I DREAM TOO MUCH (1935)
starring Lily Pons, Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball, Eric Blore, Mischa Auer, Lucien Littlefield, Billy Gilbert, Richard Carle, Kirby Grant
Synopsis by Hal Erickson courtesy all movie.com
If Columbia could make an acceptable movie star out of opera-diva Grace Moore, then RKO Radio could do the same with Lily Pons. At least that was producer Pandro S. Berman's reasoning when he cast Pons in the 1935 musical romance “I Dream too Much”.
The actress plays Annette, a rural French musical student who marries struggling American composer Jonathan (Henry Fonda). Possessed of a splendid singing voice, our heroine rises to fame on the opera stage, while poor Jonathan continues struggling, supporting himself as a tour guide. Annette eventually saves her marriage by transforming her husband's "masterpiece," a rather turgid modernistic opera, into a light-hearted musical comedy.
Lucille Ball, who'd later co-star with Henry Fonda in “The Big Street” and “Yours, Mine and Ours”, has a funny minor role as a gum-snapping tourist. Though Lily Pons was at least 10 years older than Fonda, they make an attractive and believable screen couple, adding credibility to this somewhat contrived yarn. And of course, Lily Pons is seen and heard to excellent advantage in a variety of solos, both brand-new (courtesy of Jerome Kern) and classical: In the closing production number, the svelte Lily Pons is alluringly garbed in a revealing oriental costume, proving once and for all that women did have belly-buttons back in 1935!
7/10 - Lily Serenades Her Jockey - a review by “bkoganbing13” courtesy all movie.com
The Mid Thirties was a great time for opera when after Grace Moore had scored so well in “One Night Of Love” all the studios immediately rushed out to sign their own sopranos. MGM already had Jeanette MacDonald, but Columbia had Moore, Paramount signed Gladys Swarthout and RKO signed Lily Pons for this film, “I Dream Too Much”.
In between all the high Cs that Pons hit, “I Dream Too Much” is the story of a boy and girl for whom success does not come at the same time. Lily Pons while trying to escape her strict music teacher for a night of fun and frolic, lands on Henry Fonda as she's climbing out her window. Wouldn't you know it Fonda turns out to be a budding composer and after a night on the town, they wind up married.
But while she gains acclaim for her singing, Fonda just can't get any notice for his music. The same plot was used in the MGM Jeanette MacDonald-Lew Ayres film Broadway Serenade so if you've seen that you know how this one goes. That one however was more dramatic and this was played more for comedy.
What “I Dream Too Much” does have going for it are four Jerome Kern- Dorothy Fields songs to go with the operatic arias that Lily Pons does. The best known of these is “The Jockey On The Carousel” which Lily sings while on a carousel to little Scotty Beckett.
Fonda in a comic role has little to do, but display a kind of oafish charm. The film is clearly a vehicle for Lily Pons and he knows it.
As for the film, it still retains a lot of charm. I wish opera and operetta were still done on the big screen, but that day as come and gone. And we sure don't have composers like Jerome Kern writing for the screen either..