Deep in My Heart (B or 3/4 stars)
'Deep in My Heart' is an MGM biopic of obscure, but talented composer Sigmund Romberg, played here by the great & versatile Jose Ferrer. The film starts wonderfully, with the MGM studio orchestra playing music by Romberg, followed by the camera swinging around to reveal the composer himself conducting. For the most part, 'DIMH' tells the story of Romberg's career, with his various colleagues played by a plethora of Hollywood's who's who personalities, including: lovely Merle Oberon, genial Walter Pidgeon, dashing Paul Henreid, Paul Stewart, Jim Backus, Russ Tamblyn & Robert Wagner. The fleet-footed depiction of Romberg's rise to fame & success leaves lots of room for MGM's greatest stars to perform music from his shows.
It seems as if filmmakers didn't think there was enough of Romberg's life to dramatize, so they padded the film's 2+ hour run time with said musical sequences. Standards such as "Lover Come Back to Me", "When I Grow Too Old to Dream", "Your Land & My Land", "Stout-Hearted Men" & "One Alone" are sung & danced to by the likes of such celebrities as Ann Miller, Vic Damone, Jose Ferrer's real-life wife Rosemary Clooney, Gene Kelly, his seldom-seen brother Fred, Jane Powell, Howard Keel, Tony Martin, and best of all, leggy Cyd Charisse. Even Jose Ferrer gets a chance to dazzle us with his surprising song-&-dance skills during a one-man presentation of all the roles from an Al Jolson piece; including the female chorus!
Jose Ferrer really showed that he had the total package: acting, singing, dancing; and he also impressed me greatly the same year that this film came out with 1954's The Caine Mutiny, as well. Everyone impresses, here; even lesser roles performed by Helen Traubel, Douglas Fowley & Joan Weldon. But if I were to pick stand-outs, my memory goes to Ann Miller - tap dancing up a storm in a great red dress. Howard Keel - how can you not like Howard Keel? Tony Martin; I enjoyed his baritone singing just about as much as Keel's. And the big highlight is Cyd Charisse & James Mitchell performing The Desert Song's "One Alone" to one of the most sensual, erotic dances I've ever seen put on film. The choreography, the Arabian set design, & Charisse's stunning white lace gown put me in an absolute trance. Cyd Charisse's beauty, elegance & talent just oozed off the screen -- just fabulous.
Stanley Donen - fresh from directing Seven Brides for Seven Brothers & co-directing the great Singin' in the Rain with Gene Kelly - helmed this film with real flair & respect to the composer at hand. These 'songbook musicals' were very popular throughout the 1940s/50s & offered audiences the same kind of template: hit song-&-dance numbers loosely connected with a slight, but feel-good biography plot about a celebrated artist {in this case, Sigmund Romberg}. Stanley Donen made it all flow. And his cinematographer, set team & costume designer made everything look dynamite. Nothing else looked quite like those great Technicolor classics of old.
Now, the film ain't perfect. There is a lull that overcomes the film's mid-section where Romberg romances Lillian (Doe Avedon) -- momentum comes to a halt. And some judicious cutting in the editing room could've knocked a few minutes off the 132 min. run time. I would say that this film's parts are better than the 'whole'. Nevertheless, this is a musical biopic to cherish for the wealth of riches it affords us. I found it fascinating that Romberg's "hits" were songs he didn't want to write, and yet his "flops" were his pet projects. And I'm just thrilled that grand Hollywood films like this exist as archival vestiges of music, composers, movie studios, singers & dancers. They enchanted audiences of yesteryear, and yet similarly enthrall me in the now.
It seems as if filmmakers didn't think there was enough of Romberg's life to dramatize, so they padded the film's 2+ hour run time with said musical sequences. Standards such as "Lover Come Back to Me", "When I Grow Too Old to Dream", "Your Land & My Land", "Stout-Hearted Men" & "One Alone" are sung & danced to by the likes of such celebrities as Ann Miller, Vic Damone, Jose Ferrer's real-life wife Rosemary Clooney, Gene Kelly, his seldom-seen brother Fred, Jane Powell, Howard Keel, Tony Martin, and best of all, leggy Cyd Charisse. Even Jose Ferrer gets a chance to dazzle us with his surprising song-&-dance skills during a one-man presentation of all the roles from an Al Jolson piece; including the female chorus!
Jose Ferrer really showed that he had the total package: acting, singing, dancing; and he also impressed me greatly the same year that this film came out with 1954's The Caine Mutiny, as well. Everyone impresses, here; even lesser roles performed by Helen Traubel, Douglas Fowley & Joan Weldon. But if I were to pick stand-outs, my memory goes to Ann Miller - tap dancing up a storm in a great red dress. Howard Keel - how can you not like Howard Keel? Tony Martin; I enjoyed his baritone singing just about as much as Keel's. And the big highlight is Cyd Charisse & James Mitchell performing The Desert Song's "One Alone" to one of the most sensual, erotic dances I've ever seen put on film. The choreography, the Arabian set design, & Charisse's stunning white lace gown put me in an absolute trance. Cyd Charisse's beauty, elegance & talent just oozed off the screen -- just fabulous.
Stanley Donen - fresh from directing Seven Brides for Seven Brothers & co-directing the great Singin' in the Rain with Gene Kelly - helmed this film with real flair & respect to the composer at hand. These 'songbook musicals' were very popular throughout the 1940s/50s & offered audiences the same kind of template: hit song-&-dance numbers loosely connected with a slight, but feel-good biography plot about a celebrated artist {in this case, Sigmund Romberg}. Stanley Donen made it all flow. And his cinematographer, set team & costume designer made everything look dynamite. Nothing else looked quite like those great Technicolor classics of old.
Now, the film ain't perfect. There is a lull that overcomes the film's mid-section where Romberg romances Lillian (Doe Avedon) -- momentum comes to a halt. And some judicious cutting in the editing room could've knocked a few minutes off the 132 min. run time. I would say that this film's parts are better than the 'whole'. Nevertheless, this is a musical biopic to cherish for the wealth of riches it affords us. I found it fascinating that Romberg's "hits" were songs he didn't want to write, and yet his "flops" were his pet projects. And I'm just thrilled that grand Hollywood films like this exist as archival vestiges of music, composers, movie studios, singers & dancers. They enchanted audiences of yesteryear, and yet similarly enthrall me in the now.