Sweethearts **** (1938, Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger) – Classic Movie Review 11,321

‘Exquisite music, sparkling romance for the King and Queen of song!’

Director W S Van Dyke II’s 1938 MGM musical Sweethearts is based on the operetta by Victor Herbert, and stars Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy.

MGM brought in the acid wit of Dorothy Parker and her husband Alan Campbell to spice up Victor Herbert’s tuneful operetta. MacDonald and Eddy are at the top of their singing and playing form as an edgy theatre couple who are performing a Victor Herbert operetta while eternally squabbling,

The star duo are well supported by a typically good cast and MGM’s lavish full-Technicolor production. Morgan has a high time as the producer who keeps them battling for publicity.

Cinematographers Oliver T Marsh and Allen M Davey won a deserved honorary Academy Award for their superb colour cinematography, but lost out on the best cinematography Oscar to another MGM musical, The Great Waltz. Herbert Stothart was nominated for Best Scoring and Douglas Shearer for Best Sound, Recording.

Also in the cast are Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Florence Rice, Mischa Auer, Fay Holden, Reginald Gardiner, Herman Bing, Allyn Joslyn, Raymond Walburn, Lucile Watson, George Barbier, Kathleen Lockhart, Gene Lockhart, Berton Churchill, Olin Howland, Emory Parnell, Terry Kilburn, Douglas McPhail, Betty Jaynes, Olin Howlin, Dalies Frantz, Irving Bacon, Don Barclay, Brooks Benedict, Dorothy Christy, Jimmy Conlin, Hal K Dawson, Edward Earle, Pat Gleason, Grace Hayle, Frank Mills, Lee Phelps, Dick Rich, Ralph Sanford, Fred Santley, Richard Tucker, and Toby Wing.

The following year, Frank Morgan and Ray Bolger co-starred together in The Wizard of Oz.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,321

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