Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1937)

20 MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST CHAMPAGNE WALTZ— Continued "Elaborate and thoroughly entertaining musical with enough humor to balance its more gigantic spectacles. Family." -f Christian Science Monitor pl9 Ja 2 '37 "[It] proves highly pleasing to the ear and genuinely amusing to the eye. A simple but coherent plot, capable direction of a capable cast, the factual nature of background material, and a congenial commingling of music, comedy and light romance carry the experiment to success." J. P. Cunningham + Commonweal p418 F 5 '37 "Individually [the cast] provides moments of entertainment, but together fails to make 'Champagne Waltz' the exciting picture it might have been. . . Every sequence of the story is 'telegraphed,' every incident foreshadowed, every bit of dialogue obvious." H Cue pl9 F 6 '37 "Surely Paramount can find a story that will show Gladys Swarthout to better advantage than we have seen her in any of her three screen appearances. Recognized as a great singer, possessing a charming personality, being most agreeable to look at, she has, in 'Champagne Waltz,' a story which gives only her beauty a chance, and credit for that goes to the camera. To ask an intelligent audience to follow the story and be convinced by its various angles, is to put a too great strain on it even as a part of Hurrah-for-Zukor-Week festivities. And it definitely lessens the pleasure her singing gives us. . . I hope my criticism of 'Champagne Waltz' will make Paramount mad enough to show me it can make a good Swarthout picture if it wants to. To start with it has the advantage of knowing it would be mighty hard to make a worse one." Hollywood Spec p9 D 19 '36 "This romance of Vienna has some lovely moments. Also some dull ones. . . Some of the brash comedy of Jack Oakie as the blatant jazz-band manager falls a little cold on us, but maybe it will get you. . . Our vote without qualification, however, goes to Gladys Swarthout. She sings charmingly; her screen personality has acquired assurance and sparkle." (3 stars) Beverly Hills Liberty p48 Ja 9 '37 "It departs in no way from the established character of the sentimental 'musical,' but is simply more expensive, more lavish, and more carefully done than most. It is a pleasant film, a film of unruffled amiability, so amiable that the attention is not held but recaptured from time to time during its slightly excessive length. . . The combined Strauss and TigerRag orchestra with which 'Champagne Waltz' concludes is a merely silly end to a pleasant, ambling affair." J. M. -jj Manchester Guardian pll F 2 '37 "The efforts to please every taste that have been made in 'Champagne Waltz' may be successful, but they have resulted in a lavishly tedious screen musical. The brightest idea that the several authors hit upon was to feature a daffy, itinerant jazz band in the early sequences. . . Gladys Swarthout is comely and sings effectively, but she is considerably baffled by the romantic game of tag that passes for a story. Her songs, composed by a corps of writers, are scarcely distinguished. . . The production has been sumptuously staged. . . I should have preferred more comedy and less glitter. . . Most of the photoplay's unfolding is concerned with production numbers, vocal episodes and the heavy-handed exposition of a silly story. 'Champagne Waltz' has a little of everything in the screen musical line, but not enough genuine entertainment for my taste." Howard Barnes f N Y Herald Tribune pl5 F 4 '37 "Wherever your taste lies in light music, whether you delight in the swooning waltzes of old Vienna or clap hands for swing music, 'Champagne Waltz' can provide you entertainment. The grand finale, by the way, convinced me, not that old waltzes and new jazz can be successfully blended, but rather that each, played separately by a specialized orchestra, is worth hearing." Eileen Creelman + NY Sun p25 F 4 '37 "The picture displays a distressing habit of tripping over its own feet. Intermittently it is gay and lighthearted and graceful but it does not sustain the mood too well. Call it a magnum of straight California vintage, not nearly so sparkling or heady as its title implies. . . Miss Swarthout' s singing is, naturally, a redeeming quality. One of the most lovely, as well as talented, of the screen's operatic stars, she yet has to find a script which will do her justice." F. S. Nugent H NY Times pl7 F 4 '37 "Fortunately Miss Gladys Swarthout, never sang more thrillingly or appeared more lovely. . . For this moderately entertaining little comedy with jazz and semi-classical musical interludes is at best an inadequate setting for her charms and talents. . . Fred MacMurray is first rate. . . Veloz and Yolanda dance several waltzes in a manner so lovely that it bankrupts description." William Boehnel H NY World-Telegram pl5 F 4 '37 Reviewed by John Mosher New Yorker p72 F 13 '37 "The provident amalgamation of three-quarter time and swing makes for a climax that is quite satisfactory in the fictional field, but a trifle grotesque in the musical." -1 News-Wk p24 F 13 '37 "Again the picture is the thing. And a very beautiful picture with top honors going to the technical fellows. . . The comedy is delicious and the acting fine, yet in the end its pictorial beauty will be best remembered. . . Altogether a gorgeous picture creditable to all." Rob Wagner + Script p8 F 6 '37 "The gods look away a moment, as 'Champagne Waltz' attempts to interfuse the music of 'Blue Danube' and 'Hold That Tiger,' with fewer and less harmonious results, I imagine, than were originally intended." -| Stage p77 Ja '37 "[It] is a heavy footed musical naively designed to combine the best features of jazz with those of the Viennese waltz. . . With an appealing tremble of her lower jaw, Miss Swarthout, smartly dressed, sings several songs. None of them is notable. Whatever merits 'Champagne Waltz' possesses are dependent on the well-seasoned comic abilities of Jack Oakie." -1 Time p45 Ja 25 '37 Trade Paper Reviews "A none-too-carefully produced film which nevertheless has its light and pleasant moments, 'Champagne Waltz,' billed as a Paramount Silver Jubilee Special, is not quite that. . . While Fred MacMurray and Jack Oakie are sufficiently airy and comical, the production misses its aim to be a bubbling, sparkling comedy and clicks only in spots. Family." — + Box Office p21 Ja 2 '37 "They spared nothing on this melange of comedy, song and dancing which starts in Vienna and finishes in New York. . . All in all it is a juicy offering that combines a little of many entertainment elements." + Film Daily p9 F 5 '37 " 'Champagne Waltz' is Gladys Swarthout's third picture and her best to date. Other factors in its favor are its production and fair comedy. It's a box office middleweight. . . Miss Swarthout should develop for pictures, given the proper material. . . Sutherland's direction is slow but the comedy is piloted for the desired laughs." H Variety pl4 F 10 '37 "While satisfactory, this is not as effervescent as the title would indicate. It pours a little heavily in story and singing and will have to exert all the value of the top names to make + + Exceptionally Good; + Good; -\ Fair; 1 Mediocre; — Poor; Exceptionally Poor