(Les Trois Valses)

Yvonne Printemps, Pierre Fresnay. Music by Oscar Straus, with adaptations of music by Johann Strauss I and Johann Strauss II. (1938). 101m. French, with English subtitles. B&W
PAL VHS ONLY

"Yvonne Printemps, Enchantress," an article by Robert Connolly

Noël Coward wrote of Yvonne Printemps, "In common with thousands of others I thought that she could do no wrong; she was lovely to look at, her nose delightfully retroussé; her voice beyond comparison with anyone else's--and she possessed the very essence of star quality, triple-distilled."

In 1937 Printemps scored her greatest theatrical success in Les Trois Valses, a French adaptation of a Viennese operetta, which she performed at the Bouffes-Parisiens for nearly two years, until the outbreak of war. The score by Oscar Straus was based on music by Johann Strauss I (Act I), Strauss II (Act II), and Straus himself (Act III). The film, spanning three generations, recounts the love story of a young ballerina, in 1867; her daughter, in 1900; and her granddaughter, in 1937.

The film was made in 1938. Printemps, beautifully photographed in gowns by Jeanne Lanvin, is a delight. Pierre Fresnay (not a singer) is a debonair, good-natured foil.

For those of us raised on Jeanette MacDonald musicals, it is intriguing to note that here the heroine slips in and out of bed with total nonchalance. L.B. Mayer, not to mention the women's clubs of America, would have had apoplexy.

Act III makes some amusing digs at Hollywood. Printemps, playing a glamorous movie star with blonde curls, enormous wistful eyes and photographed in soft focus, looks like a combination of Marion Davies and Ginger Rogers. She has temper tantrums, smashes furniture and inhabits all-white, art-deco interiors à la Top Hat.

She could have sung Manon, Thaïs and Mélisande (and did record Lully, Handel and Mozart). Instead she preferred, and had the good fortune, to appear almost exclusively in roles composed for her, by the likes of Messager, Hahn, Poulenc and Coward.--Robert Connolly

Click for reviews of Paris Waltz and Three Waltzes by Tully Potter in International Opera Collector and John Ardoin in The Dallas Morning News

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