The Firefly (1937): Big voices, bigger hats, and way too much singing

Is it worth your time?

If you like old-school musicals where people just burst into song in the middle of a war room, you’ll probably have a good time. It’s charming in that very specific 1930s way. But if you have zero patience for operatic singing or plots that move at the speed of a snail, skip it. You will absolutely hate this.

Jeanette MacDonald is clearly the engine here. She’s got this presence that makes you ignore the fact that the script is basically a soap opera with military uniforms. Watching her navigate being a spy while trying to hold a note is a feat in itself.

The "Wait, what?" moments

The whole premise of a spy who just sings her way into secrets feels so silly today. You’re telling me Napoleon’s officers are just handing over tactical maps because they like an aria? Okay, sure. I’ll buy it for a couple of hours.

There is this one scene where the tension is supposed to be high, but everyone looks like they’re waiting for a bus. The blocking is weirdly stiff. It reminded me a bit of the awkward pacing you sometimes see in The Melody Lingers On where the drama stops dead just to let the music breathe.

The hats. My god, the hats. The costume department went absolutely wild. At one point, I stopped paying attention to the dialogue entirely because I was trying to figure out how a person keeps a headpiece that big from falling off during a dramatic scene.

Some random observations

• The chemistry between the leads is fine, but it feels like they’re acting in two different movies sometimes.
• The music is great, obviously, but it feels like it adds two hours to the runtime.
• There's a moment near the middle where a background character is clearly just walking back and forth behind a tree for like, forty seconds. I counted.
• It doesn't have the grit you find in something like Fargo Express, but that’s clearly not what they were going for.

It’s not a masterpiece. It’s not even trying to be one. It’s just a big, loud, expensive-looking musical from an era that didn't care if things made sense, as long as the costumes looked expensive. 💃