This British musical directed by Maurice Elvey was made to showcase the Polish tenor Jan Kiepura, but one gathers that Mr Kiepura wasn't too fluent in English - he only utters short phrases - so Elvey has overbalanced the proceedings with comic relief, particularly in giving the singer a male few slapstick secretary (Sonnie Hale). Since the titles credit "additional comedy scenes" to someone else, one gets the impression that Elvey is the one who focused on Kiepura, which may have been a mistake since all the singing scenes, bar one, are static with a worrying tendency for cutaways to a rapturous audience. One could interpret this as a concession to the audience, to spare them either the sight of an immobile Kiepura or prolonged exposure to operatic arias, but why cast a singer and then not let us see him sing? The exception to this is when Kiepura reprises one of his two operetta pieces for comic effect and sings to Hale - My Song for You becomes I'd do the same for you - followed by a little dance between the two of them. The surprise here is that in spite of Hale's overt campiness, there isn't a suggestion of homoeroticism, perhaps because Kiepura's preference is never in question. His apparent agreeable nature, underlined by his willingness to appear bare chested in 2 scenes, would probably not preclude such an idea, but his manner has more to do with the obvious joy he experiences singing, and his playing an Italian. The invisible orchestra is a period given, but Elvey's having Kiepura clamber over a boat or drawing caricatures as he sings pieces that require great breath control is perhaps sillier than the still camera. There are 3 set piece concerts - one where Kiepura literally stops traffic, though this has a narrative payoff; another in an unusual choice of indoor swimming pool, with the singer performing from the high dive; and Kiepura doing a The Graduate interruption to a wedding with Ava Maria, though here nobody seems to object. The film is inexplicably set in Vienna, though everyone speaks english and no-one appears to be dubbed, and has a rather nasty set of contrivances where a romance develops from manipulation. Poor Kiepura is used for his connections by Aileen Marson, to further the career of her boyfriend. Whether intentional or not, Elvey introduces Marson as unlikeable in the way she dismisses the advances of another suitor, even when he is later revealed to be a philanderer. (He is so gay-acting that this is laughable). In a scene where Marson is trapped in the chorus of a rehearsal of AIDA Elvey overplays his hand, and it's hard to believe that Marson's irritability and humiliation is what makes Kiepura fall in love with her. Marson actually resembles Jean Harlow, though not even Jean was so abused by her wardrobe, and she plays a scene of parental deception with Harlow's childlike behaviour. This plot point has a resonant development, when Kiepura finds himself with a sleeping Marson on a date, and we wonder what he will do. The screenplay actually has a pleasing narrative flow, with pieces coming together cleverly, and Hale even gets a dig at the musical format with a comment to Kiepura after a romantic rejection - "Try and sing that off". There are also nice editing cuts from Marson's boyfriend's hands playing the piano to Marson's hands wringing her dress, and Hale being pushed into a pool to Hale deliberately swimming in one.
Review of A Song for You
