Bitter Sweet (1940)

Drama • NR • Directed by: W.S. Van Dyke II • 93 minutes

Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy star in Noel Coward's operetta about a Victorian beauty who finds success on stage comes at a price that's Bitter Sweet. On the eve of an arranged marriage to a man she does not love, Victorian beauty Sarah Millick (MacDonald) elopes with her adoring voice teacher, Carl Linden (Eddy). The newlyweds flee to Vienna, where they struggle to earn a living from their music as Linden writes an operetta tailored exactly for his new bride. Linden finds a backer to produce the work, Baron von Tranisch (George Sanders), who is more interested in Sarah than the music--and who kills Linden in a sword fight before the production opens. Now, as Linden's operetta debuts, featuring Sarah as its star, her triumph is Bitter Sweet.