Viennese nights 1930 - "You will remember Vienna"

Vivienne Segal in Viennese Nights (1930)

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021522/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 7,1

Director: Alan Crosland
Main Cast: Vivienne Segal, Alexander Gray, Jean Hersholt, Walter Pidgeon, Louise Fazenda, Bela Lugosi

"This sentimental Romberg-Hammerstein operetta was made late in the first cycle of movie musicals, and the glut of product at the time crowded it out at the box office. Which is too bad, because it's excellent of its kind - well-crafted, well-cast, and in handsome two-tone Technicolor.
The authors steal from all over the place: The two-generation love affairs (one happy, one unhappy) recall Romberg's own 'Maytime', and the poor musician and wealthy officer fighting for the fraulein are right out of 'Bitter Sweet'. But the story matters less than the songs ('You Will Remember Vienna', 'I Bring a Love Song', etc.) and the authors' sincerity. It's an unusually full score for a movie musical, with comic numbers, ensembles, and even a show-within-a-show - one senses that Hammerstein and Romberg wanted their screen work to be as good as their stage work.
Vivienne Segal, a prized stage comedienne/soprano, doesn't really get to demonstrate the dry wit and winking innuendo that made her a theater favorite, but she's sweet and direct (at times, she looks like Bette Midler!). Her leading man - Alexander Gray, also from the stage - is stiff in the Nelson Eddy mode, but like Eddy, he gives his all when he sings.
Walter Pidgeon and Bela Lugosi have minor roles."

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(the title is wrong, but it is the right movie)

The Mikado 1939 - Gilbert & Sullivan on the screen

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031650/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 6,7

Director: Victor Schertzinger
Main Cast: Kenny Baker, John Barclay, Martyn Green, Jean Colin, Constance Willis

"Though it boasts an American director and star, this Technicolor cinemadaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operetta The Mikado is a faithful record of what it must have been like to attend a performance of Britain's D'Oyly Carte opera company. Rradio tenor Kenny Baker stars as Nanki-Poo, the wand'ring minstrel who wanders into a curious set of situations in the Japanese village of Titi-Pu. D'Oyly Carte perennial Martyn Green plays the leading role of Ko-Ko, the timorous Lord High Executioner who must perform one execution per day or he'll lose his job-and his own head. Ko-Ko finds a likely candidate for decapitation in the form of Nanki-Poo, who feels mighty suicidal when it seems as though his sweetheart Yum-Yum (Jean Cola) is out of his reach. Unbeknownst to Ko-Ko, Nanki-Poo is the son of none other than The Mikado, played with a combination of pomp, circumstance and Noel Cowardlike waspishness by Sydney Granville. Most of the satirical Gilbert & Sullivan songs have been retained, including 'The Lord High Executioner', 'Three Little Maids from School are We', 'Tit Willow', 'Here's a How-de-Do', and 'The Object Most Sublime'. Musical accompaniment is provided by the London Symphony Orchestra." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-mikado-v32631

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