The Great Victor Herbert (1939)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Andrew L. Stone

Writers:

Russel Crouse (writer)
Robert Lively (screenplay)

Release Date:

29 December 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Music | Musical | Romance

Plot Keywords:

Singer | Singing | Composer | Song | Character Name In Title

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars.

Cast

Allan Jones	...	John Ramsey
Mary Martin	...	Louise Hall
Walter Connolly	...	Victor Herbert
Lee Bowman	...	Dr. Richard Moore
Susanna Foster	...	Peggy
Judith Barrett	...	Marie Clark
Jerome Cowan	...	Barney Harris
John Garrick	...	Warner Bryant
Pierre Watkin	...	Albert Martin
Richard Tucker	...	Michael Brown
Hal K. Dawson	...	George Faller
Emmett Vogan	...	Forbes
Mary Currier	...	Mrs. Victor Herbert
James Finlayson	...	Lamplighter

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

The Real Vic??

Now I like Victor Herbert. And I like Mary Martin and Allan Jones. But it would have been nice to see a real biography of Victor Herbert. Walter Connolly as Herbert does have a decent resemblance to him in his latter years

Jones and Martin sing beautifully though. The Herbert music is just there to adorn the plot line concerning these two musical performers. Jones's John Ramsay is a frail character, very similar to Gaylord Ravenal in Showboat who Jones also played.

As for Mary Martin, it's a mystery why she never had a good Hollywood career. She did films with Bing Crosby and Dick Powell as well as this one. She performed well, but movie audiences didn't take to her. The best musical moment in the film is Jones and Martin in a duet of Thine Alone. The recordings I have of the song are individual and it was written as a duet. There's also a pleasant scene with Jones and Martin riding bicycles swapping Herbert songs as they ride.

The real Victor Herbert with his womanizing and his Irish patriot background and his musical training in Germany where he developed a love for all things German would have been a fascinating study. He was also a cello virtuoso before he turned full time to composing. I have to take strong exception to the reviewer who said Cuddles Sakall would have been a good Victor Herbert. Sakall as Irish, HELLO.

Nice movie, but the real Vic would have been so much better.