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Mr. Imperium
MGM ruled the 1940's and 50's where making musicals were concerned, but they had a serious misstep with an unremarkable piece of fluff from 1951 called Mr. Imperium, a star-crossed musical romance that doesn't really work because of the questionable casting of the leads.
Lana Turner, one of MGM's biggest stars though not known for musicals. plays Fredrika "Fredda" Barlow, a nightclub singer working in Italy who meets a European prince named Prince Alexis (Ezio Pinza), with whom she has a whirlwind romance that comes to an end when the Prince's father falls ill and the Prince must assume the throne. Twelve years later, Fredda, now a big movie star, is reunited with the King, who now calls himself Mr. Imperium,. at a Palm Springs resort.
The story is really not the problem. Director and co-screenwriter Don Hartman has brought us a predictable, but viable story that plays just like a lot of other musicals of the period, but the odd casting of the leads really make this one a rather labored musical journey. The sense I got as I watched this film is that this film was intended for stars that just weren't available at the time. For some reason, Lana Turner is cast in a musical comedy playing a singer, even though she can't sing (her singing is dubbed by Trudi Ervin) and her leading man, Pinza, freshly plucked from Broadway's production of South Pacific, where he originated the role of Emile DeBeque, is inexperienced onscreen, not to mention that he is WAY too old to be a believable romantic interest for Turner. Watching these two onscreen reminded me of watching Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron in Daddy Long Legs...great dancers, but there was a real "ick" factor watching them together.
This film also suffers from another disease that plagued a lot of MGM musicals. They loved to set their stories in foreign locations like Italy and Paris, and even though there were a few establishing shots of Italy and Paris, it's glaringly obvious that this production never left the confines of an MGM soundstage.
Turner looks great but she appears to be as uncomfortable in this kind of role as she should be. Pinza has a gorgeous voice, but his hammy performance is only outdone by his lack of chemistry with Turner. Barry Sullivan is wasted in a small role as Lana's Hollywood boyfriend, but Marjorie Main and a very young Debbie Reynolds are fun as the resort manager and her nosy niece. Even the most devout musical fan might want to give this one a pass.
MGM ruled the 1940's and 50's where making musicals were concerned, but they had a serious misstep with an unremarkable piece of fluff from 1951 called Mr. Imperium, a star-crossed musical romance that doesn't really work because of the questionable casting of the leads.
Lana Turner, one of MGM's biggest stars though not known for musicals. plays Fredrika "Fredda" Barlow, a nightclub singer working in Italy who meets a European prince named Prince Alexis (Ezio Pinza), with whom she has a whirlwind romance that comes to an end when the Prince's father falls ill and the Prince must assume the throne. Twelve years later, Fredda, now a big movie star, is reunited with the King, who now calls himself Mr. Imperium,. at a Palm Springs resort.
The story is really not the problem. Director and co-screenwriter Don Hartman has brought us a predictable, but viable story that plays just like a lot of other musicals of the period, but the odd casting of the leads really make this one a rather labored musical journey. The sense I got as I watched this film is that this film was intended for stars that just weren't available at the time. For some reason, Lana Turner is cast in a musical comedy playing a singer, even though she can't sing (her singing is dubbed by Trudi Ervin) and her leading man, Pinza, freshly plucked from Broadway's production of South Pacific, where he originated the role of Emile DeBeque, is inexperienced onscreen, not to mention that he is WAY too old to be a believable romantic interest for Turner. Watching these two onscreen reminded me of watching Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron in Daddy Long Legs...great dancers, but there was a real "ick" factor watching them together.
This film also suffers from another disease that plagued a lot of MGM musicals. They loved to set their stories in foreign locations like Italy and Paris, and even though there were a few establishing shots of Italy and Paris, it's glaringly obvious that this production never left the confines of an MGM soundstage.
Turner looks great but she appears to be as uncomfortable in this kind of role as she should be. Pinza has a gorgeous voice, but his hammy performance is only outdone by his lack of chemistry with Turner. Barry Sullivan is wasted in a small role as Lana's Hollywood boyfriend, but Marjorie Main and a very young Debbie Reynolds are fun as the resort manager and her nosy niece. Even the most devout musical fan might want to give this one a pass.