A Lady's Morals

A Lady's Morals is a 1930 American pre-Code film directed by Sidney Franklin. Its plot is a highly fictionalized account of opera singer Jenny Lind. The film features Grace Moore as Lind, Reginald Denny as a lover and Wallace Beery as P. T. Barnum. It contains operatic arias by Moore.

A Lady's Morals
Directed by	Sidney Franklin
Written by	Dorothy Farnum Hanns Kräly John Meehan Arthur Richman Claudine West
Produced by	Irving Thalberg
Starring	Grace Moore Reginald Denny Wallace Beery Gilbert Emery
Cinematography	George Barnes
Edited by	Margaret Booth
Music by	Vincenzo Bellini
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	November 8, 1930 (1930-11-08)
Running time	87 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Wallace Beery would play Barnum again four years later in The Mighty Barnum (1934), with Virginia Bruce as Jenny Lind.

Cast

• Grace Moore as Jenny Lind
• Reginald Denny as Paul Brandt
• Wallace Beery as P. T. Barnum
• Jobyna Howland as Josephine
• Gus Shy as Olaf
• Gilbert Emery as Broughm
• George F. Marion as Innkeeper
• Paul Porcasi as Innkeeper

Soundtrack

• "It Is Destiny": Lyrics by Clifford Grey, music by Oscar Straus, played by Reginald Denny on piano and sung by Grace Moore
• "Rataplan" (from La fille du régiment): Music by Gaetano Donizetti, sung by Moore
• "Student's Song": Music by Oscar Straus, lyrics by Clifford Grey, sung by students escorting Jenny home
• "Oh Why": Lyrics by Arthur Freed, music by Herbert Stothart and Harry M. Woods, played by Moore singing and on piano
• "Casta Diva" (from Norma): Music by Vincenzo Bellini, played at an opera house and sung by Moore
• "Swedish Pastorale": Written by Howard Johnson and Herbert Stothart, sung by a group in Sweden
• "Lovely Hour": Words and music by Carrie Jacobs-Bond, sung first by Moore off-screen and reprised at P. T. Barnum's show in New York
• "I Hear Your Voice": Music by Oscar Straus, lyrics by Clifford Grey

Reception

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Mordaunt Hall called the film's title "meaningless and unsuitable" and wrote: "This story, one of half-truths and fiction, ... is a conventional narrative and although Mr. Franklin delivers some imaginatively conceived sequences, there are others that are emphatically old fashioned in design. ... It is too mindful of the old things in motion pictures."

Remake

The film was remade as the 1932 American French-language film titled Jenny Lind.

External links

• A Lady's Morals at IMDb
• A Lady's Morals plot by Sanderson Beck (1999)