I find the movies starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette McDonald's more difficult to get caught up in. I'm not sure if it is the screenplays or the composers and lyricists or the acting. In the first scene, he is definitely flirting, telling her to look back, asking her if the supposed object of her affection is a banker, a poet or a polo player. When she responds with no he's an Italian tenor, Eddy breaks into song. While he has a wonderful voice, it is too operatic for the scene for my taste. And Eddy seems a little too wooden. She seems more natural in her delivery. She is withdrawn and concerned about something. While his character believes she is looking for romance, she is concern ed about her brother and the mess she may be walking into while trying to keep the mountie at bay so he does't catch on to her real reason for being there.
In the scene where she sings in the saloon, i start to wonder if he is dumb as a box of rocks or a sly as a fox. Does he make the connection with De Flor and Flower. He knew who Marie De Flor was, which was pretty incredible for a mountie living i nbn the back woods of Canada-no radio, no phones, no movies, no roadshows. So did he make the name connection just a quickly. In her scene, McDonald can't let go. She knows she needs to be more bawdy just to get the attention of her unsophisticated audience. Her delivery is so geared to the sophisticated listener, she simply can't let go like the bar singer does. Eddy and McDonald movies are more like opera than Fred and Ginger, and their songs lack the zing of a tune by Porter, Berlin or the Gershwins. Fred and Ginger are fun and their music is fun. Their scripts are wittier and they dance.
If I have seen Nelson Eddy in movies without her, I don't remember it. He is too wooden to be a memorable actor, in my book. Jeanette McDonald, on the other hand has been delightful in a number of other films.
I've never been a huge fan of Nelson Eddy and Jeanette McDonald movies. If i want to hear opera class voices i go to the opera.
