Deep in My Heart

"Deep in My Heart" is a 1954 MGM musical starring Jose Ferrer. It purports to tell the story of Sigmund Romberg, and while much I'm sure is left out, the film is filled with not only great music, but great singing.

Well directed by Stanley Donen, the movie shows us Romberg trying to fit in with the musical comedy style, but really having a talent with a more classical, operetta-like bend.

Not only is the music beautiful, but it is exquisitely sung by some of the best singers of that era. My favorite song, "Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise" from "New Moon" is initially sung by the great Wagnerian opera star, Helen Traubel.

And be still my heart, my second favorite song, "Lover Come Back to Me" is sung by Tony Martin and Joan Weldon. Martin was for me the best tenor of that time, better than Allan Jones, James Melton - absolutely phenomenal.

MGM pulled out all the stops, with Cyd Charisse and Ann Miller taking part in "One Alone" and "It" respectively; Vic Damone is on hand for a well-sung "The Road to Paradise," and he's joined by Jane Powell for "Will You Remember" from "Maytime," which in the beginning of the film is the operetta Romberg keeps insisting he wants to do.

Gene Kelly and his brother Fred Kelly sing and dance to "I Love to Go Swimmin' with Wimmin" - you a see from the titles that Romberg had a versatility. Howard Keel a strong "Your Land and My Land."

The song "Mr. And Mrs." is performed by real-life Mr. And Mrs. Jose Ferrer and Rosemary Clooney. One number after another, a fine film for a music lover.

The cast is interesting - Merle Oberon as Romberg's writing partner Dorothy Donnelly, Walter Pidgeon is Shubert, Paul Henried is Flo Ziegfeld, and Dorothy Avedon, who died some months ago, is Romberg's beloved wife Lillian.

All in all, a feast for the ears and eyes, with Ferrer doing a beautiful, energetic job as Romberg, even at one point performing an entire musical at full speed by himself. Very impressive.

A gem from MGM.

I missed this film when it first appeared, and only saw it quite by chance very recently on the TCM channel. I felt it was a rather unappreciated gem that I would like to commend to other IMDb users. It purports to be a biography of early nineteenth century composer Siegmund Romberg. Unfortunately biographies are not Hollywood's strong suite, and this one does not "cut the mustard" as a biography. Romberg was a Central European Jew who came to the U.S.A. as a refugee from the pre-first world war Hapsburg Empire; and made a very successful career as a much admired composer of light music, much of which was coupled with romantic songs written by Dorothy Donnolley for Broadway musicals. Here surely is a great subject for a biography which shows the trauma of being a refugee and the problems of an artist in becoming accepted in a new country with a different language and very different culture. Unfortunately this chance was blown in favour of a script which paraded all the musical stars that MGM could command, presenting re-creations of a series of extracts from his stage successes. However if accepted at this level the film is unusually successful, helped by a great cast and the direction of the often under-rated Stanley Donen. Romberg is remembered for writing light Viennese style romantic orchestral music which was extremely popular in the pre-jazz era, and I was surprised how enjoyable this music made watching the film. For me, and probably others of my generation, the music in more recent musicals does not often compare with that in this film.

One of Romberg's best known stage works was 'The Desert Song', which has been filmed three times, (the 1929 version containing more of Romberg's music), and watching an Arabian Nights sequence featuring Cyd Charise and James Mitchell made me very sad that all colour copies of the 1929 film appear to have been lost (although a monochrome version prepared for TV has survived.)

The background notes above may be helpful to the many people today who have never heard any of Romberg's music, but as a review of this film the following (which alone would not have satisfied the IMDb 10 line minimum criterion) is all that is needed:

This is a perfect film to watch with a life partner, or significant other, at the start of a short vacation together. But it would be better seen in a cinema rather than on TV.

DEEP IN MY HEART is one of the last of the great MGM Musicals, and almost unknown today. This is too bad, because it contains some wonderful musical numbers: Cyd Charisse at her most spectacular in a number from THE DESERT SONG, Gene Kelly and his brother Fred as song-and-dance men, Jose Ferrer doing a surprising one-man-show routine that is astonishing, as well as a charming song and dance with opera star Helen Traubel. It is supposedly based on the life of famed composer, Sigmund Romberg, and it is presented in typical MGM glossy style, but this was a composer of great melodies who deserved the plush treatment. This is a top-flight production that is well worth watching. You'll see additional numbers by Ann Miller, Howard Keel, Jane Powell and Rosemary Clooney!

This was the last of the musical biographies made in Hollywood.

They had falsified the lives of Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, so they looked up Sigmund Romberg, whose old fashioned but very sweet music had been lost in silly librettos. Note that his musical shows have not been revived in decades. But MGM put this biography in the capable hands of screen writer Leonard Spigelglass, who decided to tell the true but simple story with a tongue-in-cheek approach, and of first rate director Stanley Donen, who made miracles chiefly by employing a cast of people who really knew how to act. Especially Jose Ferrer. The result is a movie that manages to ring true, and not a sleep-inducing hit parade. Romberg was a composer for the twenties, full of viennese nostalgia like Friml and Herbert. None of them could survive the jazz invasion of the musical comedy, but their songs are always popular, naturally out of their theatrical context. Deep in my Heart deserves to be seen.The songs are still highly enjoyable, and Donen, Spigelglass, Ferrer and the rest of the cast gave their best to the film.

I found this one to start out strong, sag painfully in the middle when plot takes over, then pick up again and finish with a bang. Some splendid singing from the very likeable Miss Helen Traubel, and some swell production numbers by a bevy of MGM artists. Highlight for me was Cyd Charisse dancing with James Michell (sp?). A movie in which the splendid music Sigmund Romberg is well-served.