Press Release Warner Archive Collection Announcement: Sweethearts (1938) (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Garysb]

I was always under the impression that it was a sizable hit. Is it possible that you're confusing it with Bitter Sweet, their other Technicolor vehicle, released in 1940? I had always heard that one was their first failure.

Films starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy box office per Wikipedia

Year	Title				Box Office
1935	Naughty Marietta				$2,057,000
1936	Rose Marie				$3,515,000
1937	Maytime				$4,006,000
1938	The Girl of the Golden West				$2,882,000
1938	Sweethearts				$3,200,000
1940	New Moon				$2,527,000
1940	Bitter Sweet				$2,200,000
1942	I Married an Angel				$1,236,000

 

[bujaki]

I Married an Angel was eviscerated by the Production Code and by the MGM music department. It barely has a couple of songs from the original show.

 

[Filmic]

I think the brittle lavish spectacle of their films mostly resonated with female audiences. They did not achieve the same level of appeal among male viewers. And by about 1942, popular tastes had shifted towards light comedy and Jazz swing.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Warner's 4K restoration of Singin' in the Rain is mostly from protection fine-grain positives and it looks perfect to my eyes, so I'd imagine this should look great. Thank God for MGM having the foresight to preserve 3-strip as fine-grains.

The Jeannette/Nelson musicals aren't always my cup of tea, but I really enjoy seeing early 3-strip. The recent Blu of the '37 A Star is Born is a feast for the eyes, especially after suffering through garbage quality video editions for decades.

 

[Robert Harris]

Warner's 4K restoration of Singin' in the Rain is mostly from protection fine-grain positives and it looks perfect to my eyes, so I'd imagine this should look great. Thank God for MGM having the foresight to preserve 3-strip as fine-grains.

The Jeannette/Nelson musicals aren't always my cup of tea, but I really enjoy seeing early 3-strip. The recent Blu of the '37 A Star is Born is a feast for the eyes, especially after suffering through garbage quality video editions for decades.

Preservation (ending production insurance) was standard practice for Tech productions, some supplanted by safety masters.

 

[Garysb]

Sample unrestored early 3 strip Technicolor "Sweethearts"

 

[Robert Harris]

Sample unrestored early 3 strip Technicolor "Sweethearts"

We’ve seen those draperies elsewhere.

 

[lark144]

We’ve seen those draperies elsewhere.

But not, I think, in Glorious Technicolor.

 

[Filmic]

I mentioned on another thread about that stunning neon lights Broadway model sequence at the start. It is the sort of opulent MGM deluxe frission that is both unexpected and welcoming. I've no idea how much the model cost, or if it had reuse, but it does justify the use of Technicolor photography. The idea of zooming into a first night musical stage production was nothing new, and it had been done as far back as 1929, but not in full color. This must have been very impressive to moviegoers at the time, bringing people outside metropolitan cities and abroad, the glamour of a world mostly unknown and fascinating. Isn't the New York of that era a place filled with a certain mystery and memorable atmosphere?

 

[Will Krupp]

Actually both Sweethearts and Bittersweet proved to be big hits for the duo, Bittersweet being the last major success for them. Their next project, I married an angel. being MGM's biggest flop of 1942.

Films starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy box office per Wikipedia

Thank you both for the answers, I knew that info about Sweethearts flopping just had to be wrong. I stand corrected regarding Bitter Sweet, Danny, my apologies.

My old friend, Ed, wrote an exhaustively researched bio of Jeanette MacDonald about 25 years ago called Hollywood Diva. If you have even a passing interest in the lady or her career, I highly recommend it. We spent a few nights over cocktails arguing the merits (or lack of them, in my case) of I Married an Angel. I got schooled pretty thoroughly on that one!

I decided to consult it late last night to see what he had written about Sweethearts and had forgotten that one of the book's appendices is production information about each of her films, including box-office info. I was amazed, Gary, as to how closely it matched the Wikipedia stats. Now I realize that it's not a coincidence since Wikipedia cites Ed's book as the source of their info, lol.

Anyway, I found what he wrote about the reception Sweethearts got upon its release interesting, so I thought I'd share it. It can be found on page 230 of his book:

Released three days before Christmas 1938, Sweethearts contributed to the nation's biggest holiday spending splurge since the collapse of Wall Street. Along with Boys Town and Goodbye, Mr. Chips, it did better box office than all other MGM movies of fiscal year 1938-39. Of Metro's three megamusicals that year - Sweethearts, The Great Waltz, and The Wizard of Oz - only the Macdonald Eddy feature turned a profit. It received Oscar nominations for Sound Recording and Scoring. It won a Special Academy Award for Color Cinematography - an apt honor for the film that inaugurated MGM's golden era of Technicolor musicals. Readers of Photoplay voted it Best Picture of 1938, making Sweethearts the third MacDonald film, after Naughty Marietta and San Francisco, to reap that accolade.

