''Under Your Spell'' is a 1936 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film with music directed by

Otto Preminger Otto Ludwig Preminger ( , ; 5 December 1905 – 23 April 1986) was an Austrian-American theatre and film director, film producer, and actor. He directed more than 35 feature films in a five-decade career after leaving the theatre. He first gai ...

. The screenplay by

Frances Hyland Frances Hyland (April 25, 1927 – July 11, 2004) was a Canadian stage, film and television actress. She earned recognition for roles on stage (including ten seasons with Stratford Festival) and screen (including her performance as Nanny Louisa ...

and Saul Elkins is based on a story by

Sy Bartlett Sidney "Sy" Bartlett (born Sacha Baraniev; July 10, 1900 – May 29, 1978) was a Ukrainian American author and screenwriter/producer of Hollywood films. Early life Sy Bartlett was born on July 10, 1900 in the Black Sea seaport of Mykolaiv in th ...

and Bernice Mason.

Plot

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

star Anthony Allen lives a privileged but controlled life, recording hit songs and drawing large crowds to performances while existing in constant strain with his agent Petroff, who imposes on him a stressful performance schedule and a near-constant chain of vacuous promotional stunts.

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

socialite Cynthia Drexel sees Allen perform in a production of Gounod's ''Faust'' and makes a bet with her longtime suitor, the Count Raul du Rienne: either she can make the notoriously unavailable Allen sing at a private party, or else she will marry him. After the show, Drexel makes a deal with Petroff, offering him $15,000 ($288,187 in 2021 dollars) as a fee for his appearance at a private party. Not knowing of this new arrangement, Allen is especially insulted by one final publicity stunt, fires Petroff, and flees with devoted manservant Botts, first to his hometown in

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

, then to his secluded cabin in the Sierra Madres. Neither Petroff nor Botts can convince him to return to his life as a public figure, forcing Drexel to set out in her own private plane to find him. Drexel confronts Allen in the Sierra Madres, where she fails to convince him to return, but does attract his romantic interest. The two spend a tense but romantically charged weekend together, until a misunderstanding compels Cynthia to hastily leave. Now intrigued, Allen returns to Chicago with her belongings. He finds Drexel furious; she criticizes his singing and (falsely) tells him she has no romantic interest in him, as she is engaged to Count Du Rienne. Cynthia sues him for

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other party ...

, but in court Anthony argues that he refused to sing for her because of her lack of appreciation for his talent, and the case is dismissed. Drexel and Allen, each of whom have realized the depth of their feelings for each other, arrange to meet outside the courtroom. Allen conceals himself in a doorway, and when Drexel walks by, he pulls her inside and proceeds to viciously spank her. They emerge a happy couple. Petroff calls a press conference at which he announces their union, and the couple signs their marriage license.

Cast

Lawrence Tibbett Lawrence Mervil Tibbett (November 16, 1896 – July 15, 1960) was an American opera singer and recording artist who also performed as a film actor and radio personality. A baritone, he sang leading roles with the Metropolitan Opera in New York ...

..... Anthony Allen *

Wendy Barrie Wendy Barrie (born Marguerite Wendy Jenkins; 18 April 1912 – 2 February 1978) was a British-American film and television actress. Early life Barrie was born in London to English parents. Her father, Francis Charles John Graigoe Jenkin KC ...

..... Cynthia Drexel *

Gregory Ratoff Gregory Ratoff (born Grigory Vasilyevich Ratner; russian: Григорий Васильевич Ратнер, tr. ; April 20, c. 1893 – December 14, 1960) was a Russian-born American film director, actor and producer. As an actor, he was bes ...

..... Petroff *

Arthur Treacher Arthur Veary Treacher (, 23 July 1894 – 14 December 1975) was an English film and stage actor active from the 1920s to the 1960s, and known for playing English types, especially butler and manservant roles, such as the P.G. Wodehouse valet c ...

..... Botts *

Gregory Gaye Gregory Gaye (born Grigoriy Grigoryevich Ge; October 10, 1900 – August 23, 1993) was a Russian-American character actor. The son of an actor, he was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was the uncle of actor George Gaynes. He was a cadet ...

