:40:03
was previously built, believe it or not,
:40:06
as the hallway in the home of
Manhattan millionaire Charles Laughton
:40:09
in Durbin's 1941 musical
It Started With Eve.
:40:13
The ersatz opera we're watching is titled
Amour et Gloire, "Love and Glory",
:40:18
with a French Empire-era setting.
:40:21
It reminded English critic James Agate
of the quartet in Rigoletto
:40:25
in its setting and design.
:40:27
Dancers for this and the Russian opera
were choreographed by Lester Horton.
:40:32
Hedda Hopper reported
in the Los Angeles Times
:40:35
that Lubin had ordered
24 people who could do the polonaise
:40:38
but got 24 Polynesians,
including two expectant mothers.
:40:42
I've looked, but I can't find them here.
:40:44
The music is based on themes of Chopin:
:40:47
his "Polonaise in A-flat",
which is heard here,
:40:50
and Susanna's great aria to come
:40:53
is based on the nocturne,
"Opus 9, Number 2".
:40:59
The picture was in production for
two months and finished in mid-March.
:41:03
Joseph Breen, head of
the Production Code or the MPPDA,
:41:07
reviewed the completed film on March 21
:41:10
and communicated displeasure
to Morris Pavar,
:41:13
head of editorial at Universal.
:41:15
Vera West had designed some revealing
risqué dresses and gowns for Susanna,
:41:20
and because of this peekaboo wardrobe
Breen refused to approve the film
:41:24
"in its present form, as it contains
a number of unacceptable breast shots".
:41:33
Breen obviously watched the picture
with Pavar, as he would say
:41:36
"I endeavoured to point out to you
as many of these as we could catch
:41:40
as the picture moved along."
:41:41
Film editor Russ Schoengarth
went back through the coverage,
:41:45
struggling to find long shots
that would not offend.
:41:48
Where the footage didn't exist to distance
Miss Foster's breasts,
:41:51
out went the shot, including an entire
cadenza of her solo during this number.
:41:57
"I don't know why they were worried,"
Susanna says. "I was a little bitty thing,