Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy Collection Volume 1

Naughty Marietta☆☆☆☆☆A lighthearted and amusing period play about a runaway princess. A shipment of virtuous young women shipped out to France’s Louisiana Colony to marry colonists, among them a princess escaping forced marriage to an old, really old man. Pirates. Mercenary soldiers under a handsome American captain. A lecherous but comical Governor with a shrewish wife. Mix with lively music and good song and stir well; this gives you Naughty Marietta.Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy were lucky to be chosen for this, their first movie together. They could as easily been started in one of the many MGM failures and sunk into oblivion.Originally a operetta by Victor Herbert and Rida Johnson Young, it was first staged in New York in 1910. MGM bought the rights to it during their efforts to improve the music available to the American public in the 1930s. Rida Johnson Young also wrote the book and lyrics for the movie version, another stroke of luck, for as an experienced actress and playwright she could stuff a script to bursting with good dialogue, clever business, jokes, plus comic, tragic, and dramatic situations. (MGM’s usual writers were made of lesser stuff.)The MGM studio didn’t anticipate any extraordinary results. They were merely hoping the production would make a profit. Eddy had been signed after Louis Meyer watched him take eighteen curtain calls in an opera, and Jeannette MacDonald was signed after a successful career as a dancer, singer, and actress in Eastern stage productions, but neither were known in Hollywood. Nor had they known each other.The combination of good music and a good script plus the two experienced performers was explosive. Naughty Marietta was the smash hit of 1935, broke box office records, swept MacDonald and Eddy to instant fame, and made MGM the Hollywood studio of choice for aspiring actors.The heart of this lies in the performers. When you watch Nelson and Jeanette together you see two well trained and disciplined stage performers working in perfect harmony. He was a opera singer with a trained voice, but was a weak actor, she was an actress with stage experience dating back to her fourth birthday, and as a trained actress could dance, sing, and play a musical instrument. Her voice, while a pure soprano, was relatively undeveloped. They got along well together, personal liking as well as professional training contributed to this. As you watch them you can see how carefully she works to him, covering his wooden acting, making him seem far better than he then was. On his part you can hear his baritone, powerful enough to shatter brick, brought gently down beneath her clear tones, blending, harmonizing, supporting her and lifting her voice above his own.Pure performing art. Marvelous music. Heartwarming songs. A movie to collect and cherish.MGM as might be expected, pounced on the opportunity and advertised them as ‘America’s Sweethearts’, and the public swallowed this, digested it, and believed it. In truth they were not sweethearts, they liked one another, there might have been some moments of private affection between, but she had a long time fiancé and manager, Jack Ohmeis, and he was succeeded by her marriage to Gene Raymond, her one true love, which lasted until her death.Unfortunately Naughty Marietta was filmed in black and white: perhaps some good soul might colorize it?___Rose-Marie☆☆☆Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy together with James Stewart in a 1936 romantic movie involving a Canadian opera singer, her brother - a murderer and jail breaker, and a Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sergeant all a-chase through the wilds of Quebec.*The film is in black and white and the plot is undemanding on the intellect, a mish-mash of operatic aria and post-performance parties to establish Jeanette’s credentials as a singer, an RCMP barracks scene to set Eddy’s character, and an Indian tribal dance with poor James Stewart, betrayed for the reward on his head. The remainder is even less exciting.Fortunately there is also popular music with Jeanette and Nelson to sing to that; above all else, the haunting Indian Love Call which after eighty years has never lost its appeal.It’s not a bad movie, but you’ll perhaps not wish to watch it more than once in eighty years.*(In actual fact the RCMP as a Federal force did not and still does not conduct criminal investigations in Quebec, however nobody seems to have cared, certainly not the public, who flocked to see the film.)___Maytime☆☆☆☆Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, John Barrymore.Another Rida Johnson Young script, but with somewhat poorer standards of production. We follow the aged Miss Morrison (Jeanette MacDonald) as she visits the opening set-piece, a children’s maypole dance. It is crude and shrill on the ears. By the time it ends our ears are aching and a ton or two of petals have fallen, and we are damned sure it is Maytime. There is no escaping the fact.After this the story improves as we go back in time with Miss Morrison to her alter ego as Marcia Mornay, opera singer, and suffer memories of her illicit Maytime love affair with Paul Allison (Eddy), and disastrous marriage to her manager Nicolai Nazaroff (John Barrymore). Much more of operatic arias, much, much, much.Paul Allison is a charming layabout but she loves him in Maytime (another ton of two of falling blossoms) despite having agreed to marry her manager Nicolai Nazaroff.Yeah, well, the story proceeds, and proceeds, and proceeds. It isn’t bad but is is long, too long.The music is a delight, and the singing pure pleasure, but it is a grim tale. John Barrymore, reputed to be in real life a drunken pain-in-the-neck, acts the part of pain-in-the-neck admirably on film.I’ll watch it again, sure I will, but I’ll have a glass of two of malt whisky with me to help me bear the dull bits.___Girl Of The Golden West☆☆Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy.Based on Puccini’s operetta of the same name, we have here the prototype spaghetti western. Or perhaps it is only a spaghettini western.This is a sample of the deteriorating standards of at MGM at that time. The actors were there, the technicians, the musicians, the sound experts, lighting experts, color experts, every form of support staff, and yet the production standards were falling.One obvious problem was that the writers were pathetically incompetent, while the men in charge of the studio had no taste, no fine judgement. They desired to improve the general population’s quality of life, their problem being that was they didn’t know how to do it. Indeed, they didn’t even know what it was the public needed or wanted, and falling ticket sales didn’t seem to encourage them to find out. At a guess, I would think that they had never lived nor experienced life outside of California.Or, could it have been too much bootleg booze?So we have here Jeanette MacDonald as a Wild West saloon owner, stumping around trying to act crude. She doesn’t make it, and any competent Director would not have let her try. Nelson Eddy as a badman is merely pathetic. Walter Pidgeon as the Sheriff is the most convincing character in the movie, but he cannot carry the entire mess on his own shoulders.The plot is unconvincing. Silly. The best I can say for this, is that it is part of the MacDonald-Eddy saga.You get this mess on the dvd whether you want it or not. Up to you if you wish to watch it.Once was enough for me.___(John Barrett Rose, seafarer by trade, is a playwright and novelist, and to the consternation of his neighbors, also a bathroom baritone.)

