Mimi was one of a series of films that Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. did while visiting the United Kingdom from 1934 to 1936. It's a straight dramatic version of the Puccini opera, La Boheme.
Though The Rise of Catherine the Great is probably the best known and best received of the Fairbanks English films from this period, Mimi was a special one. It's also one of the few films that Gertrude Lawrence did and she did it at a time when she and Fairbanks were romantically involved.
In fact while making several films Fairbanks also appeared on the London stage in two different plays with Lawrence, Moonlight is Silver and The Winding Journey. Neither of those is first rank among the work of either Fairbanks or Lawrence.
And sad to say, neither is Mimi. Unfortunately realizing that their source material is from grand opera, both Fairbanks and Lawrence perform in the manner of grand opera. They overact outrageously, maybe inspired by the Puccini music that is used in the background. Doug and Gertie sure got no directorial help in this one.
Of course La Boheme served as the inspiration for the recent musical Rent and I'd suggest seeing that before watching Mimi.
Unless you're a big fan of Doug and Gert.
Though The Rise of Catherine the Great is probably the best known and best received of the Fairbanks English films from this period, Mimi was a special one. It's also one of the few films that Gertrude Lawrence did and she did it at a time when she and Fairbanks were romantically involved.
In fact while making several films Fairbanks also appeared on the London stage in two different plays with Lawrence, Moonlight is Silver and The Winding Journey. Neither of those is first rank among the work of either Fairbanks or Lawrence.
And sad to say, neither is Mimi. Unfortunately realizing that their source material is from grand opera, both Fairbanks and Lawrence perform in the manner of grand opera. They overact outrageously, maybe inspired by the Puccini music that is used in the background. Doug and Gertie sure got no directorial help in this one.
Of course La Boheme served as the inspiration for the recent musical Rent and I'd suggest seeing that before watching Mimi.
Unless you're a big fan of Doug and Gert.