Music in the Air (2011)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

In many ways this is a very strange film. After all, three expatriates who escaped Europe due to the rise of Hitler all were major factors in creating this film. Joe May, Erich Pommer and Billy Wilder all worked to direct, produce and write this film...a film which brings us an incredibly idealized and Hitler-free version of Bavaria! In this fairy tale land, everyone is happy, there's no repression and militarization simply doesn't exist. I wonder how these three men felt about this. Was this their homage to the Germany they used to love or did they feel a bit dirty for producing such a pasteurized view of modern Germany? Who knows...all I know is that having these three men being responsible for bringing the play to the big screen is interesting.As for the film, it has LOTS of music...lots and lots. And it's not necessarily the enjoyable type by today's standards--being the operatic style popularized by Jeanette McDonald and Nelson Eddy. Still, the main song is very hummable and the plot slight, but enjoyable. Plus, while her voice was not brilliant, I was surprised because Gloria Swansen appeared to actually be singing in the film...competently. Overall, a silly but enjoyable piece of fluff that is a nice time passer about folks learning to accept their lots in life. I can see why this film did nothing to help the career of Erich Plommer, as it wasn't a bad film but an easy one for the studios to ignore...as well as his subsequent efforts.

When Gloria Swanson sang Love Your Magic Spell Is Everywhere in The Trespasser Hollywood discovered she had a great singing voice. Sad to say though that this film adaption of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein,II's Broadway show Music In The Air was the only film that really exploited her vocal talents.In fact we're lucky that this film was made at all. It was right about now that German subjects became not very popular. Sigmund Romberg's The Student Prince had to wait until 1954 for a film version. Among the Jewish moguls in Hollywood, Germany was now symbolized by its Fuehrer and his goosestepping sycophants.Music In The Air is set in Bavaria in the small village of Elmendorf where Al Shean has written a song inspired by a bird call that becomes I've Told Every Little Star. Shean is an old friend of a music publisher in Munich and he and daughter June Lang and her bashful beau Douglass Montgomery head there to see if he can get the song published.Shean and his old friend Reginald Owen get the song inserted in a new operetta. But Lang and Montgomery become pawns in the diva like machinations of John Boles and Gloria Swanson, a talented but always quarreling couple. Lang winds up with the lead in the show, but does she have the right stuff?Music In The Air is one of Jerome Kern's best and most beloved shows which theatrical companies still produce. As is usual the show's score was cut to ribbons. I've Got Every Little Star which is the focal point of the whole show had to stay. But what possessed the folks at Fox to cut The Song Is You from the film? I'm sure lots of people who plunked down their Depression Era nickels to see this film were royally disappointed at not hearing The Song Is You. John Boles was supposed to sing it and I'll bet he was more than disappointed when his number was cut.By the way part of the Jerome Kern legend is that he actually did hear a bird call the way Al Shean does in the film and got the idea for I've Told Every Little Star. Shean is the only member of the Broadway cast to repeat his role for the film.The film version of Music In The Air will I fear be a disappointment to fans of Jerome Kern's music as I am. Nice the film got made at all, but without The Song Is You it is most incomplete.

Pleasant musical comedy from the stage given a big boost by terrific performances by Gloria Swanson and John Boles. They play a bickering couple who get involved with a naive younger couple from an alpine village. And all the bickering revolves around a new operetta and who will play what parts. Familiar plot and OK music. The real attraction is the funny and charming performance by Swanson in the last starring film of her 20-year reign in Hollywood. Like Indiscreet and Tonight or Never, this should have been a hit but Hollywood legend tells us that after The Trespasser, Swanson's next five talkies flopped. Why? Her films were well made and her voice was superb. She had a singing voice reminiscent of Irene Dunne's. Music in the Air was a hit on Broadway, but who knows what was cut for the film version. The stars are joined by a solid supporting cast: Douglass Montgomery (better than usual), June Lang, Al Shean, Jed Prouty, Joseph Cawthorne, Reginald Owen, Marjorie Main, Sara Haden.Swanson and Boles (usually so stiff) have so much fun as they throw themselves into their roles it's hard to resist. The two had starred in the 1927 silent film, The Love of Sunya. Hard to understand today why Swanson's career crashed. She made one other film between this one and her great success in Sunset Boulevard in 1950. This may be the Hollywood debuts for German director Joe May and writer Billy Wilder! So although Music in the Air was a flop in 1934, in 1949 when Wilder was searching for the perfect Norma Desmond, Swanson's name was at the top of the list. Legend has it Mae West was the first choice for the role, but Swanson got and turned in the film performance of the century.

This was an excellent adaptation to film from the stage hit by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. The opening Alpine scene reminds you of a later film, "Sound of Music". A strong screenplay by Howard Young and Billy Wilder that avoided becoming too saccharine.Gloria Swanson was given top billing as a tempestuous German Prima Donna and she did all her own singing which was quite good. She really was a hoot in her role and she really was a natural for comedy. John Boles plays the show's lyric writer and is suave as ever and sung on his own rather well too. Douglas Montgomery is fun to watch. He's a little bit on the goofy side and his songs were dubbed by a James O'Brien. June Lang played the heroine trying to break into show business but fails. Her vocals were dubbed as well by a Betty Hiestand. Ms. Lang showed great effort but like her character she played, doesn't quite cut it. Perhaps she took the same advice and went home. We never heard from her again. Al Shean is also a classic act as the Poppa.