Nelson Eddy and Jeanette McDonald pair up for four awesome movies: Naughty Marietta, Rose Marie, Maytime and The Girl of the Golden WestNaughty Marietta is about Princess Marie, played by Jeanette McDonald, a princess that wants to escape from an arranged marriage. She pretends to be a servant, Marietta, and escapes on a ship with a group of girls that are traveling to New Orleans to get married. The ship is overtaken by pirates, who take all the girls away. Mercenaries, headed by Nelson Eddy playing Capt. Richard Warrington who rescues the girls from the pirates and deliver them to New Orleans. A number of suitors approach Marietta but she turns them all down not wanting to get married. Warrington is attracted to her, but at first does not want to get married. However, as Marietta runs into difficulties, he helps her out and they start falling in love with each other. However a series of events causes trouble for the two.Rose Marie involves Jeanette McDonald playing Marie de Flor an opera star who has a troubled little brother, played by Jimmy Stewart, constantly on the wrong side of the law. At a call for help, Marie flees and runs into Mountie Sgt. Bruce, played by Nelson Eddy. Scared for her brother, Marie shies away from Bruce, but fascinated he pursues her, eventually he stumbles onto a plot between the girl and her brother and Marie has to make some difficult choices. I believe this was also the original Dudley Do Right.Maytime, the story begins with Miss Morrison remembering her younger years. She is an upcoming opera star, played by Jeanette McDonald, her teacher, Nicolai proposes to her and she accepts although not loving him. She later meets an American singer, Nelson Eddy and swiftly falls in love with him but does not pursue it far due to loyalty to Nicolai. She later gets married to Nicolai and Nelson Eddy makes a large name for himself in the opera world. They meet up later and sparks fly, but Miss Morrison is between a rock and a hard place.The Girl of the Golden West joins together Nelson Eddy as famed bandit Ramirez and Jeanette McDonald as saloon owner Mary Robbins. Ramirez hijacks a stagecoach Mary is on then later runs into her and starts to fall for her which starts causing problems with the bandit life. However, Mary does not realize that he is a bandit and they both don't realize that they have a history going farther back than either of them know. Ramirez and Mary struggle with their attraction and their own lifestyles as they start getting closer. At a certain point, they each have to decide what is most important to them.I prefer the happier movies, and Maytime is slightly sadder so that would not have been my preference but Rose Marie and The Girl of the Golden West are awesome. The repartee between Eddy and McDonald are amazing and their chemistry is boundless.

Watching these treasures from the MGM catalogue one can see why, in it's day, when the MGM logo appeared at screening in cinemas before the film audiences would break into applause. It's evident in all 8 Mac/Eddy films no expense was spared in front or behind the camera. The wonderful Astaire/Rogers dance films have overtaken the singing duo's films in critical assessment over the years, but I feel their films are, generally, better plotted, characters better developed and more entertaining ("MAYTIME", one of the last films Irving Thalberg produced before his untimely death, is a masterpiece and I would rank this amongst the great screen musicals). The set, considering the age of the films, is good -especially the Black and White films (anyone not 'liking' Black and White films watch 'Maytime' and see how atmospheric and magical it can be!). The reason for me not giving the set 5 stars are the only two colour films they made ("Sweethearts" and "Bitter Sweet") have faded considerably losing the glory of the three strip technicolor originals - alas one doubts they will not spend the money to restore them so are probably lost for ever - but at least they are included. If you want to experience these wonderful, beautiful, romantic films again, or want to for the first time (it may open a whole new cinematic world for you), don't hesitate to add them to your collection (If you love them also add the incredibly underrated Jeanette MacDonald solo film - with Alan Jones - "Firefly", it's an surprisingly effective 'mood' piece, again in glorious Black and White). Michael - South Africa.

I am a big fan of early movies, especially those of the 30's and 40's. These movies look and sound wonderful. The production values are top notch. I'm very satsfied.

I didn’t expect the dvd’s to be so clear and sound so good!

Regardless of it being in black and white, regardless of it being very naive and rough round the edges, this is a classic vintage musical piece of movie entertainment.The voices are glorious. Just sit back and enjoy it!

Fue una pareja de cantantes que hicieron época por sus excelentes voces estilo operísticas. Las películas tienen muy buena imagen y sonido. Sólo recomendada para personas que gusten de la buena música. Llegó antes de lo programado en excelentes condiciones.

Absolutely great dvd s love them

Absolutely brilliant! These two are totally believable in their love scenes and the singing is fantastic. We loved every minute of every film.