Starring Ramon Navarro, Renee Adoree, Dorothy Jordan, and Ernest Torrence
Directed by Charles Brabin
Music by Herbert Stothart and Ramon Novarro; Lyrics by Clifford Grey
Mexican-born Ramon Novarro came to prominence as a popular star of swashbucklers and dramas in the late 1920's. He turned to musicals after he recorded "Pagan Love Song" from his vehicle The Pagan and audiences discovered he had an attractive singing voice. This was the last of three operettas he made in 1929-1930 with soprano Dorothy Jordan, and the last of four films he did with exotic Renee Adoree. How does this tale of a dashing young singer who loves a convent girl look today? Let's head to that convent in Seville, Spain, as Captain Enrique Varquas (Russell Hopton) visits his sister Maria (Jordan) and find out...
The Story: Enrique wants Maria to stay within the convent walls, but she sneaks off when she hears music from the cantina across the street. Juan de Dios (Novarro) and his partner Lola (Adoree) perform a fiery number for the crowds as Juan flirts with all the girls. Lola wishes he'd pay a lot more attention to her. His music teacher Esteban (Torrence) wishes he'd pay more attention to his voice studies. He thinks he has the makings of a great opera singer and hopes to take him to Madrid for a major career.
Juan runs into Maria when she's stealing a dress from a clothes line. She so badly wanted to see him, she ran away from the convent. He takes her home, but has to hide her from Lola. He convinces Esteban to let her join them in Madrid. When they arrive, Juan auditions for an opera producer, but he claims he has no passion in his singing. Esteban pays the producer to give Juan a chance.
Meanwhile, Juan is ready to marry Maria, but Enrique and Lola arrive and convince him that he's making her break her vow with God. He finally sends her back to the convent, but both their hearts are broken in the process. If they aren't together soon, he may not survive to sing another aria, no matter how successful...
The Song and Dance: When this one stays away from opera melodrama and pours on the authentic Latin ardor, it's actually pretty interesting. Adoree is surprisingly good as the feisty Lola, given she was deathly ill at the time she made this movie. Novarro wakes up alongside her and does fairly well in his dance number with her. Torrence is also good as his teacher who truly believes in his pupil's abilities, if only he'd focus on them and not on destructive behavior. The elaborate sets and costumes does very well representing Spain somewhere in the early 20th century. There's even some decent camerawork for the time, particularly in the opening with the nuns and the convent.
Favorite Number: Adoree and Novarro have a lot of fun with their opening dance routine. No wonder Maria was enchanted. Their fast and fiery moves are genuinely funny and enjoyable. Novarro's big Pagliacci aria in the end is subdued for the 5 o'clock number of a big musical and a bit strained, until he suddenly collapses on its completion.
Trivia: This was Adoree's last film. She has tuberculosis during filming and was rushed into a sanitarium as soon as the film finished. She died two years later.
There were three numbers originally in Technicolor, including another Pagliacci aria, but none of them exist in the current print.
What I Don't Like: The overly melodramatic ending is ridiculous and annoying. Maybe it would go over a little better if Novarro and Jordan showed more passion, but they have all the chemistry of two tree stumps. Jordan is shrill and bland as the sweet little convent miss who is supposed to be swept away by Juan's magnificent music and his romantic life. You almost wish he'd just go back to Lola, who is a heck of a lot more interesting.
The Big Finale: Mainly of interest to fans of Novarro, opera, or the early talkie era.
Home Media: Another rare title that currently can only be found from time to time on TCM.
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