GOLDEN DAWN (1930)

Less than a month before Oscar Hammerstein II opened his B’way musical about a white performer cut down by a drop of Negro blood in her past, he opened this B’way operetta about a ‘white’ African Princess cut down for not having a drop of Negro blood in her past! The first was legendary: SHOW BOAT; the latter was bizarre: this Emmerich Kálmán operetta*, with a cast of 108 (plus chorus), snapped up by Warner Brothers for a 2-strip TechniColor adaptation. Alas, no TechniColor survives for the VOD in this otherwise well-preserved Early Talkie, but the soundtrack quality is quite striking for the period, and Kálmán’s score (with jazzy comic additions presumably from Herbert Stothart) is not without interest. But what an insane, Political Incorrect piece of work! A tale of British East Africa where Brits and Germans trade prisoners & territory while keeping an eye on those restless natives. B’way musical star Vivienne Segal (Rodgers & Hart’s ‘go-to’ gal*) shows off her considerable upper register as the ‘White Princess’ who causes all the trouble; Walter Woolf King the handsome Brit who comes back to rescue her; and Noah Beery in dusky makeup (not traditional BlackFace) is the conniving overseer with dreams of grandeur. (All singing ‘live,’ as was customary at the time.) While it’s too odd to be objectionable (well, maybe not), the film does include some standout comic perfs, a farcical S & M love number and a brief eccentric-dance/acrobatic number from Music Hall star Lupino Lane of the famous Lupino family (which includes Ida Lupino), on stage going back to commedia dell’arte days. Sometimes history is jaw-droppingly weird.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Though less well known Stateside, post-Johann Strauss Jr., Franz Lehár and Kálmán were tops in Viennese operetta.

DOUBLE-BILL: *Vivienne Segal, who only made about five films, mostly stiff Early Talkies, got her best shot in 1934's THE CAT AND THE FIDDLE against Jeanette MacDonald and Ramon Novarro (his best sound film).