Deep in My Heart (1954)

Just what I expected

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

The MGM musical biopic, or biography picture. For a lot of movie lovers, enough said. The term brings to mind many things. Great musical numbers. Star-studded cast. Prestige. But one that doesn't come to mind is factual accuracy. Most people who love musicals take biopics with a grain of salt. A lot of people know that the musicals numbers are more times than not the best thing about the movie. And at least 50% of them were about songwriters who wrote some of America's most beloved songs. Some are about classical composers. This film, "Deep in My Heart," is about one composer of serious music who wrote what he called dribble for the masses as a mean to an end, so he could realize his dream of writing his "Maytime" – Sigmund Romberg, as played by Jose Ferrer. Merle Oberon costarred as a collaborator in writing the words to his melody. The film centers on the cream of his prolific years and his meeting and romancing his future wife. The musical numbers features Rosemary Clooney (Jose's wife in real life), Gene Kelly, and Ann Miller, along with a few other major names. All of the numbers seem pleasant at the time, some more inspiring at the time, but, on the whole, one would think that gathered together in one place they would make an upbeat and successful collection of entertainment. But, save for one or two numbers, they don't really deliver any real punch. Not that I am trashing them, but they were just nothing to really brag about. The numbers that did stand out to me is an energetic number Ann Miller did, Jane Powell and Vic Damone's "Maytime" interlude, and the sensuous dance of Cyd Charisse and James Mitchell. And, even Jose Ferrer is quite the entertainer and showman as he put on a one-man rehearsal show, and Helen Traubel as a friend of the family sang a moving rendition of "Softly,", the way he wrote it and not the way the backers and producers butchered it. What really hurts the film is the length of 130 minutes. If you have seen other musicals, biopics or not, then you will see that this film is really not one of the best, despite the talented stars involved.

The light touch and sense of fun evident in so much of Stanley Donen's musical work is almost entirely missing from this ten-ton biopic of Sigmund Romberg, played diligently but without charm by Jose Ferrer. Apparently it just wasn't a very interesting life, so MGM masked a near-total absence of drama with a bevy of guest appearances. Some work out beautifully, though most of these have more to do with dance than Romberg's melodies: a nifty tap production number with Ann Miller, an extremely hot "Desert Song" pas de deux by Cyd Charisse and James Mitchell, a lively comedy routine with Gene Kelly and his brother Fred. But the best of Romberg is stiffly staged in vignettes featuring a bored-looking Jane Powell and Vic Damone ("Maytime"), William Olvis ("The Student Prince"), and Howard Keel (a very uneasy "My Maryland"). Worse, none of the people surrounding Ferrer seem right: Merle Oberon was nothing like Dorothy Donnelly, and the screenwriters' attempt to create some drama by suggesting she was vainly in love with Siggy falls flat. The love of his life, Mrs. Romberg, is given to a pallid Grace Kelly wannabe, Doe Avedon. Helen Traubel, as his best pal, sings well but is also given too much shtick. Arthur Freed might have invested more vitality than Roger Edens, but it's an unexciting and overlong entertainment, worth sitting through once for the better musical numbers.

DEEP IN MY HEART is one of the last of the great MGM Musicals, and almost unknown today. This is too bad, because it contains some wonderful musical numbers: Cyd Charisse at her most spectacular in a number from THE DESERT SONG, Gene Kelly and his brother Fred as song-and-dance men, Jose Ferrer doing a surprising one-man-show routine that is astonishing, as well as a charming song and dance with opera star Helen Traubel. It is supposedly based on the life of famed composer, Sigmund Romberg, and it is presented in typical MGM glossy style, but this was a composer of great melodies who deserved the plush treatment. This is a top-flight production that is well worth watching. You'll see additional numbers by Ann Miller, Howard Keel, Jane Powell and Rosemary Clooney!

Deep In My Heart was recently shown on Turner Classics and for some reason it was shown in a Letter-Box presentation. I remember when this film first came out and there were no widescreen movies at that time, but I do remember that when the widescreen process did appear, many of the old film were redone over in a widescreen process such as "The Wizard of Oz" and Disney's Fantasia which was preprocessed in Super-Scope with the advertisement "Fantasia Will Amazya!", even though Disney originally had planned to make Fantasia in a widescreen process it didn't happen because of World War II, but all it did in a Super-Scope presentation was to have it's fans run out of the theater screaming! So, I don't remember "Deep In My Heart" being released at that time in a Widescreen process, but maybe they did. This film ages like a fine bottle of wine. I really didn't like it then, but I do now, and I remember that the M.G.M. Soundtrack album was a very big seller at the time. So, let's not bring up the negative parts about the film. Instead, remember that no one knew that Jose Ferrer could sing and dance, and above all, he was an accomplished piano player as well. Yes! That was Ferrer playing the piano. And what about Helen Traubel. Well, anyone that didn't like her performance in the movie should be hung Softly As a Morning Sunrise! All her songs were perfection and her rendering of "Stout Hearted Men" was so effective that it's a wonder that everyone wasn't standing at attention during her singing of it. Sure, the movie has its flaws, but the overall effect is wonderful. I thought Jose Ferrar playing all those different parts when they were trying to write the show for Al Jolson was kinda dumb, but he did it so well. Tony Martin I've never really liked. He always sounded to me like a singer with a tight girdle trying to strangle him. Ann Miller? Well, there's something very obnoxious about Ann Miller. Probably because she was always given these parts of a girl with an abnormal appetite for the opposite sex, but her best role was playing Lois Lane in "Kiss Me Kate"; she was great! So, why aren't films like this appreciated today? Once again, this is another one of those wonderful films that you have to see on the large silver screen in a movie theater to really enjoy! Television only gives you some of the enjoyment of it. Again, I wish they would release these films nationwide in movie theaters so all the young people could see what all the drum beating is all about, but Deep In My Heart I know that When I Grow To Old To Dream, I'll Have This Film To Remember!