The Cat and the Fiddle (1934)

Better Late Then Never

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Two directors were involved in this one and my problem is who did which? My colleague, Barrie Pattison, would probably say it was no problem. "Sam Wood did all the good stuff, William K. Howard, the less inspired!" I'm not so tempted to go along with that. The problem is that, as everyone knows, every studio in Hollywood was in a bit of a mess in 1934 when the Depression was really starting to bite on cinema attendances. Both top-billed Ramon Novarro and Jeanette MacDonald were not happy with their roles. Jeanette insisted that her part be built up. Contemporary press reports confirm this and some even suggest that Vivienne Segal's role was lessened as a consequence. The additions have certainly made MacDonald's role far more interesting – she is a presented as a person who has no taste – but far less sympathetic. She was probably unaware of this. In real life, she took herself very seriously and hated to be made fun of – unless, of course, the funster was Maurice Chevalier (who could always take refuge in the fact that English was his second language). Getting back to The Cat and the Fiddle, money was spent like water on sets and costumes. In fact, it doesn't look like a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film at all. Notice that Gibbons is not credited – and was he mad as hell! Anyway, my educated guess is that the first half of the film was mostly directed by William K. Howard and that Sam Wood took over at some stage in the second half. Three photographers were employed: Ray Rennahan for the Technicolor sequence, Harold Rosson and Charles Clarke for the black-and-white. In all, a fascinating movie which repays constant visits, year after year!

I loved it that Ramon could sing! He did a good job, and so did Jeanette MacDonald.I was thinking that this movie was Pre-Code. I realized from my Ohio State film censorship course (Department of Theatre) that the Code began around 1931, but was not taken too seriously until perhaps not long after this movie was made.I WAS a bit shocked seeing Ramon leaning over Jeanette in her bed, and then I realized that the Code had not yet totally sunken its teeth into movie-making. Too see Jeanette's costume-changing in front of the men, and the tops of her stockings showing were more clues.I did not see this whole movie. I learned from other IMDb reviewers here that the characters cohabitated. Still, the characters' relationship looked just a little too smarmy for the censors who supposedly ruled in that era.Novarro's real-life private lifestyle, yes, got in the way of some of his recognition and career. Even further, his career was soon weakened by a Red-scare of the early 1930s.IRL, Ramon liked men. Still, actors have to play their characters properly. I have seen Ramon in films such as The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg and Mata Hari. In these, he definitely plays men who love women. Indeed, heterosexuals ought to be able to play gay characters. The reverse is also true that homosexuals need to be able to play heterosexual characters. As Ramon kisses women in movies, I think of Rock Hudson kissing Doris Day -- and later people said they thought all along that Rock was heterosexual in real life. Not!When actors portray animals on stage, it does not matter the gender of the actor. A man can be dressed up in a cow's costume, which is a feminine character. If an actor is dressed as an earthworm, does anyone ask the actor if he/she is asexual? I think Ramon was a very handsome man. Jeanette was very beautiful, and I have always loved her singing voice.It was good to see Hersholt, Morgan and Butterworth here. I enjoyed Morgan trying to be a romantic character here, whereas in the later Wizard of Oz he has no interest in the opposite sex -- perhaps he had an affair with the Wicked Witches or the Good Witch of the North (Glinda/Billie Burke). We will never know, however.I was both shocked and thrilled to see the color segment at the end. This was quite satisfying.As opposed to some other reviewers, I usually like Jeanette's pairings with Nelson Eddy. I have heard that Nelson was a divo who did not want Jeanette upstaging him, but what do you expect?9/10, because I feel that this movie moved (pun) very slowly. I FF'd through a lot, but feel that I saw enough to make this review.

Silent screen star Ramon Novarro teams up with Jeanette MacDonald in "The Cat and the Fiddle," a 1934 musical film. The film also stars Jean Hersholt, Frank Morgan, and Vivienne Segal.The story concerns two songwriters, one from a classical background, Victor Florescu (Novarro, and one assumes from that last name, he's from Roumania), and Shirley Sheridan (MacDonald) a young woman from a popular songwriting background who meet. He falls madly in love with her, even turning down a major opportunity with an impresario (Morgan) who turns out to be more interested in Jeanette as a girlfriend.Eventually Victor wins over Shirley, and the two move in together. Now, I thought the code came in earlier than this, but it appears I'm wrong. I was very surprised when later in the movie, she suggests that they get married because I thought they already were.Her song becomes a huge hit. Eventually he succumbs to the impresario's pressure to get him out of the picture by breaking up with Shirley. He is convinced that he is holding her back. Victor then gets a big opportunity when a star (Segal) agrees to appear in his operetta. When he refuses to be seduced by her, her husband gives her a choice, the operetta or him, Mr. Money Bags, and she leaves with her husband. Now he's stuck, and he owes money to boot.This film ran something like one hour and thirty minutes and seemed longer than Battleship Potemkin. This mainly had to do with the casting of Navarro who could just about carry a tune, and when he did, his voice had a tremelo faster than a butterfly's wings.Jeanette MacDonald, of course, is luminous - beautiful, charming, and in great voice. Navarro did just not have what it took to be her leading man. As stiff as Nelson Eddy was, there was something about the two of them together that had real chemistry. No such thing here.This is a movie, as someone said here, for Jeanette MacDonald fans only. She's always worth watching, and someone here also mentioned seeing her do King & I. I'm envious.

This little known film is a gem for Jeanette Macdonald.I read that she does her own piano playing in this.The music is lovely and fits her voice like a glove.Also,the color ending is very good.Ramon is fine as a leading man for Jeanette.It is a charming blend of a good story,very fine acting, and singing.