Stars: Jose Ferrer, Merle Oberon, Helen Taubel, Doe Avdon
MGM pulled out all the stops for Deep in my Heart - lavish production values, 12 musical numbers, & numerous guest-stars. Among the highlights: Gene Kelly and his brother dance "I love to go swimming with Women", Howard Keel belts out "Your Land, my Land", Ann Miller is an "It Girl", sleek Cyd Charisse heats up the screen with "Desert song", and towering Tamara Toumanova sings "'allo 'allo". Donen keeps things moving and Oberon/Avedon look lovely. That's the positive side.
On the negative side, in-between the guest-star production numbers, we get the standard, mediocre, Hollywood bio-pic. The real Romberg is ignored, and instead we get fictional Romberg - a friendly, slightly dull fellow, who meets-cute, courts, and finally marries Doe Avedon. His only flaw is his desire to write "serious music" that the public doesn't want.
Even worse, Romberg is played by the charmless Jose Ferrer. Whether its romancing Ms. Avdeon, cutely denouncing pop music, or expressing a desire for success, Ferrer sounds the same. Sporting a dodgy German accent, his foghorn voice only has one note. Incredibly, he's given a 10 minute production number and numerous chances to sing and dance, all which show he can't do either. Imagine E.G. Marshall or Lee J. Cobb tap-dancing and singing. Its sorta of like that.
Summary: Like Sig Romberg, Deep in my Heart is almost completely forgotten. Despite the excellent Donen direction and lavish production values "the Book" portion is, like its leading man, charmless and dull. At 132 minutes, its a long haul. However, the guest-star production numbers are worth seeing.
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