So what strikes me about these clips and this discussion is the idea that the American movie musical is so different than any other art form.
The American stage musical was different than Gilbert and Sullivan. The American movies spoke vernacular. So Nelson and Eddy, very much like Ginger and Fred, have to cover both the "classy" upscale cultural values embodied in (for Nelson and Eddy--and Deanna Durbin) operetta and operatic style singing. And yet, they have to appeal to the common man because these are movies, and movies are the art form of the working class. They're not opera. Anyone