Frothy? I guess in as much as horse manure fresh from the blender could be deemed to be so – but I should think 'leaden' would better describe this truly horrible offering from MGM in 1947. The only thing 'light' about it was the flimsy, two dimensional portrayal by George Murphy of Cynthia's father, a cardboard cut out of a character who seemed to be in danger of accidentally being trodden underfoot throughout the movie. The rest of the cast including Mary Astor, S.Z. Sakall and a very young Elizabeth Taylor gamely attempt to breathe life into this decidedly un-leavened and moribund piece of movie-making, but a script of almost mind boggling awfulness resists any effort to bring it to life. Perhaps it was simply a product of the early cold war period? Conformity and settling for second best are celebrated and the only message seems to be that it's OK to be average and ordinary and to sacrifice the dreams of youth as long as you're married, own your own home and hold down a job you hate.
Perhaps the most stomach churning scene occurs near the film's conclusion when Cynthia's mentor the Viennese music professor played by S.Z. Sakall tells her parents that in essence they are wrong to have hankered to leave their hometown and that everything here in Napoleon (including the coffee, mind you) is better than it was in his native city. I don't know which god-forsaken outer suburb of Vienna he'd been living in – but if he really believes this Midwestern hell hole in any way rivals one of the world's richest cultural capitals, I'd say he should have stayed in Vienna and presented himself to Sigmund Freud for emergency analysis.
As for poor Cynthia - she shows promise at the story's beginning – she reads and enjoys Shakespeare, she sings, she has spirit. She doesn't appear to fully embrace the 'school spirit' that renders her schoolmates into unpleasant, robotic, unquestioning and school-song- singing yahoos. But that's gradually all crushed out of her and she seems to fully embrace the same inertia at the movie's conclusion that stultifies her parents. "I'm going Steady!" She crows triumphantly at the film's conclusion. Yeah Cindy, honey. And I'm going straight to the bathroom to throw up.
Perhaps the most stomach churning scene occurs near the film's conclusion when Cynthia's mentor the Viennese music professor played by S.Z. Sakall tells her parents that in essence they are wrong to have hankered to leave their hometown and that everything here in Napoleon (including the coffee, mind you) is better than it was in his native city. I don't know which god-forsaken outer suburb of Vienna he'd been living in – but if he really believes this Midwestern hell hole in any way rivals one of the world's richest cultural capitals, I'd say he should have stayed in Vienna and presented himself to Sigmund Freud for emergency analysis.
As for poor Cynthia - she shows promise at the story's beginning – she reads and enjoys Shakespeare, she sings, she has spirit. She doesn't appear to fully embrace the 'school spirit' that renders her schoolmates into unpleasant, robotic, unquestioning and school-song- singing yahoos. But that's gradually all crushed out of her and she seems to fully embrace the same inertia at the movie's conclusion that stultifies her parents. "I'm going Steady!" She crows triumphantly at the film's conclusion. Yeah Cindy, honey. And I'm going straight to the bathroom to throw up.