Sweet Adeline

A movie matchup for the ages starts here. This first of five teamings of velvet-voiced Irene Dunne and composer Jerome Kern is a lushly tuneful Gay Nineties musical about the trials of Adeline Schmidt (Dunne), a singer who could rise from headlining at her father's Hoboken beer garden to starring on Broadway -- if she can straighten out her love life. Will she choose the dashing Spanish-American war hero backing her show (Louis Calhern) or the brash tunesmith (Donald Woods) who's all work and no romance? Add to those a spiteful diva (Winifred Shaw) threatening to lower the curtain via war espionage and show sabotage. More vital than the lightweight plot is the lighter-than-air score of this screen version of Show Boat collaborators Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's 1929 Broadway show, including songs Dunne hits out of the park: "Here Am I," "Lonely Feet," "We Were So Young," the ravishing "Why Was I Born?" and "Don't Ever Leave Me." As directed by Mervyn LeRoy and lovingly orchestrated by Ray Heindorf, Sweet Adeline won't ever leave you.

• drama
• musical
• romance