Sweet Adeline

ccthemovieman-1 wrote on IMDB:

I really wanted to like this film. It had personal sentiment for me as my mother's day was "Adeline" and I had high regard for Irene Dunne ever since I saw her star in "I Remember Maman."

Yet, despite that positive attitude going in, this wasn't something I'd watch again. It wasn't bad; just too dated and I didn't care for Irene's soprano voice. Yikes, that women hit high notes that rattled my fillings! At least she looked good: the most attractive I've seen her in her younger years. The film, though, as a whole, had a very dated appearance.

Billed as a musical romance, I was impressed with how much humor was in this movie. As for leading men, I knew Donald Woods from "A Tale Of Two Cities" but he never struck me as forceful enough to be a leading man. Louis Calhern, however, always was credible at the detestable villain, as he was here once again.   [ show more ]

Reviewers here knock the script, but it was the songs that did nothing for me, not the screenplay. Had these songs been more appealing to me, I probably would have kept the VHS, if only for sentimental reasons. [ show less ]

bkoganbing wrote on IMDB:

Sweet Adeline was presented on the Broadway stage back in 1929 and was primarily a vehicle for Helen Morgan. Morgan had just made a big hit in Kern's greatest musical, Showboat, in the supporting part of Julie LaVerne. She got such raves for that part that a whole show was built around her. I tend to think that she was deep into alcoholism at the time this was done and was not asked to do the film version. Sweet Adeline unfortunately during its run, ran headlong into the Great Depression and had to close.

Irene Dunne carries the film version here and does a remarkable job. She was one of the great Hollywood talents of her time with an exquisite soprano voice for films like these and a good sense of comedy for some of the non-musical parts she did. She performs the standards that Morgan introduced on Broadway as good as Morgan did. Sweet Adeline had two big hit numbers Why Was I Born and Don't Ever Leave Me which are two of the best Jerome Kern ever wrote. Otto Harbach wrote the lyrics.   [ show more ]

Unfortunately and I think that this was because Sweet Adeline was a star vehicle for Helen Morgan when originally done, Ms. Dunne was not given a strong leading man. Donald Woods was a competent actor, with all the charisma of dishwater. His best known part in films was in A Tale of Two Cities where he played Charles Darnay where essentially all he had to do was look handsome and earnest. More was required here and Irene could have used Allan Jones who she did Showboat with or if you wanted a non-singer, Cary Grant, Melvyn Douglas, or Spencer Tracy all of whom she did some classic films with.

The rest of the cast was good. Louis Calhern played the villain in the best Snidely Whiplash tradition. His proposition to Irene that he was not interested in marriage to her, just in living together was generations ahead of its time. Ned Sparks and Hugh Herbert perform their usual parts in Warner Brothers musicals and there were some nice turns by Nydia Westman and Joseph Cawthorn as Dunne's sister and father respectively.

Mervyn LeRoy did succeed nicely in capturing the old fashioned flavor of life at the turn of the last century. If you're an Irene Dunne fan this is a must. [ show less ]

lugonian wrote on IMDB:

SWEET ADELINE (Warner Brothers, 1934), directed by Mervyn LeRoy, released January 1935, continues the cycle of backstage musicals that began successfully with 42nd STREET (1933). Breaking away from the usual Depression backdrop, Warners obtained the rights to an earlier stage play starring Helen Morgan, shifted its story to the turn of the century, and acquired the music and lyrics not by the current team of Harry Warren and Al Dubin, but by the more legendary names of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein. However, in true Hollywood tradition, the screen adaptation strays away from the original adding material of its own.

Set during the Spanish-American war, circa 1898, the story, revolves around Adeline (Irene Dunne) a Hoboken barmaid and daughter of Oscar Schmidt (Joseph Cawthorn), a beer garden owner, who wants her to marry Major James Day (Louis Calhern), a man of title and wealth. However, Adeline loves Sid Barnett (Donald Woods), a struggling young composer who hopes to get his music published for an upcoming show for the Love Song Company. Barnett wants Adeline as his leading lady, but because her name isn't relatively known to attract an audience, he is forced to star Elysia (Winifred Shaw), a bad singer who happens to be a espionage spy. After the story shifts from Hoboken to New York City, Elysia, who loses the lead to Adeline, becomes resentful, coming between her and Sid, later making an attempt in having her meets with an "accident" during a performance.   [ show more ]

The Music and Lyrics by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein include: "The Polka Dot" (sung by Dorothy Dare); "There'll Be a High Time in the Old Town Tonight" (sung by chorus in background); "Here Am I," "We Were So Young." "Why Was I Born?" (all sung by Irene Dunne); "Oriental Moon" (sung by the unbilled Noah Beery as the Sultan); "Molly O'Donahue" (Sung by Phil Regan); "Lonely Feet" (sung by Irene Dunne); "T'Was So Long Ago" (sung by Joseph Cawthorn, Irene Dunne, Phil Regan, Hugh Herbert and Nydia Westman); "Pretty Little Kitty Lee" (sung by trio); "Lonely Feet" (sung by Dunne/chorus); "We Were So Young" (sung by Regan and Dunne); "Down Where the Wurtzburger Flows" (sung by chorus); "Don't Ever Leave Me" and "Don't Ever Leave Me" (reprize, both sung by Dunne). Of the handful of tunes, only "Lonely Feet" and "We Were So Young" are given the production number treatment as choreographed by Bobby Connolly.

A backstage story with limited details of dress rehearsals, it's not precisely an exciting production, but does score points when it comes to nostalgia. Starring the sophisticated Irene Dunne, on loan from RKO Radio, it marked the beginning of her brief career in musical films. The others that followed: ROBERTA (RKO, 1935), benefited from the support of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers; while SHOW BOAT (Universal, 1936), succeeds as being the best due to its reputation. A gifted soprano as she was in dramatics and later comedy, Dunne adds dignity to a story much needed of a better script. Donald Woods, who is best as a secondary performer than a leading man, does what is necessary to bring life to his character; Winifred Shaw as the femme fatal, sports an unconvincing accent that's supposed to be Spanish, but sounds more like the French actress Fifi D'Orsay; Louis Calhern as the debonair major who comes between Sid and Adeline, who in turn uses him to make Sid jealous, becomes the show's backer in order to win her over; Nydia Westman supports as best Adeline's friend who's love interest happens to be the befuddled Rupert (Hugh Herbert); the cute and pert Dorothy Dare as a singing female bandleader who appears in the film's opening and closing, having no connection with the story, while Irish tenor Phil Regan vocalizes during the dress rehearsals.

SWEET ADELINE amounts itself with some doses of amusement, including some inside humor, ranging from a little boy auditioning who turns out to be that Jolson kid, Al that is, along with reliable character actors Hugh Herbert and Ned Sparks (as the show's director) in their funny moments with their one-liners: Sparks: "See that step. It's a very hard step to do." Herbert: "It is? Why do they do it?" (Sparks' reaction to that answer is priceless. Watch for it). And then there's Herbert's attempt to fool people with his disguises, now that he is Operator 66 for the Department of Justice, and being recognized anyway, does provoke some good laughs as well.

SWEET ADELINE, distributed on video cassette around 1992, and currently out of print, formerly shown on Turner Network Television during its early days of broadcasting that began in 1988, can be seen on Turner Classic Movies, especially on December 20th, as a tribute to Irene Dunne's birthday. The movie may not be perfect, but being more like a nostalgic trip down melody lane makes this 87 minute operetta palatable. (***) [ show less ]