#644) Naughty Marietta (1935)

#644) Naughty Marietta (1935)

OR “The French Maid’s Tale”

Directed by W.S. Van Dyke

Written by John Lee Mahin & Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. Based on the operetta by Victor Herbert and Rida Johnson Young.

Class of 2003

The Plot: In 18^th century France, the Princess Marie (Jeanette MacDonald) is unhappy with her arranged marriage to Don Carlos (Walter Kingsford). Wanting to find true love, she disguises herself as her servant Marietta (Helen Shipman) and takes her place on a ship bound for New Orleans with casquette girls sent to marry the French colonists. After their ship is overtaken by pirates, the women are rescued by Captain Richard Warrington (Nelson Eddy) and his band of mercenaries. Marie initially is unimpressed by Warrington’s boasting, but eventually the two warm up to each other. Marie’s arrival in New Orleans leads to more romance, mistaken identity, and a whole bunch of songs.

Why It Matters: No real superlatives in the NFR write-up, other than that MacDonald and Eddy are a “sensational singing duo”. The films production and Oscar stats are also mentioned.

But Does It Really?: The early 2000s was the NFR’s “What haven’t we gotten to yet?” era: checking off major movie series and performers that were so far unrepresented on the NFR (We get Our Gang, the Three Stooges, and Elvis on the list during this period). Among those pieces of movie culture is a Jeanette MacDonald/Nelson Eddy MGM operetta, and “Naughty Marietta” fits the bill. On its own “Naughty Marietta” is a fun, enjoyable musical; not outstanding, but a pleasant enough viewing experience. “Naughty Marietta” is on the list for what it is as much as for what it represents: the kind of escapist romantic movie musicals that delighted Depression-era audiences. An indifferent but understanding pass for its NFR inclusion.

Everybody Gets One: Born into a musical family, Nelson Eddy got his start singing in the church choir, eventually performing with the Philadelphia Civic Opera Company. A last minute booking in Los Angeles earned him acclaim, as well as the attention of several studios. Eddy signed with MGM, and was shortly thereafter assigned the leading role opposite Jeanette MacDonald in “Naughty Marietta” when MacDonald’s first choice Allan Jones was unavailable (he was filming “A Night at the Opera“).

Everybody Almost Gets One: “Naughty Marietta” was originally to be directed by Robert Z. Leonard, known for helming MGM’s more sophisticated fare like “Strange Interlude” and “A Tale of Two Cities”. After one day of filming, Leonard asked to be taken off the project. His reason for leaving remains unknown, as does whether any of his day’s footage is in the final film.

Title Track: Once again we have a Lebowski situation, as the real title role is the minor character Marietta, played by Helen Shipman during her brief tenure at MGM. Sadly we never learn what makes Marietta so naughty.

Seriously, Oscars?: A hit upon release, “Naughty Marietta” received two Oscar nominations. The film lost Best Picture to fellow MGM release “Mutiny on the Bounty”, but prevailed in the category Best Sound Recording, with the statuette going to sound engineer Douglas (older brother of Norma) Shearer.

Other notes

Not a lot of info about the original operetta “Naughty Marietta” or how it became a film, but we know that MGM purchased the film rights originally as a vehicle for Marion Davies. The film follows the overall plot of the musical, omitting a few subplots and streamlining the story.
I’m only a few minutes in and I already have no idea what is happening or what anyone is singing. In retrospect the plot doesn’t really get going until about 10 minutes in, and the first numbers are just table dressing reiterating how nice Marie is.

Jeanette MacDonald seems to be having a good time playing Marie. There’s a sense of fun in her performance, especially her first few scenes posing as Marietta; a chance to play a “character” rather than her screen persona. Also wow what a voice. If Jeanette sings any higher she’s gonna start setting off car alarms.
I assume the boat set and all its colonial aesthetics are holdovers from “Mutiny on the Bounty”, later to be redecorated for “Captains Courageous”. Also, jeez Louise this boat farewell number is so long. Stop singing about leaving and just go already!

I appreciate that Marie’s uncle figures out the Marietta switch almost immediately, with only the lengthy voyage to America delaying his pursuit of her. It becomes the movie’s ticking time bomb; we’re always worried for Marie because we know her uncle is on the way.
For whatever reason I wasn’t expecting this film to have pirates. The lead pirate Bras Pique (French for “Spade Arm”) had a much more pivotal role in the operetta, trimmed to a minor role in the film for time and possibly censorship (he was a bit effeminate, a “Be Careful” in the Production Code handbook).
Nelson Eddy IS Davy Crockett. Much like MacDonald, Eddy seems to be enjoying himself in this film, and has a voice that packs a wallop. The relationship between Warrington and Marie is very much “He’s a jerk but she’s okay with it”.

