Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Deep In My Heart Blu-ray Movie Review

Irving Berlin, George Gershwin and . . . Sigmund Romberg?

Reviewed by Michael Reuben November 16, 2015

Songwriter Sigmund Romberg isn't well-known today, but he was a dominant force in American musical theater for the first half of the 20th Century, with a string of hit musicals that sold out on Broadway and toured America. He worked with everyone from George Gershwin to Oscar Hammerstein II. His 1929 show The New Moon, co-written with Hammerstein, was twice filmed by Hollywood, and several of its numbers became jazz standards. The show's song "Stout-Hearted Men" remained a popular tune (often parodied) for decades after Romberg's death in 1951 at the age of 64.

If Romberg is not better known today, it is partly because the musical as a popular art form no longer occupies a preeminent place in American culture. But the musical itself had already changed significantly by the time it was dethroned, and those changes were evident even in Romberg's later years, because so much of its transformation was attributable to Romberg's frequent writing partner, Oscar Hammerstein, through his collaboration with Richard Rodgers, which overlapped that with Romberg. Having trained as a classical composer in his native Vienna, Romberg wrote music to express emotion, whereas Hammerstein and Rodgers were pushing musical theater toward the revelation of character through song. Their partnership would produce masterpieces like The King and I, South Pacific and The Sound of Music and spawn what is now recognized as a Golden Age of musical theater. Romberg, for all his musical talent, could not compete, and his shows have faded into obscurity.

But Romberg had influential admirers, including filmmaker Stanley Donen, who directed what is still considered the greatest movie musical of all time, Singin' in the Rain. In 1954, Donen and producer Roger Edens (another Romberg admirer) filmed a lavish tribute to Romberg and his work in the form of a fictionalized bio-pic that allowed them to roam freely through the composer's catalog, selecting his best songs and presenting them in contemporary arrangements with modernized costumes and choreography. Because he was working at MGM, Donen was blessed with a cavalcade of stars from which to choose. Most of the biggest names appear only for a single song, but they give Deep in My Heart the quality of an MGM variety show that, whatever it may lack in dramatic heft, has a quality unlike any other musical from the Dream Machine.

By stucturing Deep in My Heart (or "DiMH") as a pseudo-biography of a composer, the script by Leonard Spigelgass (who would later adapt Gypsy for the screen) avoids the usual problem in musicals of having characters spontaneously burst into song. All the songs in DiMH occur in performances, auditions or rehearsals. Romberg worked in show business, where people sing because that's what they do for a living.

The lack of historical accuracy is signaled by the absence of any dates. Romberg's career began during World War I and flourished during Prohibition and the Roaring Twenties, but none of these historic events are even referenced. DiMH is set in a magical land of grease paint, rehearsal halls, opening nights and late-hour celebrations (or, as the case may be, commiserations). Even when Romberg retreats to the country to write, where he meets the love of his life and future wife—a fictional character, since the real Romberg was married twice—the location looks like a backlot. Whether onstage or off, DiMH is pure artifice.

Romberg is played by José Ferrer in a grandly flamboyant performance drawing on the theatricality that won him an Oscar three years earlier for Cyrano de Bergerac. In DiMH's version of the composer, Romberg is constantly torn between his desire to write "serious" music and the demands of popular songwriting, for which he has an obvious flair. Proud, assertive and never in doubt of his own genius, Ferrer's Romberg is the performance that holds this oddball film together. In one of its most memorable scenes, Romberg must give an impromptu demonstration of work-in-progress for his financial backer, Bert Townsend (Paul Stewart), and Ferrer does all the parts, male and female, singing and dancing his way through the whole play. It looks and sound ridiculous, but Ferrer's energy is awe-inspiring.

Three distinctive women guide Romberg through life and help him make peace with his unlikely success. The first is Anna Mueller (Helen Traubel, in a role originally conceived for Jeannette MacDonald), a maternal figure who owns the Café Vienna on Second Avenue where Romberg is discovered playing piano and leading his band and to which he returns to celebrate each new opening. The second is Dorothy Donnelly (Merle Oberon), a real historical figure and a successful Broadway actress, who is the first to recognize Romberg's talent and recommends him to leading producer J.J. Schubert (Walter Pidgeon). Later she becomes his occasional writing partner and (in DiMH's portrayal) secretly carries a torch for her musical friend. The third is Lillian Harris (Doe Avedon, who replaced Donna Reed due to a scheduling a conflict), whom Romberg courts and weds despite her Midwestern family's suspicions about show business. Their love inspires some of his most emotional melodies.

As Romberg's career marches across decades, director Donen unleashes one elaborate musical number after another, varying genres from romantic duets to comic chaos. The constant rotation is obviously meant to showcase the variety of Romberg's output, although it sometimes has the effect of making DiMH a kind of "variety pack" with only the composer and his struggles as a common thread. One minute we are watching Romberg and Anna sing "Leg of Mutton", which is supposed to be Romberg's first effort at a popular song. The next, Romberg is called on to step into the shoes of an ailing leading man, so that we can be treated to the sight of Ferrer and Rosemary Clooney, a married couple in real life, performing the song "Mr. and Mrs." from Romberg's The Blushing Bride. Then Gene and Fred Kelly sing and dance to "I Love to Go Swimmin' with Wimmen" (their only joint appearance in a feature film). Then Ann Miller shimmies through a kinetic dance routine to "It" from The Desert Song; Cyd Charisse performs a graceful ballet (with vocals dubbed by Carol Richards) to "One Alone" from the same work; and Howard Keel intones "Your Land and My Land" from the Civil War drama My Maryland.

