M-G-M took five years & about ten films before they figured out how to best use silent film star Ramon Novarro in the Talkies. But by 1934, THE CAT AND THE FIDDLE (Jerome Kern score, dir-William K. Howard, Jeanette MacDonald), styles had changed and it was too late to reverse his decline. Things only got worse when LAUGHING BOY followed, D.O.A. Then something unusual happened. Rather than run out his contract with films designed to chase a fading star off the lot with failure or embarrassment (see John Gilbert; Kay Francis), the studio gave Novarro a real shot at a comeback by combining his best sound film & his best silent: CAT AND THE FIDDLE’s light musical comedy with the Ruritanian romance of Ernst Lubitsch’s THE STUDENT PRINCE/’27. So, the modest score (some old/some new) is Sigmund Romberg & Oscar Hammerstein; top-tier A-list supporting cast; solid production values; even a clever, slightly naughty idea: unhappily engaged Austrian Emperor is encouraged to put off his marriage to sow his wild oats with commoners only to find true love & friendship can bloom among the hoi polloi. And in Evelyn Laye’s commoner, an improvement on MacDonald’s wandering warbles. (Where did Ms. Laye disappear to?) Pleasant, if inconsequential; it did nothing to reboot Navarro’s star. But at least they tried.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY/LINK: Ruritanian romance could still be potent with the right combo, as seen when Ronald Colman remade THE PRISONER OF ZENDA in 1937. Ironically, the silent version of 1922 was Novarro’s breakthru pic. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2010/10/prisoner-of-zenda-1937-1952.html https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-prisoner-of-zenda-1922.html
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID/LINK: Novarro is ripe for rediscovery. Three silent classics alone make the case, BEN-HUR/’25 and THE STUDENT PRINCE OF OLD HEIDELBERG at least still sound familiar, but Rex Ingram’s wonderfully entertaining SCARAMOUCHE/’23 is also unmissable. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2013/03/scaramouche-1923.html
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