Watch The Cat and the Fiddle For Free

How sad is this?

Good movie but grossly overrated

Blistering performances.

The acting in this movie is really good.

There are so many things wrong with this 1934 MGM production. This is a semi-operetta, whose weak script and totally miscast stars drags this lavishly produced love story to yawnsville. The 31 year old perky MacDonald, who has noticeable dark rings under her eyes, plays the part of an 18 year old, to a weak voiced, and obviously effeminate 34 year old Ramon Novarro. The story is just plain silly. All but the final number where the boy gets the girl is B/W. Then like magic MGM pulls off their switch to color routine. The boy is holding the girl and singing of love when a tree in back of them suddenly sprouts and grows upward. It’s embarrassing and non too subtle. The supporting cast that includes Jean Hersholt, who went on to become famous playing Dr Christian on radio and in films, is wasted as an old man with too few lines. Leonid Kinskey is his same old silly self. The direction was nothing special, but can be forgiven due to the fact that color and sound was still being perfected. The script by Bella Spewack cannot be forgiven. It was just weak and unbelievable.What’s positive here? Words by Otto Harback and music by Jerome Kern. What little music there is shines. A lot more would have been a big plus. The best role was played by Frank Morgan, who later played Professor Marvel the Wizard of Oz. He was the much older rejected lover, and he played the part quite believably.Saying this, I would recommend this to students of ancient movie making. I often wondered about Novarro. I heard and read so much about him. To me he just doesn’t come across well. But, that’s just me.

Before I go any further, you need to understand something before you accept my review without question. While I adore films from Hollywood's Golden Age and I think I was born at the wrong time, I never have particularly liked the style of films that Jeanette MacDonald made--particularly those with Nelson Eddy. A while back, I gave a bad review to one of their very old fashioned films and I was beset with angry fans. Who was to know that anyone alive today actually LIKED these operettas?! So, to be fair, understand they just aren't my cup of tea, so to speak.Now another thing you should know is why, in spite of this, I still watched the film. Well, while I generally don't like them, I really, really liked two of the films Ms. MacDonald made with Maurice Chevalier (THE MERRY WIDOW and LOVE ME TONIGHT)--probably because of his charming performance.Unfortunately, while I preferred having Ramon Navarro in the film instead of Nelson Eddy (uggh--the combination of him and MacDonald is too much for me), this isn't saying much as overall I didn't like the film but at least I am intellectually honest enough to give the film a 6 for technical merit.As for what I didn't like, the list would probably be very long, so I'll try to cover the major points. First, while Navarro was a capable leading man in the silent days, his transition to sound wasn't great due to his strong accent. While it got easier to understand him in some later sound films, here it is quite difficult for my American ear--perhaps others might have an easier time of this and it would have helped if the videotape had been close captioned. But what was apparent regardless of this was that Navarro couldn't sing well at all and couldn't come close to keeping up with Jeanette. Second, there was just too much singing. While I sometimes enjoy a good musical, there was so much singing and stage productions near the end that I tended to speed through some of them. Third, the Technicolor used on one small sequence at the end of the film looked just awful. I can't blame the people who made the film but those who released it on video, as it desperately needs restoration. It was fuzzy and garish and I doubt this was Technicolor's fault--particularly as I have seen Two-color Technicolor films that look a lot better and it's a much more primitive process than the Three-strip Technicolor used here.Now there were a few things I liked. Charles Butterworth seems totally out of place in the film and just wanders about saying inane things. This actually IMPROVED the film and kept me laughing--particularly when the prima donna of the opera turned out to be very old and Butterworth suggested they change the plot to make it the love between a man and his mother (instead of his girlfriend)--even though it was clearly a romance! He said that perhaps people wouldn't mind and were broadminded about the whole thing!!! DO NOT READ FURTHER--MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!!STOP READING NOW!! I MEAN IT--KEEP YOUR LITTLE ILLUSIONS AND STOP READING!!THIS MEANS YOU!! STOP!!! WELL, DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU!!!The romance between Navarro and MacDonald was difficult to believe for me and other lovers of film trivia because although I have read that Mr. Navarro was a wonderful man, he was also quite gay. Sorry to spoil the illusion, but I did warn you!! On the other hand, since it appears that the two are cohabiting in part of the film, this might make some a bit more comfortable since they weren't married.

A European songwriter with classical pretensions meets an American songwriter interested in popular music. He falls madly and impetuously in love with her, while neglecting his private audience before an impresario who could give him his Big Chance. He eventually plays before him, but the older man is more interested in the girl friend. Complications ensue. The girl's song becomes a big hit, and the young man has to make his mark on his own. For a time he seems to have the help of an Older Woman, but she chooses not to ruffle her husband's feathers. A stage performance of his musical is saved by the American's intervention, performing the lead role. He wins the girl's love, after all, despite many disruptions and her last minute spurning of her older benefactor who is by now her official fiancé.This is a painful movie to watch. Novarro plays a very annoying, very stupid character. How any woman can fall in love with him strains belief. Even a casual moralist might have trouble with the empty headed antics of the major figures. This movie may have been made before the Hays Office censors forced cuts, for the movie makers wanted to be naughty or salacious in the story line.As for the actors, Ramon Novarro may have been able to sing, but he is not a Nelson Eddy, much less akin to any of Eddy's successors on screen (Allan Jones, Tony Martin, Howard Keel, John Raitt, etc.).Jeanette Macdonald is wonderful. She has been a favorite of mine since I saw her on stage at Kansas City's Starlight Theater (an outdoor stage in KC's Swope Park), playing the Gertrude Lawrence role in THE KING AND I sometime in the early '50's. The music is really only so-so. "The Night was Made for Love" is the big hit, and it's laughable. Jerome Kern gets the credit for the score, but Cole Porter and Irving Berlin composed better screen music overall.

This is a delightful, free-spirited musical gem from MGM. It has the feel of the risque Paramount musicals of the era. Jeanette MacDonald and Ramon Novarro are lovers who co-habitat (not an issue here!) and nurture each other in their respective musical careers. Jerome Kern's score is wonderful -- the kind of tunes that stay with you, "Try to Forget", "The Night Was Made For Love", "She Didn't Say Yes". Great dialogue and comic relief and a few emotional snarls give the film some complexity. The musical numbers are innovative and interestingly filmed -- they compliment the score. The atmosphere in Brussels is highlighted by a variety of characters in the arts community. The film has a musical fluidity. Other than the stilted staging of the 3-strip Technicolor ending, this film deserves more attention.