Unaware that this had been considered unavailable for many years, I had sought this out and for years only had a badly edited black and white version of this from some local TV station somewhere that looked as if it had been copied down half a dozen generations. That was horrible to try to watch even though I hung on to it just for the privilege of having. Nobody in the movie collecting business knew of any color prints available, and even the 1929 version appeared to have been locked away as well. The 1953 version did make its way to VHS, and a 20 minute short ("The Red Shadow") appeared on TCM in it's early days. Out of the blue this version from the war era came out on home video in all its colorful glory, but unfortunately, what I witnessed upon my discovery of the original print may not have been worth my search.
The mixture of the glorious score (greatly cut) and the setting of World War II did not mesh in my opinion, and perhaps this is an operetta best left to recordings than stagings, having failed with Broadway revivals both in 1946 and 1973. It's silly and inappropriate as war propaganda, and reminded me more of a Maria Montez/Sabu adventure with songs. Dennis Morgan was fine as a romantic lead, but his singing after a while is grating. Irene Manning was fine as a B leading lady or the other woman but fails to impress in her one A lead. Bruce Cabot is serviceable as Manning's suitor, and Lynne Overman is a notch above the annoying Dick Wesson in the 1953 remake. The new songs aren't memorable in the least, but the original score does get a good recording from the Warner Brothers sound department. War musicals work better with real entertainers putting on a show, but mixing sword and sandal with Nazis and Sigmund Romberg sadly fails.
The mixture of the glorious score (greatly cut) and the setting of World War II did not mesh in my opinion, and perhaps this is an operetta best left to recordings than stagings, having failed with Broadway revivals both in 1946 and 1973. It's silly and inappropriate as war propaganda, and reminded me more of a Maria Montez/Sabu adventure with songs. Dennis Morgan was fine as a romantic lead, but his singing after a while is grating. Irene Manning was fine as a B leading lady or the other woman but fails to impress in her one A lead. Bruce Cabot is serviceable as Manning's suitor, and Lynne Overman is a notch above the annoying Dick Wesson in the 1953 remake. The new songs aren't memorable in the least, but the original score does get a good recording from the Warner Brothers sound department. War musicals work better with real entertainers putting on a show, but mixing sword and sandal with Nazis and Sigmund Romberg sadly fails.