And that's just a sample. DiMH is no masterwork in MGM's musical catalog, but it's a one-of-a-kind tribute to a unique talent, and an anthology of production numbers unlike any other. Any fan of classic movie musicals should see it at least once, and some will find themselves developing a fondness for it, because Ferrer's Romberg, even when he's at his most obnoxious, has an oddly winning quality about him. It's in the music.

Deep In My Heart Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Deep in My Heart was shot by George J. Folsey (Meet Me in St. Louis) on Eastmancolor stock. Like another film recently released on Blu-ray and shot in 1954 during the studios' transition to widescreen, the film was original framed at 1.75:1. For this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray, the Warner Archive Collection has framed DiMH at 1.77:1. DiMH was previously released by Warner on DVD in 2008, but for Blu-ray a new scan was created at 2k from an interpositive by Warner's Motion Picture Imaging facility. Substantial cleaning and restoration of the image was undertaken in the digital domain, and a few shots had to be substituted from dupes because of damage or similar issues.

The Blu-ray image is remarkable, with mostly solid blacks except where dupes have been used. An alert viewer may occasionally notice a bluish cast to some of the tuxedos worn by Romberg or his musicians (e.g., in the concluding concert scene), but this is an effect of lighting rather than an issue with the image, as the remaining blacks in the frame remain steady. Colors are vibrant, and detail is strong, all of which allows one to appreciate the elaborate decor and costumes of the many production numbers, as well as Romberg's increasingly improved fortunes as his success grows. No filtering or noise reduction has been applied, nor does there appear to be any edge enhancement or artificial sharpening. The grain pattern is fine and natural.

WAC has mastered DiMH at its preferred rate of 35 Mbps, and the film's complex imagery makes good use of the bandwidth. The compression appears to have been carefully performed.

Deep In My Heart Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

According to IMDb, DiMH was released to theaters in three-track stereo. When the film was being released on laserdisc in 1996, a new 5.0 mix was created from the original dialogue and effects tracks, using the mixing log from 1954. The goal was to recreate the release mix as closely as possible. No ".1" track was included, because the source materials did not provide sufficient deep bass for a true LFE channel. Unfortunately, this new multichannel track proved to be too expensive to provide on laserdisc at a point where Dolby Digital was just making its first appearance in the home. The 5.0 mix was first heard, in lossy format, on the 2008 DVD of DiMH, and it is now making it premiere on Blu-ray in lossless DTS-HD MA 5.0.

The remix gives the orchestral performances a thrilling fullness across the front soundstage, with the rear channels providing a sense of space and depth. Dynamic range and clarity are both impressive, especially in the rendering of the vocal performances, which reach operatic highs in the case of singers like Helen Traubel; rich deep voices such as Howard Keel's baritone sound equally good. Dialogue is clearly rendered, even when José Ferrer delivers it at top speed, which is often. Whether or not one emerges from watching the Blu-ray of DiMH as a fan of Romberg's music, there is little doubt that this reproduction gives it as good a showcase as possible.

Deep In My Heart Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The extras have been ported over from Warner's 2008 DVD of Deep in My Heart.

• Strauss Fantasy (480i; 1.85:1; 9:49): This 1954 short presents the MGM orchestra conducted by Johnny Green playing a kind of medley/melange of waltzes and polkas by Johann Strauss I and his sons, Josef Strauss and Johann Strauss II.



• Farm of Tomorrow (480i; 1.37:1; 6:32): In this 1954 MGM cartoon, Tex Avery offers his unique take on modern technology to "improve" agriculture and animal husbandry.



• Dance My Darling Outtake (480i; 1.37:1; 3:05): A deleted song performed by Helen Traubel ("Anna Mueller").



• Girlies of the Cabaret Outtake (480i; 1.37:1; 1:16): A deleted song performed by George Murphy.



• One Kiss/Lover Come Back to Me Audio Outtake (7:21): Two songs performed by Tony Martin and Joan Weldon. Only the second is used in the film.



• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1.78:1; 4:35): "The Greatest Array of Musical Talent in All Picturedom Is Coming to This Theatre . . . "

Deep In My Heart Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Deep in My Heart won't appeal to all viewers, but it's a unique artifact of a bygone era, and it reflects a genuine love of an art form that provides an essential substratum for modern entertainment, just as silent films laid the foundation for the movies of today. Anyone who loves movie musicals will find something to enjoy here, whether it's the central performance or the kaleidoscope of production numbers or simply the idealized evocation of Broadway a century ago. WAC has done their usual creditable job in bringing DiMH to Blu-ray. For those who have a taste for it, recommended.