The greatest movie ever!

Good concept, poorly executed.

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

I do like operetta a lot, and I love Lawrence Tibbett not just for his unique voice in that it is powerful whatever register he sings in but also for his vivid and charismatic presence. Of the films he did, New Moon is my personal favourite with Metropolitan not close behind. I agree about the story, it is creaky, hokey and very ridiculous like the story of the operetta except in this case more so, and I also think the movie is too short. However, I do like the production values, especially the costumes, excepting the poorly shot climatic battle. The music is absolutely great, both songs and score, and there is some amusing dialogue and snappy pacing. Roland Young is delightfully droll, and Adolphe Menjou is a fine presence. Then we have Grace Moore, charming yet shrewish, she is my personal favourite of the leading ladies in the films of Lawrence Tibbett. As for Tibbett, aside from the delightful music and sweet romance, with his charisma and wonderful singing, he steals the picture. Overall, I like New Moon a lot, I tend to forget the creaky story, when the music, Moore and Tibbett are so good. 8/10 Bethany Cox

There is no escape from the overt silliness in this stage operetta slapped together by director Jack Conway featuring the magnificent voices of Met opera stars Lawrence Tibbet and Grace Moore. The acting is stiff and the the plot inane but it is easy to forgive when one or both launch into song.Michael Petrov, a Russian officer with a roving eye falls for Princess Strogoff on board The New Moon. She reciprocates but withholds the fact she is engaged to his commanding officer (Adolph Menjou) who sensing the spark between the two sends Petrov off to command a fort on the frontier where the soldiers have a habit of murdering commanding officers. He establishes order by shooting a few malcontents but soon finds the outpost surrounded and grossly outnumbered by the enemy. As tensions mount the princess comes roaring up in a Stutz Bearcat to the front gate to find some closure with Petrov. Like I said, quite silly.Pre-dating the more famous singing sweethearts Nelson Eddy and Jeanette McDonald Tibbet and Moore are their vocal equals and then some. With finer production values, technical improvements, better chemistry and the fact that McDonald was a fine actress, the others just superb singers, everything about New Moon is inferior, but watching the pair sing Wanting You and Lover Come Back to Me is solid gold. It nearly makes up for the ridiculous plot and execution of the film which can be remedied in some way by embracing its unintentional humor.

The plot of this Hammerstein-Romberg operetta worked just fine on the Broadway stage in 1928, but for some incomprehensible reason was relocated by the filmmakers from New Orleans during the French Revolution to Tsarist (!) Russia in some undefined fantasy time period, complete with flagrantly anachronistic 1920's automobiles. The lovers, Lawrence Tibbett and Grace Moore, are vocally superb but physically ill-suited to each other. Although she sings beautifully, Moore looks frumpy, middle-aged and rather sour throughout, and behaves more like her own disapproving aunt than the young princess she is supposed to be playing. It's hard to tell if she is in love with Tibbett or contemptuous of him. Tibbett himself, with his unusually boyish features, nevertheless cuts a commanding figure, making a compelling hero in the military mode. Two of the best-known songs from the piece, "Stouthearted Men" and "Lover Come Back to Me," are given ample screen time. Generally speaking, the tone of the film is light and even tongue-in- cheek, as befits the operetta tradition. But the experience of the Tibbett-Moore duo makes it clear why there was a need for Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. The pacing isn't bad (better at the beginning) and the songs occur frequently enough, though after about an hour you just want them to get on with it.

Having deleted much of the music in the stage production, the film makers injected a lengthy battle sequence - presumably to offer something the original could not. This was a regrettable decision for an operetta, as it alters the tone of the film to such an extent that the romance, sweetness and charm of the earlier segments are pushed to the background, and music seems inappropriate for what follows. The editing of this film, particularly in those battle scenes, is heavy-handed; but even the light moments are pockmarked by overly-long pauses, and shots of sets that remain empty for several seconds, until someone walks into the frame.Lawrence Tibbett lacks the commanding presence of a leading man. He and Grace Moore do not make for an electrifying couple. She looks old enough to be his mother (or, more charitably, he looks young enough to be her son). Of course, they sing beautifully and/or vigorously, as required. That's why they're in the picture. But it's not enough. Little or no help from Roland Young and Gus Shy in supposedly humorous supporting roles.