..... Count Raul Du Rienne * Charles Richman ..... Uncle Bob

Production

Otto Preminger had been working as an apprentice at

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

for nearly eight months when studio head

Darryl F. Zanuck Darryl Francis Zanuck (September 5, 1902December 22, 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. He played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of ...

assigned him to the film,Hirsch, Foster, ''Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf 2007. , pp. 56-60 a remake of the

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

release ''Las fronteras del amor'', which

Frank R. Strayer Frank Raymond Strayer (September 21, 1891 – February 3, 1964) was an actor, film writer, director and producer. He was active from the mid-1920s until the early 1950s. He directed a series of 14 '' Blondie!'' (1938) movies as well. Biography ...

had directed for Fox two years earlier.Fujiwara, Chris, ''The World and Its Double: The Life and Work of Otto Preminger''. New York: Macmillan Publishers 2009. , pp. 16-17 Zanuck had

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

under contract, and following the commercial failure of the high-budget '' Metropolitan'' in 1935, he was anxious to rid himself of the singer and thought Preminger could serve as his hatchet man. Tibbett was aware of Zanuck's feelings and didn't blame the director, who was anxious to helm a film, for accepting the assignment, and he proved to be amiable both on and off the set. Filming began under the title ''Love Flight'' in mid-August 1936, soon after Preminger filed his Declaration of Intention to become a

naturalized American citizen Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

. Well under budget and ahead of schedule, principal photography was completed on September 15, and Zanuck was so pleased with Preminger's efficiency he signed him to a one-year contract at $1,000 per week, effective October 6. Prior to the film's release, its title was changed to ''Under Your Spell'', after one of three songs

Arthur Schwartz Arthur Schwartz (November 25, 1900 – September 3, 1984) was an American composer and film producer, widely noted for his songwriting collaborations with Howard Dietz. Biography Early life Schwartz was born in Brooklyn, New York City, on Novem ...

and

Howard Dietz Howard Dietz (September 8, 1896 – July 30, 1983) was an American publicist, lyricist, and librettist, best remembered for his songwriting collaboration with Arthur Schwartz. Biography Dietz was born in New York City. He attended Columbia Colle ...

had written for the score, the other two being "My Little Mule Wagon" and "Amigo." Tibbet also performed "Largo al factotum" from ''

The Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( it, Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione ) is an ''opera buffa'' in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was base ...

'' and "Le veau d'or" from ''

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads ...

'' in the film, which proved to be his last. The film opens with a lengthy tracking shot in a recording studio that established Preminger's preference for allowing camera movement to bind together all the elements of a scene. In another sequence, set during a trial, the director presaged his 1959 film ''

Anatomy of a Murder ''Anatomy of a Murder'' is a 1959 American courtroom drama and crime film produced and directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay by Wendell Mayes was based on the 1958 novel of the same name written by Michigan Supreme Court Justice John D. Vo ...

'' with his use of loud, overlapping dialogue to create a sense of courtroom reality.

Critical reception

In his review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'',

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

noted that the film had been released as the second feature of a

double bill The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown. Opera use Opera ho ...

and commented, "The picture itself is not nearly as black as this fortuitous circumstance has painted it." He praised Lawrence Tibbett's voice, calling it "the richest, the most dramatic, the most beautifully controlled vocal instrument on the contemporary screen, and no amount of soldiering by the Messrs. Schwartz and Dietz can disguise this amazing and gratifying phenomenon." In closing, he said, "Mr. Tibbett acquits himself as satisfactorily as could well be expected. The fact that the Tibbett voice could stand a more studiously thought-out setting will hardly be contested by any one."''New York Times'' review
/ref>

References

External links

* * {{Otto Preminger 1936 films 1936 musical comedy films 1936 romantic comedy films American musical comedy films American romantic comedy films American romantic musical films American black-and-white films Remakes of American films Films directed by Otto Preminger 20th Century Fox films Films scored by Arthur Lange 1930s English-language films 1930s American films