cris.fashioncine

The lesson on Rose Marie (1936) states that Nelson Eddy commingles with MacDonald vocally. I find this very interesting especially during the Production Code, because the commingling is not directly explicit but implied in different ways, here it's through singing and through the glances the characters give to one another. This is one creative way that production code films abide by the rules while at the same time subtly breaking them. The first scene shows a romantic scene, with the lieutenant serenading Jeanette Macdonald’s character on the boat in the river, under the moonlight. And yet, the two characters still refrain themselves from even making eye contact for too long. Macdonald looks back at him a few times, only to quickly look away. The second scene shows that the bar is a place where sinful acts occur, such as drinking, couples outright courting, dancing, and touching, and gambling. Jeanette Macdonald functions as the moral, well-behaved lady who is obviously out of place in the bar. This is evident through her classical singing not suitable for a bar, and her mannerisms and visible lack of comfort in the environment. I suppose it's thus suitable that she is the leading lady and in the end gets love and the handsome man. The other lady in the bar takes over and begins to sing differently, including dancing along and moving her hips to and fro. Jeanette Macdonald imitates her movements but it is evident she is not “truly” like the other woman. The men cheer for the second woman after she finishes singing. And, again, the woman at the bar who swings her hips does not win the lieutenant, which goes back to who is “worthy” of getting the leading man and finding love.

In thinking about The Lubitsch touch, I noticed this when the husband is trying to button his wife’s dress and looks over at Count Alfred Renard with a look of disdain, and the Count simply smiles and smirks at him, as if finding the situation quite amusing. And the scene where the husband shoots the Count is quite comedic, because the Count himself helps the husband try to figure out why the gun didn’t shoot him. The props the Count uses, for instance the fake gun and the many garters he has stored in his drawer, help us understand he is a jokester, and enjoys stirring trouble. In terms of the scene’s use of sound, the gun shot sounds are a bit delayed and awkward, not exactly synced up quite well yet. I’m also thinking of the film term non-diegetic sound, for instance, when the Count puts his fake gun away, the camera focuses on his drawer and the many other garters and fake guns, but we hear the wife and husband bickering in the background, which still feels relatively new, and I think this might be implemented in other Depression-era musicals along with the setting of a luxurious apartment with simple problems in the narrative such as trickery.

1. I do agree. Anna Held, while on stage shines the light from the mirror on the audience, which spotlights a highly fashionable and well-dressed audience, all the while she sings the chorus line, “to play with me, to play with me”, as if everything and everyone in the world is carefree, willing to “play” with her and forget the harsh reality. -That Ziegfeld sent her a large bouquet of orchids (quite expensive, I assume), also speaks to the disregard for the real-life troubles of the people. -Many people have also pointed out Ziegfeld’s lack of care about money, to which I agree. 2. A continuing theme in subsequent Depression-era musicals seen here could be the disregard for the Great Depression, and perhaps characters who seem to be unaware that most people are living in poverty. 3. Some fellow colleagues have pointed out that in the dressing room scene, Anna Held seems naïve, more naïve than female characters in pre-code films might have been. I also hadn’t thought about the courting by Ziegfeld and perhaps that being more explicit had it been produced prior to the code. I also suspect she might have been shown undressing after the show, instead, however, she takes her time and admires the orchids, with her maid (?) unbuttoning her dress just as the scene cuts.