-Edward Baron Turk, Hollywood Diva: a Biography of Jeanette MacDonald

I'm not a huge fan of MacDonald/Eddy, but I like them well enough. This is the only one I bought on DVD (because of Technicolor.) On DVD it looks a little "dirty" but overall not bad. I'm sure this will blow it out of the water. As RAH said, "This is a big deal" indeed!

 

[lark144]

I'm not a huge fan of MacDonald/Eddy, but I like them well enough. This is the only one I bought on DVD (because of Technicolor.) On DVD it looks a little "dirty" but overall not bad. I'm sure this will blow it out of the water. As RAH said, "This is a big deal" indeed!

I find myself in a similar place, except perhaps more extreme.

I love early 3-strip, and being that this is, I believe, the first MGM film in the process, I'm dying to own this restoration. I'm sure it's wonderful and beyond description. I want to support the work Warner Archive does in this regard.

On the other hand, as a child, my parents owned a box set of RCA singles from the early days of recording to the present called "60 Years of Music America Loves Best." My mother played one cut, Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald squeezing every once of enjoyment, as well as good taste, from "Indian Love Call", you know, "I'll be calling you-ah-ooh-ah-ooh", their voices impersonating the vacillations of a broken-down compressor incessantly at dinner--severely impacting my appreciation of pot roast and potatoes, as well as Swanson turkey dinners--for months, until the vinyl finally went white. I'm afraid they're my idea of anathema. Now, I did grow to appreciate Ms. MacDonald years later in those Paramount pre-code musicals directed by Lubitsch and Mamoulian, I found her funny and sexy, a larger than life presence that jumped off the screen, though her vibrato was a bit thick for my taste, but as a team with Nelson Eddy, ummm, thanks but no thanks.

 

[Filmic]

British film buyer and critic Leslie Halliwell wrote about the arcane enjoyment of the J.M. films, and watching a premiere screening on TV in 1982: '...I happened to walk to the station with a sixtyish neighbour, and asked him whether he had seen it and what he thought of it. I did not expect him to know about Lubitsch, or to enthuse about the gleaming mint quality of the brand new 35mm print with its angelically pure sound, obtained from negatives no doubt underused. But I did hope that, as a relief from this crass modern age, the style and subtlety of the narrative and the precision of the playing might have communicated themselves. 'Oh, I turned that off,' he said. 'It was in black and white. Besides, I never could stand that 'Jeanette MacDonald, simpering and wiggling her eyebrows. Didn't they overact in those days?' Useless, they say, to explain sunlight to a blind man...'

 

[lark144]

British film buyer and critic Leslie Halliwell wrote about the arcane enjoyment of the J.M. films, and watching a premiere screening on TV in 1982: '...I happened to walk to the station with a sixtyish neighbour, and asked him whether he had seen it and what he thought of it. I did not expect him to know about Lubitsch, or to enthuse about the gleaming mint quality of the brand new 35mm print with its angelically pure sound, obtained from negatives no doubt underused. But I did hope that, as a relief from this crass modern age, the style and subtlety of the narrative and the precision of the playing might have communicated themselves. 'Oh, I turned that off,' he said. 'It was in black and white. Besides, I never could stand that 'Jeanette MacDonald, simpering and wiggling her eyebrows. Didn't they overact in those days?' Useless, they say, to explain sunlight to a blind man...'

I've always enjoyed Mr. Halliwell's prose, but then he wasn't forced to listen to their version of "Indian Love Call" day in, day out. At first I thought it was the song, then discovered Slim Whitman's version, which I adore. No, it's them. While I can take them or leave them individually, and even occasionally find Ms. MacDonald charming, especially when Lubitsch is involved, together they affect me like ammonia mixed with bleach. I've never been able to watch one of their films. Which is unfortunate, because I'd love to see this restoration for the three-strip.

 

[GerardoHP]

I can't wait. Early three-strip Technicolor is a must-have for me. Sometimes I don't even care about the story I'm so dazzled by the color and the production design.

 

[The-Cinema-Upstairs]

I can't wait. Early three-strip Technicolor is a must-have for me. Sometimes I don't even care about the story I'm so dazzled by the color and the production design.

This is probably the only MacDonald/Eddy film I'm at all interested in adding to my collection for the reasons you mentioned. Its gonna be a visual delight!!!

 

[OLDTIMER]

As others are saying, I also can't wait to see that early 3-strip technicolor restoration. (I've got the DVD version.) The pastel shades that were created were never repeated in the later 40s and 50s. It's interesting to note the excessive make-up that was applied (especially cheek rouge) - to both men and women - in order to achieve that rosy face look. A carry-over from 2-color Technicolor.