June 29th - Nelson Eddy's 109th Birthday.

TCM here remembered the day as they usually do, but with only two offerings last night: "Chocolate Soldier" and "Balalaika".

I always enjoy "Balalaika" for its music particularly, and Nelson does cut a dash in his Cossack uniform. But while I do think Ilona Massey was well cast, I think the pairing was less happy than with any other of his leading ladies. I don't know what their off-screen relationship was like, but on-screen, there was nothing happening. At times Nelson looked positively disinterested, and he wasn't a good enough actor to hide it.

At the end of film, when he's reunited with his lost love, Ilona Massey appears wearing traditional Russian costume –the very same worn by Jeanette MacDonald in the shadow opera in "Maytime". The look on Nelson's face when he turns and sees her looks to me more like horror than delight. A very telling moment, but not, I think, in the way the producer intended.

But the music! I love Russian folk music, and the flavour lent to some of the songs with the use of instruments such as the balalaika really appeals to me. I particularly love Nelson singing "Song of the Volga Boatmen" – it's a beautiful song and suits his voice very well. I also love the lilt of "At the Balalaika", and the little snippets of him singing "Silent Night" (in German) and the Russian national anthem. Another beautiful song, cut from the movie by some idiot decision of the producer, is the lovely waltz "The Magic Of Your Love", which is available on CD, thank goodness. There's also "Ride Cossack Ride", one of those rousing very masculine songs that became something of Nelson's trademark.

And here's the man himself in all his Cossack glory:

The white Cossack uniform worn by Nelson in the early scenes of "Balalaika" was offered for auction on ebay a couple of years ago by Debbie Reynolds. It was a private auction, so no details of where it ultimately went were released. I do recall that the reserve price was very high, and I so wished I were very rich!

I did wonder though why Ms Reynolds didn't donate it to the Hollywood Museum, where it really belongs. Surely she didn't need the money.

A quick searched turned up everything from "Stille Nacht" to "The Russian Easter Hymn." Heck, there was "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" too.

Here's "The Song of the Volga Boatmen."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y47zWyOaKWs&feature=related

I must confess I'm rather whelmed by Ilona Massey's reaction shots. I'd heard of her but never seen her in anything.

It really is one of my favourites of his repertoire, and I've been told by a Polish person that his Russian is flawless.

A lot of the Eddy/MacDonald clips were taken down a while ago; something to do with copyright, but now they've come back, and they get quite a lot of views.

I agree about Ilona Massey – she looked the part more than Jeanette would have, but there was absolutely nothing happening.