The Firefly [1937] [DVD]

“There's a song in the air, but the gay senorita doesn't seem to care . . .” Yes, it's the Donkey Serenade movie, with Allan Jones singing his heart out to vivacious Jeanette MacDonald, winning her from stern Warren William during the Spanish Peninsular War, as she takes a break from her regular singing swain Nelson Eddy.

MGM's production is so glossy and the film's length so nearly unendurable that its flimsy origins (an operetta by Rudolf Friml) are all but forgotten under Robert Z “Pops” Leonard's classy direction. Incidentally, the operetta of the same name has a completely different plot!

Period musical starring Jeanette MacDonald and Allan Jones. In early 19th-century Madrid, a Spanish spy poses as a singer in order to uncover Napoleon's plans to invade Spain. But her mission is threatened when she falls in love with a French secret agent.