Nelson Eddy screenshot – tears during “Czaritza” duet in “Maytime”!
Nelson Eddy…at last a screenshot that captures his emotion during the operatic number, “Czaritza”, with co-star Jeanette MacDonald, from the 1937 film Maytime. Thank goodness for today’s high-definition which allows us to see what was generally only spotted in 35mm theater prints of this film – and only if you knew precisely when to look closely and catch the light reflecting on Nelson’s tears. (In 16 mm prints and on VHS tapes, the picture quality was always slightly muddied and details like this were harder to spot.)
Art mirrored life at this time; in the film sequence the two characters loved each other but were forced to part. Same as it was in life, for Jeanette was recently engaged to actor Gene Raymond and Nelson tried in vain to get her to call off that marriage, warning her that she would regret it the rest of her life.
Did she live to regret it? There is much evidence to substantiate that in a big way. Even the naysayers who want to believe all the hundreds of happily posed shots of Jeanette and Gene over the years – have to ask themselves why Jeanette suffered breakdowns in the late ’40s and early ’50s. These were admitted to both in the press and by Jeanette herself in her autobiography. If so happy with her life, why would this normally optimistic, focused woman emotionally flounder and crumble?
Thanks to Kitty Job for catching the screenshot and to Katie Gardner for forwarding it to me, with this comment:
The guy is crying. This of course is right before she reaches up and strokes his hair…..So you know, either Nelson was ONE HELL of an actor or……he wasn’t!
January 29, 2014 @ 3:12 pm
Well, I mean, Nelson is always getting crap for being “wooden” or a “bad actor” so………..pray explain this, kids. Whenever something truly moving/emotional seems to happen with Jeanette, suddenly he is “only acting” …but I thought he couldn’t act? Which is it? The way I see it, it can’t be both! Either he could act and didn’t love Jeanette, in which case every rotten thing said about his acting needs to be revoked straight away, OR he’s a lousy actor but a man in love, so emotion is easy for him in this capacity. That’s all I’m saying….. 0:-D
January 30, 2014 @ 2:33 pm
No one is claiming that Nelson was a “lousy actor”. It seems tears are a bit more than the script asked for, when it came to him and this scene. He was a “natural”, honest actor, tending to react rather than “act”. He also has tears in his eyes in the “Will You Remember” scene under the tree. Obviously his emotions were high, given what was happening at the time. He loved Jeanette but she rebuffed him and was marrying someone else. From the movie set reports, “Czaritza” was a difficult sequence to film for them both. And did you also notice at one point there is long shot of the two, and Jeanette seems to crumble into Nelson, then there is a cut? If I can get a decent screenshot of that I will post it…