Movie Reviewed: The Cat and the Fiddle (1933), starring Ramon Novarro and Jeanette MacDonald

Movie Reviewed: The Cat and the Fiddle (1933), starring Ramon Novarro and Jeanette MacDonald

A star is born at MGM

Jeanette MacDonald shines like a bright Northern star in this 1933 MGM classic also starring Ramon Novarro. Novarro was a matinee idol at MGM during the silent era; in 1922, after filming "The Prisoner of Zenda," MGM executives brought him into their studio as the Latin lover after the sudden and unexpected demise of Rudolph Valentino. Novarro had only two years in his contact with MGM when he did "The Cat and the Fiddle." Novarro offers a brilliant performance as Victor Florescu, a talented, Brussels-based composer of serious music under the tutelage of respected Professor Bertier. When he meets beautiful Shirley Sheridan (MacDonald), a New Yorker living in Brussels as a professional Opera singer, the two bohemians fall in love. The story is a musical comedy and the songs from the Kern-Harbaugh stage musical comedy is used largely intact. Jeanette MacDonald's "The Night Was Made for Love" later became a big hit. This pre-code film is not without controversy with regards to the moral codes, since MacDonald and Navarro are portrayed as live-in companions.

Many movie critics and fans were used to Novarro in silent movies and they were less enthusiastic about his talkie movies. In fact some of the greatest silent stars of MGM had difficulty making success when talkies came along. I for one enjoyed this romantic comedy tremendously. I thought MacDonald and Novarro made lovely couple and the story is full of warmth.