Deep in My Heart (1954)

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Sigmund Romberg was a composer whose career spanned the transition from opera to operettas to musical revues to stage musicals and film musicals. This biopic covers a substantial portion of his life, pausing to present musical numbers from his shows from his earliest success ("Maytime") to his work with Oscar Hammerstein.Jose Ferrer portrays Romberg with a light hand. The dark days of Romberg's life are discussed but little dramatized, which is a good choice, keeping the narrative light, and centered on his music.The music, by the way, is enjoyable, purely as entertainment and also from a historical perspective. But what really makes this film shine is the all-star cast that work in support of the major roles. Blink and you might miss the identity of a major talent.Speaking of talent, for me the highlight of the film--a scene that in itself makes the film recommendable--is the "Desert Song" dance scene featuring Cyd Charisse. I am not belittling the other dance performances, which are numerous and notable. But Cyd's elegance and talent outshine the rest of the film they are so prodigious. A huge measure of respect must go to Eugene Loring, the man responsible for the choreography. And Helen Rose drapes the women with great style, as usual. One wonders if some set designers felt they had to step up the quality of their work to keep pace with her brilliance. The "Desert Song" set, by the way, is beautifully designed.This is an undervalued film with plenty of hidden charms that reveal themselves as the film unspools.

The light touch and sense of fun evident in so much of Stanley Donen's musical work is almost entirely missing from this ten-ton biopic of Sigmund Romberg, played diligently but without charm by Jose Ferrer. Apparently it just wasn't a very interesting life, so MGM masked a near-total absence of drama with a bevy of guest appearances. Some work out beautifully, though most of these have more to do with dance than Romberg's melodies: a nifty tap production number with Ann Miller, an extremely hot "Desert Song" pas de deux by Cyd Charisse and James Mitchell, a lively comedy routine with Gene Kelly and his brother Fred. But the best of Romberg is stiffly staged in vignettes featuring a bored-looking Jane Powell and Vic Damone ("Maytime"), William Olvis ("The Student Prince"), and Howard Keel (a very uneasy "My Maryland"). Worse, none of the people surrounding Ferrer seem right: Merle Oberon was nothing like Dorothy Donnelly, and the screenwriters' attempt to create some drama by suggesting she was vainly in love with Siggy falls flat. The love of his life, Mrs. Romberg, is given to a pallid Grace Kelly wannabe, Doe Avedon. Helen Traubel, as his best pal, sings well but is also given too much shtick. Arthur Freed might have invested more vitality than Roger Edens, but it's an unexciting and overlong entertainment, worth sitting through once for the better musical numbers.

There's no doubt that Romberg is one of the fine composers of musicals and operettas. Many of his songs are now classics of the American theater.This production tries hard to do justice to the composer's life, career, and love. With so much fine talent recruited for the biopic, it was guaranteed to be at a certain high level.Somewhere things went a bit amiss, and one leaves as much exhausted as inspired. Perhaps some judicious cutting (especially in the mid-section) would have helped. (Personally, I feel Jose Ferrer's "tour de force" one-man presentation at the resort cottage could have been left out.) Running at 132 minutes, it's a long haul.Still, there's the lovely Merle Oberon, silver throated Helen Traubel, and a dozen guest stars in featured production numbers. It seems to me Mr. Ferrer was at his energetic peak at this time and his exuberance simply needed to be reined in (probably by Director Stanley Donen)."Deep in My Heart" remains a fairly good biopic with great talent, variety, and energy. All that's needed is a dinner break.

With a running time of 2 hours and 12 minutes, this film is a bit long, but well worth it. Where else can you see all this talent except in a beautiful M-G-M film from the 1950s? The music, acting as well as the clothes and sets are wonderful. Jose Ferrer, though not a favorite of mine, is a really great actor and he gives a tour de force when he performs his entire show, playing all the parts, in front of the woman he loves and her disapproving mother. It's quite funny and unlike how we usually think of Ferrer. He also smiles more in this film than any other and he possesses some charm. Aside from Ferrer, the music is the star and there is plenty of it, all displayed and performed by the top stars at Metro. We get to see and compare Gene Kelly and his brother Fred who have a cute number. There is also the only pairing of Jose Ferrer and his wife, the spectacular Rosie Clooney to whom he was twice married, for a total of five marriages in all. Tony Martin, Cyd Charisse, Howard Keel, Jane Powell, Ann Miller and Vic Damone all add their talents and are exceptionally appealing. The story is devoid of all the falsifications of other biographies such as Gershwin's and Porter's. There is also great sentiment as when Romberg performs his Carnegie Hall concert and dedicates it to his wife. Helen Traubel sings quite a lot of songs in this film, but her voice is excellent, despite the rather simple role of restaurant owner-friend-singer.Also nice, is seeing some actors who are still with us in character roles such as Robert Easton, Russ Tamblyn, and I do believe I detected a very young Robert Wagner as the "football player" in the Artists and Models stage scene, as an extra.In all, this is an excellent film of the period, with very cute humor, and helps educate fully about Romberg's music.