Under Your Spell

Under Your Spell is not an exceptional movie by all means, the story is very routine, the film is too short and some of the dialogue doesn't convince. But it is worth seeing. The film does look good, with some nice camera shots particularly the lengthy one at the beginning of the film, and has two great scenes. The courtroom scene with its use of loud, overlapping dialogue is very amusing and possibly Under Your Spell's comic highlight. The other is Lawrence Tibbett singing Le veau d'or, which he performs superbly with an exciting presence and very controlled singing both in the upper and lower registers. I quite liked the costumes too, Tibbett's Mephistopheles costume makes him every bit the imposing demon he is meant to be. Preminger directs admirably, but while Wendy Barrie and Arthur Treacher give fine support, the music(consisting of three songs written for the film and old favourites Largo al factotum, which is very lively and entertaining in performance even if the bravissimo section is slightly rushed, and Le veau d'or) and Tibbett steal the film seamlessly. Overall, a good and underrated watch. 7/10 Bethany Cox