We arrive in New Orleans and are greeted by Governor and Madame d’Annard, played by Frank Morgan and Elsa Lanchester, aka the Wizard and the Bride. Morgan’s performance is about 90% stammering, but his timing is flawless. Lanchester is stuck in the thankless role of nagging wife, but it’s always nice seeing her in a movie, especially one where she has actual dialogue.
The whole casquette girl thing is a trip. Good thing we don’t commodify women in any way, shape, or form nowadays, right? ….Right?
Question: Are these songs diegetic? I get the sense that everyone in this movie is aware that other characters are singing; the songs are being “performed” for other characters’ amusement. I wonder if ’30s audiences weren’t ready to make that suspension of disbelief just yet.
Ah yes, that time in American movies when we conflated the Italians and Romani for the “gypsy” stereotype. That being said, this movie has more Italians in the cast than any movie this side of “The Godfather“. One of the young Italian women is Adrianna Caselotti, making her film debut in a rare on-screen appearance before becoming the voice of Snow White. Sadly, her operatic voice is not on display here.

I assume Douglas Shearer’s Oscar win was for the overall recording of the songs, especially those extended high notes. I detect some audio doctoring.
The marionette theater number “Ship Ahoy” is truly bizarre. I never expected to see Jeannette MacDonald doing a “Weinerville” style puppet show. Man, remember “Weinerville”? I loved that show.

For those of you playing along, this is the second Jeanette MacDonald movie on the NFR in which a description of medical symptoms turns into rhyming couplets and then a song.

I assume Walter Kingsford was cast as stuffy betrothed Don Carlos because Edward Everett Horton was unavailable.
Oh my god, Frank Morgan is just full on stammering in lieu of actual dialogue. He’s like a proto-Goldblum. Did preview audiences demand more stammering? This all being said, Morgan gives some great double takes throughout, as well as a spit take!
After being teased as a leitmotif throughout, “Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life” gets a full number at the film’s climax. It’s the only time MacDonald and Eddy share a duet, and it’s worth the wait. I understand why they held off having these two sing directly at each other. Their voices are so strong I was expecting a tornado to start forming between them.

Marie’s uncle after her duet with Warrington: “That’s the most disgusting exhibition I’ve ever seen in my life.” Clearly the man has never seen “Pink Flamingos“.
What a cute ending. Of course MacDonald and Eddy get together, and they travel west, the reality of which was do doubt a full one 180 from this rose-colored happy ending. Somebody in that group died of dysentery that’s for sure.

Legacy

“Naughty Marietta” was a surprise hit upon release, earning a healthy profit at the box office and eventually receiving a reissue (the reissue’s trailer is embedded above). From 1936 to 1942, Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy made seven more films together, three of which were directed by Robert Z. Leonard, who apparently stuck around for the whole shoot this time.

Although both of their film careers peaked with their collaborations, both MacDonald and Eddy continued to perform on radio, records, and the stage for the rest of their lives. I remember Eddy best from his performance as every character in “Willie the Operatic Whale”, the best short not on Disney+.

The stage version of “Naughty Marietta” has rarely been seen since its original staging in 1910, and the only other major adaptation was as a TV special in 1955 with Alfred Drake and Patrice Munsel.

The legacy of both the operetta and film is “Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life”, which gets referenced every so often in pop culture, especially in the decades immediately following the film. I can just imagine nine year old Melvin Kaminsky sitting in the balcony of some Brooklyn movie house watching “Naughty Marietta” and filing away “Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life” for later use.

Further Viewing: Victor Herbert’s other major contribution to pop culture was the 1903 operetta “Babes in Toyland”. There have been several film adaptations over the years, each straying further and further from the source material. Still, you got to love the variety of performers these films have attracted: Laurel & Hardy, Annette Funicello, Drew Barrymore.

Listen to This: Victor Herbert and his “Naughty Marietta” score are on the National Recording Registry by virtue of a 1911 Edison cylinder recording of “Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life”, added to the Registry in 2017. Herbert expert Alyce Mott guest writes an essay about the recording.