One Night of Love (1934)
…………………………………………………
One Night of Love Movie Review
One Night of Love is a 1934 musical film directed by Victor Schertzinger and starring Grace Moore. It’s such a dated flick expectedly so.
………………………………………………….
“Oh Bill, one day so help me,
I’ll murder that man!“
…………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………..
After relocating from New York City to Milan, Italy, to study opera, Mary meets her mentor, Giulio. Under his guidance, Mary learns the intricacies of opera and becomes a more confident songstress. Years later, Mary meets Lally, a previous student of Giulio’s who brings her feelings of jealousy to the surface. Unable to come to terms with her true feelings toward Giulio, Mary rebels, jeopardizing her budding career and a potential happy ending.
Needless to say, this is a very subpar storyline which is not only melodramatic, but also clichéd and predictable. I did not care for it all too much, though it doesn’t last for too long so it’s not as dull as some other similar movies.
Grace Moore is actually very good in her role as Mary Barrett. I found her performance actually deserving of an Oscar nomination which I did not expect. She’s likable, realistic and both a good singer and an actress. But others aren’t as memorable, including Giulio who’s not a particularly memorable love interest.
One Night of Love is most importantly a musical and a highly dated one at that. This film features opera numbers and is operatic both in storyline and in score. Yes, some of the numbers are memorable and famous, but opera is a very acquired taste so this movie is thus very limited in its appeal.
I do not want to trash on opera as it is classical and some may love it, especially music enthusiasts, but I am not such an individual so to me the songs were bland and boring. The movie was nominated for six Academy Awards and that was simply too much.
…………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………..
How the Academy thought that it deserved the distinction to be the most nominated movie up until this point in history is beyond me. Okay, the sound and score nominations and wins are deserved as it sounds polished for sure, but the editing, picture and directing nods are ridiculous to me. It has decent cinematography and set design, though. Italy was so well utilized.
One Night of Love is very well scored, well-acted and well shot, but it’s a very dated musical which is an acquired taste in its opera numbers. The story is also standard and nothing special. It’s a passable, but dated genre film which certainly did not deserve to receive six Oscar nominations.
