Starring Betty Compson, Jack Oakie, John Harron, and Ned Sparks
Directed by Wesley Ruggles
Music by Oscar Levant; Lyrics by Sidney Claire
RKO began in 1929 as the first major studio created expressively to make sound films. Their first release was the (now rare) backstage comedy Syncopation. Though this was filmed first, it was pushed back to summer. It wound up being the sleeper hit of the year, a small-scale smash that charmed audiences with its sweet and touching story. Is "The Viennese Charmer" still just as lovely almost a century later, or should it be sent back to Europe? Let's start at a dive cafe in New York City with the jazz quartet The Four Seasons and find out...
The Story: Fredricka "Freddie" Joyzelle (Compson) joins The Four Seasons after pianist Mike Fall (Harron) rescues her from a man harassing her outside their apartment building. He and his fellow musicians Joe Spring (Oakie), Pete Summer (Guy Buccola), and dour Happy Winter (Sparks) offer her food, then take her in when they learn she has no place to live. She returns the favor by convincing Keppel (Joseph Cawthorn), the owner of the Little Aregon Café, to hire them. Turns out she's a wonderful violinist, and they offer her a spot in their act.
Prince Nicholas (Ivan Lebedeff) of Aregon comes to the café one night and is enchanted by Freddie's violin number. Having remembered seeing her play for the court before she came to America, he gives her a kiss on the forehead. Newspaper articles documenting that innocent peck makes the café overwhelmingly popular, but it also brings a lot of trouble. Mike is deeply jealous of the prince and quits...but it's Prince Nicholas who figures out how to bring him and Freddie together.
The Song and Dance: I can see why this sweet little film went over so well in 1929. It's very different from other backstage movies of the era like The Broadway Melody. No color, no wild comics, no one desperately seeking fame and fortune, and the only big dance routine is the one in the café at the end. The focus is where it should be, on Freddie and the guys making music together. Kudos to director Wesley Ruggles for keeping everything moving at a pretty fast pace, with unusually quick editing and camera movement for 1929.
Favorite Number: We hear "Loveable and Sweet" at least four times in the movie; my favorite version was the first at the Little Aregon Cafe, where Freddie gets to enchant the Prince with her lovely violin solo...and bring the green-eyed monster out in Mike. "My Dream Memory," the song Freddie performed for the prince in Aregon, also turns up several times. The best performance is the simplest, when the Four Seasons and Freddie perform in the boys' shabby apartment and discover how good her playing is. Doris Eaton dances a brief but wild "Broken-Up Tune" near the end of the film at Keppel's new Club Joyzelle with the chorus.
Trivia: This would be RKO's first big hit, one of the biggest of 1929, bringing in half the money RKO made that year alone.
Compson did play the violin professionally when she was younger, but her playing and Sparks' solo were dubbed by a young Russ Columbo.
It was remade as That Girl From Paris in 1936 with Lily Pons and Oakie and Four Jacks and a Jill in 1942 with Anne Shirley and Ray Bolger.
What I Don't Like: This may be too small for those who prefer their musicals on the bold, colorful side. There's also Compson's rather silly attempt at a European accent hampering her otherwise good performance. All the decent editing in the world can't mask the fact that the movie falters in the second half, when Mike's jealousy takes over. It bogs the story down until he finally confronts the Prince.
TCM really needs to throw some money towards restoring this one. The "Broken-Up Tune" number in particular looks soft and out-of-focus, and one frame seems to have been cut in from somewhere else and is in terrible shape.
The Big Finale: Lovely little movie is worth looking up for fans of early sound cinema, romantic comedies with music, or Compson.
Home Media: Alas, the only place you can see this one at the moment is occasionally on TCM.
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