Mar. 30, 2004 - 8:48 am

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Naughty Marietta (1935)

this is one of the first films in a while that has been suggested to me as something that i should watch. it's one of the 12 movies that was nominated for best picture of 1935. the winner of course was Mutiny on the Bounty. it's a musical romance starring the famous singing duo Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. this is supposed to be one of their better films and it's actually the first one that they were ever in together.

at the beginning of the film, the french princess Marie (MacDonald) escapes to Louisiana in order to avoid being forced to marry someone she doesn't love. she goes into hiding with a group of girls who have earned passage to America so long as they get married to a man once they arrive. they are attacked by pirates along the way, but are quickly rescued by some singing rangers lead by Captain Warrington (Eddy). Warrington and the disguised princess, now called Marietta, end up bickering a lot, singing back and forth, and eventually falling in love with each other. when the princess' uncle and previous husband-to-be arrive in Louisiana searching for her, her true identity comes out, but she still can't escape her love for Warrington.

i just have to give this movie no less than a 7/10 if for nothing other than the Marionette Theater scene. there's this hilarious but very neat looking scene where Marietta is trying to make some money and goes to work as a singing "actress" in this theater. the idea is that you put your head through a hole in the curtain and your hands as well. then the audience sees the normal size head and a tiny little body in full costume attached to the big head. there is also a puppeteer hidden away that controls the movement of the feet. they did some very cool things in this scene like making one of the little figures climb a pole. i have no idea how they pulled that one off. it's really an amazing scene though.

but it's a good movie. it's got an interesting style of singing in it that you really can't see anywhere else anymore other than in movies and both of the leads are really amazing singers and not at all bad actors. Nelson Eddy seems like kind of a robotic weirdo at times, but he was mostly decent. and you even get to hear where the song "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life" came from.

oh, one other interesting note. i went yesterday to return Dummy to Blockbuster. i got a call at about 6:30 saying that "This is Hollywood Video, you returned our copy of Dummy to Blockbuster." "Yes I did. You're right." as i walked into Blockbuster i was of course required by law to say "I'm the dummy that returned Dummy here." one girl got the joke.