Pierna de plata

Maxwell Anderson's story, especially his comments about governments and their component politicians and bureaucrats, are, of course, toned down in this flawed motion picture adaptation of his classic Broadway play, but they still bite enough that I can recommend everyone to watch "Knickerbocker Holiday."

In my opinion, Charles Coburn stole this. He was always a very good to great actor, but his attempting a musical role just astonishes and impresses me.

And with a peg leg!

Coburn's version of "September Song" is at least as good as Walter Huston's, and neither was really a singer, just both superior actors.

Nelson Eddy was a good singer, but didn't have much to sing in this version. His leading lady, Constance Dowling, who died awfully young and with far too few credits, was not only beautiful and charming, she also could really sing. What a shame there are not more of her works available to us.

It's a Hollywood fairly low-budget movie made in the middle of World War II, and it has flaws. But the Anderson story and dialogue make it very worthwhile.

There is a fuzzy print at YouTube. The person who uploaded it apologizes for the mediocre quality of the print, but emphasizes the hard-to-find aspects of the movie so I think we can be grateful we have anything.