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Biographic movie about the American composer Sigmund Romberg.
If you remember Till the Clouds Roll By, Words and Music or Three Little Words, you know for sure what kind of stuff you´re dealing with. Those were MGM Biopics, full of stars, color and good music, and though you will not find accuracy on the details of the life and loves of any of the composers (Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart, Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby) you can expect the same thing about Sigmund Romberg. But in DEEP IN MY HEART you have Stanley Donen directing, Roger Edens producing and Jose Ferrer starring, and that means something better.
Some character in the film says that the songs of Romberg were schmaltzy and maybe he´s right, for in 1954 that kind of music was completely dated, but, come on! This is a nostalgic film about a nostalgic era, when Ziegfeld and Shubert reigned over Broadway and Romberg wrote The Student Prince, Maytime, The Desert Song and many more. Jose Ferrer in a very good performance sings and dances (with wife Rosemary Clooney), Gene Kelly and brother Fred dance together in their most brilliant way, Jane Powell and Vic Damone look-alike Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy in Maytime, Ann Miller taps as the girl of "It", Cyd Charisse and James Mitchell dance wonderfully in The Desert Song, and Howard Keel, and Tony Martin and Tamara Toumanova, etc., are part of the big cast of guest stars in the ellaborated musical numbers. And I´m not forgetting Helen Traubel as Anna Müller, friend of Romberg´s, with several very well remembered songs. Director Donen, in the same year he made SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, shows how to make a biopic look good. Not superb, but still good.
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