Bitter Sweet

Noel Coward adapted his operetta to the screen for this 1933 British version featuring English star Anna Neagle and French matinee idol Fernand Graavey in the lead roles. The story is told in flashback by the aging Sarah Linden (Neagle), by way of a warning to a young woman who is about to marry for money when she is really in love with an impoverished musician. Sarah embarks on the delightfully romantic tale of her youth, when she met the musician Carl Linden (Graavey) in London, eloped with him to Vienna, watched him become a cabaret orchestra leader and then watched him die. In typical Coward fashion, Linden "returns" from the dead--in the form of his music--and his demise is more a cause for gentle fun than maudlin tears. Songs include "If Love Were All," "Little Cafe," "Tokay," "What Is Love" and many others.

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