I loved it that Ramon could sing! He did a good job, and so did Jeanette MacDonald.
I was thinking that this movie was Pre-Code. I realized from my Ohio State film censorship course (Department of Theatre) that the Code began around 1931, but was not taken too seriously until perhaps not long after this movie was made.
I WAS a bit shocked seeing Ramon leaning over Jeanette in her bed, and then I realized that the Code had not yet totally sunken its teeth into movie-making. Too see Jeanette's costume-changing in front of the men, and the tops of her stockings showing were more clues.
I did not see this whole movie. I learned from other IMDb reviewers here that the characters cohabitated. Still, the characters' relationship looked just a little too smarmy for the censors who supposedly ruled in that era.
Novarro's real-life private lifestyle, yes, got in the way of some of his recognition and career. Even further, his career was soon weakened by a Red-scare of the early 1930s.
IRL, Ramon liked men. Still, actors have to play their characters properly. I have seen Ramon in films such as The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg and Mata Hari. In these, he definitely plays men who love women. Indeed, heterosexuals ought to be able to play gay characters. The reverse is also true that homosexuals need to be able to play heterosexual characters. As Ramon kisses women in movies, I think of Rock Hudson kissing Doris Day -- and later people said they thought all along that Rock was heterosexual in real life. Not!
When actors portray animals on stage, it does not matter the gender of the actor. A man can be dressed up in a cow's costume, which is a feminine character. If an actor is dressed as an earthworm, does anyone ask the actor if he/she is asexual? I think Ramon was a very handsome man. Jeanette was very beautiful, and I have always loved her singing voice.
It was good to see Hersholt, Morgan and Butterworth here. I enjoyed Morgan trying to be a romantic character here, whereas in the later Wizard of Oz he has no interest in the opposite sex -- perhaps he had an affair with the Wicked Witches or the Good Witch of the North (Glinda/Billie Burke). We will never know, however.
I was both shocked and thrilled to see the color segment at the end. This was quite satisfying.
As opposed to some other reviewers, I usually like Jeanette's pairings with Nelson Eddy. I have heard that Nelson was a divo who did not want Jeanette upstaging him, but what do you expect?
9/10, because I feel that this movie moved (pun) very slowly. I FF'd through a lot, but feel that I saw enough to make this review.
I was thinking that this movie was Pre-Code. I realized from my Ohio State film censorship course (Department of Theatre) that the Code began around 1931, but was not taken too seriously until perhaps not long after this movie was made.
I WAS a bit shocked seeing Ramon leaning over Jeanette in her bed, and then I realized that the Code had not yet totally sunken its teeth into movie-making. Too see Jeanette's costume-changing in front of the men, and the tops of her stockings showing were more clues.
I did not see this whole movie. I learned from other IMDb reviewers here that the characters cohabitated. Still, the characters' relationship looked just a little too smarmy for the censors who supposedly ruled in that era.
Novarro's real-life private lifestyle, yes, got in the way of some of his recognition and career. Even further, his career was soon weakened by a Red-scare of the early 1930s.
IRL, Ramon liked men. Still, actors have to play their characters properly. I have seen Ramon in films such as The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg and Mata Hari. In these, he definitely plays men who love women. Indeed, heterosexuals ought to be able to play gay characters. The reverse is also true that homosexuals need to be able to play heterosexual characters. As Ramon kisses women in movies, I think of Rock Hudson kissing Doris Day -- and later people said they thought all along that Rock was heterosexual in real life. Not!
When actors portray animals on stage, it does not matter the gender of the actor. A man can be dressed up in a cow's costume, which is a feminine character. If an actor is dressed as an earthworm, does anyone ask the actor if he/she is asexual? I think Ramon was a very handsome man. Jeanette was very beautiful, and I have always loved her singing voice.
It was good to see Hersholt, Morgan and Butterworth here. I enjoyed Morgan trying to be a romantic character here, whereas in the later Wizard of Oz he has no interest in the opposite sex -- perhaps he had an affair with the Wicked Witches or the Good Witch of the North (Glinda/Billie Burke). We will never know, however.
I was both shocked and thrilled to see the color segment at the end. This was quite satisfying.
As opposed to some other reviewers, I usually like Jeanette's pairings with Nelson Eddy. I have heard that Nelson was a divo who did not want Jeanette upstaging him, but what do you expect?
9/10, because I feel that this movie moved (pun) very slowly. I FF'd through a lot, but feel that I saw enough to make this review.