The Firefly (1937)

Director:

Robert Z. Leonard

Writers:

Frances Goodrich (writer)
Albert Hackett (writer)

Release Date:

5 November 1937 (USA)

Genre:

History | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

Jeanette MacDonald Is The Luminous Singing Spy!

Plot:

Nina Maria Azara is the beautiful and alluring singing spy for Spain during the Napoleonic Wars. Her mission is to seduce French Officers...

Plot Keywords:

French | Deceit | Historical | Spy | Napoleon Bonaparte

Cast

Jeanette MacDonald	...	Nina Maria Azara
Allan Jones	...	Don Diego
Warren William	...	Colonel de Rouchemont
Billy Gilbert	...	Inn Keeper
Douglass Dumbrille	...	Marquis de Melito (as Douglas Dumbrille)
Henry Daniell	...	General Savary
Leonard Penn	...	Etienne DuBois
Tom Rutherford	...	King Ferdinard (as Tom Rutherfurd)
Belle Mitchell	...	Lola
George Zucco	...	St. Clair, Secret Service Chief
Corbet Morris	...	Duvall (as Corbett Morris)
Matthew Boulton	...	Duke of Wellington
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Zeni Vatori	...	Cafe Waiter

Runtime:

131 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White (Sepiatone)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #3506)

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The song "Donkey Serenade" was not in the original stage production. It was written for the film, but the music was adapted from the song "Chansonette", from the stage version of "The Firefly".

Quotes:

Don Diego: You have one bad habit.
Nina Maria Azara: Oh, yes? What?
Don Diego: You're always saying good-bye.
Nina Maria Azara: Very well then, I won't say good-bye. I'll just go!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in M-G-M Jubilee Overture (1954)

Soundtrack:

A WOMAN'S KISS

Jeanette is captivating, but the plot is a yawner...

If it wasn't for "Donkey Serenade", this would have been a total loss as a piece of gaudy MGM entertainment for the masses in the 1930s. JEANETTE MacDONALD gives her all as a sexy spy who tries getting potentially harmful information from French officers, but it's all pretty preposterous and finally much too long for sustained interest.

The only sequence that comes off as completely charming is the "Donkey Serenade" episode with ALLAN JONES singing his heart out as he rides a dusty trail following her carriage. Jones is a fine match for MacDonald but probably left MGM when he realized it was Nelson Eddy's territory.

The score is kind of lackluster, the sets are opulent in typical MGM grand style manner, but the plot is never lively enough to keep one's attention riveted on the plodding story of spies and counter-spies in ye olde Spain. Everyone tries hard, but it just seems to stall somewhere near the middle and never recovers.

Trivia: Did Jeanette MacDonald ever show her real hair in a costume film? She must wear at least 25 wigs and hairdos in this film alone, changing her far from simple hairstyles from scene to scene more often than Lana Turner ever changed her costumes in glamorous roles. There must have been a special Jeanette wig department at Metro just for the occasion.