The Cat And The Fiddle

After Love Me Tonight, Jeanette MacDonald left for Europe and returned with an M-G-M contract. I Married an Angel was the studio's choice for the soprano's first Metro film. Choose again, said the censors. They would not approve a script about an angel losing her wings to a mortal. So The Cat and the Fiddle, with songs from the Kern-Harbaugh stage musical comedy largely intact, became the debut of Leo's newest star (I Married an Angel resurfaced in 1942 as the last of the famed MacDonald-Eddy films). Ironically, the new film's storyline did not offend the censors: MacDonald and Ramon Navarro portray struggling composers and live-in companions. Her "The Night Was Made for Love" becomes a huge hit but his career flounders. To escape the hubbub surrounding her, he packs up his suitcase and wounded pride and departs. But when the debut of his operetta is threatened, MacDonald shows up to save the show and rekindle their love. The film shifts to Technicolor for the triumphant finale -- a fitting end to a production that's witty and colorful throughout.