judels) will be coming to his café that night. The friends tell Sari of it and, seeing a chance to sing Carl's operetta for him, she joins a surprised Carl (who plays the piano there) at Schlick's. But it is Schlick that is surprised when he learns that Wyler really is there, brought by Lord Shayne to hear Sari sing. Just as she's completed singing the operetta, the drunken Baron accosts her, initiating a fatal duel between the master military swordsman and poor Carl.

But the show must go on. Sari refuses Harry & Jane's offer to return to London with them; her home is now the place that Carl loved, Vienna. With Wyler and Shayne's help, Carl's opera is produced, performed by Sari to great success, one which is "bitter sweet".

The film ends with a fantasy sequence much like an earlier MacDonald/Eddy vehicle, Maytime (1937), does.

Just how "gay" are we supposed to see Vienna as being???

[richard-1787 · 5/10 · 18 June 2015]

I've seen the Noel Coward operetta on which this movie is - loosely - based, and I didn't much care for that either. MacDonald/Eddy movies worked when the music was good and well staged, but that isn't the case here. The one big number, "I'll see you again," is over within the first five minutes. From there on, it's just forgettable imitation Viennese operetta music ("Tokay," "Ziguener," etc.).

Normally, this is one of their movies that I take a pass on.

But when I watched it today, I couldn't help notice how heavily it stresses that England is sexually and emotionally very repressive. The romantic couple flees to Vienna, which is described over and over as "gay." When they arrive, they are met by several of the male lead's male friends, who are very effusive in expressing their delight at seeing him.

Which set me to wondering: was someone - Coward, the screenwriter - trying to set this up as an allegory of gay Coward's own feelings of sexual repression in England? The male lead, very much unlike in most movie operettas of the time, gets killed in the end, and by a military bully, just the sort who would pick on a gay man. (Though the male lead in this movie is certainly not presented as gay.)

Just a thought.

a great romantic movie

[alonsof · 10/10 · 24 October 2001]

In the style of the great "Maytime " , director W.S.Van Dyke(San Francisco, Tarzan, the ape man ) adapted the original operetta by Noel Coward . The movie is a glamorous, romantic piece , wiht a magnificent photograhy, wonderful songs and a pair of unforgettable stars, Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy . Music, tragedy, love , all the elements are present in this beautiful picture , a joy for the moviegoer .Nelson and Jeanette sang with passion and his magic is beyond the scenes , his magic truly touched our hearts.

Hollywood rapes the classics again

[jwkenne · 1/10 · 30 October 2004]

Noel Coward, who wrote both the words and the music of the original 1929 operetta, called this movie "a nauseating hotchpotch of vulgarity, false values, seedy dialogue, stale sentiment, vile performances, and abominable direction." He found it so offensive that he never again allowed Hollywood to have anything to do with his musicals, and put a clause in his will to that effect.

I entirely agree with his evaluation. No one who has had the chance to see the brilliant and heartbreaking original play can look on this bastard tinsel and frou-frou offspring without feeling first incredulity, then disgust, and finally a deep personal hatred for everyone involved in the nasty thing.

By the way, the connection between this movie and "Maytime" is complicated. You see, some Hollywood suit didn't like the original show, "Maytime", but wanted to use the title, and so they ripped off the plot of "Bitter Sweet" and combined it with lots of songs that aren't from either "Maytime" or "Bitter Sweet", apart from just one actual "Maytime" song, and called the result "Maytime". (Eddy and MacDonald's movie called "The Chocolate Soldier", similarly, is the plot of the play, "The Guardsman", mixed with some of the songs from "The Chocolate Soldier", but none of the plot.) So when they decided to make "Bitter Sweet", they kept the same basic plot, but dumbed it down, creating this abortion.

Andrew Lloyd Webber -- this is your future

[ArtVandelayImporterExporter · 4/10 · 4 March 2021]

This sort of middle-brow mewling might have been big in 1940, who knows. Hard to believe it could draw an audience when you still had legitimate opera, Broadway musicals, popular music and swing. To say nothing of jazz and blues and everything else American bl@cks were producing at the time.

Maybe the people who couldn't go see legit live performances were willing to pay to see Jeannette Macdonald and Nelson Eddy yodel? It hurt my ears.

I was surprised to read other reviews here that alleged this was a comedy. I didnt see anything funny about it, unless you count George Sanders in that ridiculous get-up and that terrible accent.

I regard this fake-opera style of singing as belonging in a time capsule of american music, along with yodeling, playing the spoons in a jug band, and anything by Al Jolson. Hopefully buried and never to be heard for another, well, lets make it a thousand years.

Noël Coward operetta

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 23 March 2024]

It's 19th century Austria. Music teacher Carl Linden (Nelson Eddy) and his star pupil Sarah Milick (Jeanette MacDonald) are in love. They run off to Vienna to escape her arranged marriage. They struggle to make it. They are literally teaching for food. Baron von Tranisch (George Sanders) takes a liking to Sarah.

This is based on a Noël Coward operetta and apparently, he hated this. It's not my type of music and this starts at a deficit. It doesn't help that the songs aren't that catchy or memorable. I don't particularly care about this couple. The story would work better with a younger Sarah. I'm not looking for a larger age difference. More naivety works better for the story. It did get a couple of Oscar noms for Cinematography and Art Direction. I can see that, but I'm not impressed.

MacDonald and Eddy at Their Peak

[LeonardKniffel · 8/10 · 9 April 2020]

This movie is notable for pairing the popular duet of Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald with the original play, music, and lyrics of Noel Coward, England's most renowned Renaissance man of the theater. Coward's contempt for unromantic prigs is quite apparent in his portrayal of a Victorian lass and her dashing music teacher. This is my nomination for the best of the Eddy-MacDonald films, especially for the beautiful song "I'll See You Again." Apparently Coward thought the film was a travesty; I enjoyed it. --Musicals on the Silver Screen, American Library Association, 2013