MUSIC IN THE AIR (1934)

‘American Songbook’ composer Jerome Kern had three films out in 1934 (plus ROBERTA playing on B’way).  But it was no annus mirabilis as the films (SWEET ADELINE and THE CAT AND THE FIDDLE were the other two), all looking back to old-fashioned operetta, were modestly received.  With help from Rogers & Astaire, he’d adjust his tempo in ‘35 & ‘36 on the film version of ROBERTA and then in SWING TIME.  But go in knowing what you’re getting, and these unfashionable three have their charms.   ADELINE mostly for original cast member Helen Morgan on three classic Kern songs; CAT for director William K. Howard’s technical dazzle and frisson between stars Ramon Novarro & Jeanette MacDonald; and AIR for the chance to see Gloria Swanson shine in a last appearance as a youngish star (she’s 35).   Befitting its Mittel-Europa setting and operetta leanings, the film is loaded with exiled UFA talent in Hollywood: producer Erich Pommer; director Joe May; scripter ‘Billie’ Wilder; Franz Waxman working Kern's score.  Swanson & John Boles play one of those tiresome, bickering theatrical couples, constantly fighting only to fall back into each others’ arms, overplaying for supposed comic effect.  Still, Swanson’s awfully good at it, with an unexpectedly strong, well-produced mezzo-soprano.   (Much of the score recorded live.)  If only she were playing, say, Kate in KISS ME, KATE.*  As it is, the pair must flirt with cute country couple Douglass Montgomery (quite good) & June Lang (not so good), as well as Papa Al Shean (a holdover from B’way) who’s got a sure song hit for the new show.   (‘I’ve Told Every Little Star,’ a charmer incessantly reprised as was norm at the time.*)  Joe May, a major figure in Germany who sank in Hollywood, does what he can with the corny material, but fails to rise to its best moments when the theater pros finally tell off these country-bumpkin amateurs.   Worth a peek for the one good song and for Swanson’s mainstream farewell almost two decades before her SUNSET BOULEVARD comeback, but little else.

DOUBLE-BILL:  As mentioned above, the undervalued CAT AND THE FIDDLE.   OR: May’s top Hollywood credit, CONFESSION/’37, best of Kay Francis’s later pics.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY:  *Despite Swanson’s obvious ease in handling anything The Talkies threw at her, like most of the great silent stars, after public curiosity from longtime fans led to a smash Talkie debut, a fast decline once they’d been seen-and-heard, then mid-1930s oblivion. John Gilbert, poster boy for silent-to-sound career arc debacle, was Rule not Exception.  (He was also on the way down before the dawn of sound.)   So what did cause the fast fade?   Age?  A bit.  Style?  Could be.  Hemlines?   Nah.  Mostly different times and immense social changes from The Depression.  'Roaring Twenties' holdovers finding themselves lost in the FDR generational shift. Depression audiences wanted their own set of stars, new ones.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  *In a boneheaded move, the other big hit from the show, ‘The Song Is You,’ a true Kern/Hammerstein American Songbook classic, goes entirely missing!