Customer Reviews

Dixiana/La Cucaracha

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Not a classic by any means, the DVD release of DIXIANA allows us to view an early (1930) talkie musical in pristine picture and sound, suggesting how it must of appeared to audiences of that day. Best of all, the last couple of reels have been restored to their original two-strip Technicolor beauty.

Bebe Daniela is charming and proves that a silent screen star could effortlessly make the transition to talkies. The male lead is played by Metropolitian Opera star Everett Marshall who displays a fine singing voice but limited acting talent.

The real star of this DVD is the stunning picture and sound. The short subject, La Cucharacha, is a nice bonus. While not as sharp as the feature visually, the historic importance of this short compliments DIXIANA nicely. In all, a highly recommended DVD.

Dixiana has been variously described as a 'dog', a 'prehistoric turkey', and worse before now (and that's from people who generally liked it and the people in it!). It's a clunky mix of operetta and vaudeville musical comedy which doesn't quite gel, but is typical of its period right at the dawn of the talking picture.

The DVD has been lovingly restored so even the two-strip colour sequence at the end looks pristine. In the cast, Bebe Daniels and Everett Marshall sing well enough - he wasn't a great actor, but never mind - and Wheeler and Woolsey, that talented pair of clowns from RKO's first decade, add their archaic brand of humour between the serious musical bits. Dixiana is far from their best but it is their only movie easily available, so it will have to do.

There are some who look at the Mexican revolution (1910-1920) as this dramatic and chivalrous moment in Mexican history which would bring land and "libertad" to the neglected masses. In reality the revolution destroyed families, led to the death of thousands and in the end changed very little as the heroes of the revolution didn't live to see their dream become reality. In "La Cucaracha", we experience the revolution from the eyes of Colonel Zeta (Emilio India Fernandez at his machista best), Isabel (Dolores del Rio), a widow who's professor husband is forced into service and La Cucaracha (Maria Felix), a soldadera who portrays one of the strongest female leads in a Mexican movie.

In Zeta we have perhaps one of the more powerful male figure trying desperately to keep the revolution going eventhough he has lost most of his men and people have lost interest in fighting. His demeanor is such that strikes fear into men. Zeta in turn is matched up against Maria Felix who is as his female counterpart, is a patriot to the revolution and to whom men hold allegiance to. A love triangle ensues between the two and Isabel. Midway through the movie we see that Zeta isn't really the brute that he has to be. The direction is swift, with some memorable battle conversation surrounding the merits of war. The music is of special note, with revolutionary ballads performed on camera by Cuco Sanchez and others. In a cameo performance there is a memorable performance by Pedro Armendariz. His cantina conversation with Zeta is a classic testosterone machista contra machista. Also appearing is Antonio Aguilar in one of his first roles as a young Capitan under General Carranza. During a dramatic moment he must chose his loyalty between Villa and Carranza. One interesting note, is that the director has chosen not to feature Villa at all. Although his presence is felt throughout the movie. Powerful peformances throughout, a must for fanatics of the above stars. The version I saw was not subtitled. There are so many good Mexican movies that arent seen because of this. A loss too many.

I had never seen the comedy team of Wheeler and Woolsey before I saw this movie, and at the very least they are an acquired taste. They were a successful Broadway act that made several movies together, all along the same style as this one. Wheeler plays the wide-eyed innocent to the more caustic Woolsey, whose comedy is very reminiscent of George Burns. "Dixiana" is basically a musical drama played out in the pre-Civil War south with comedy bits by Wheeler and Woolsey interspersed with the dramatic storyline. The problem is, this movie is just not big enough for the two of them. Wheeler and Woolsey's comedy really has nothing to do with the dramatic storyline, and the dramatic storyline is totally divorced from Wheeler and Woolsey's characters. Another problem is that large parts of the dramatic storyline never get sewed up. For example, there is a scene where the villain says he had something to do with rigging a duel involving a relative of the hero of the dramatic storyline - and that's the last we ever hear of it.

The music is pretty good, and the musical numbers have very lavish and in some cases unusual sets and costumes. The prime example is the opening number with Wheeler and Woolsey dressed up as dancing ostriches and Dixiana popping out of an egg to do her part of the musical number. Wheeler and Woolsey's comedy in this particular film falls flat by today's standards, but it is watchable enough and interesting since Wheeler and Woolsey kept RKO afloat during the Great Depression. I'd say it's worth viewing just for the weirdness of it all.

Cucharacha is an interesting little bonus to the set, mainly because of it being the earliest three-strip live action feature, made in 1934. The movies could finally do blue! Compare it to the two-strip color in the finale of Dixiana.

If you care about sound and video quality, this is the only copy of Dixiana worth having, since it has been restored along with its Technicolor sequences. The versions you see for eight dollars or in the fifty movie packs are hard to look at and harder to listen to and do not have the Technicolor sequences. Plus, several key scenes have been hacked out of those versions. I'm glad Roan restored this old musical, one of the last of its kind until Busby Berkeley revived the musical genre in 1933.

I have no idea what the reviewer of the "Mexicos finest performers" is babbling about. The "La Cucaracha" presented together with "Dixiana" is a double lame short dance/guitar-tink-a-tanking extravaganza, notable merely for it's place on the Technicolor stairway to oblivion, and not a film about the Mexican revolution. "Dixiana" promises to be very cool as it starts - with the circus/vaudeville settings and so on, but we very soon realize it is an unpardonable mishmash. Bebe Daniels is quite good, but that's ALL!!! Even the Technicolor sequence (actually the whole last reel) I was looking forward to anxiously turned out to be a complete waste of good celluloid - one of the most idiotic dance routines ever choreographed with costumes ugly as a whore's dream and dance girls from hell (they are from the worst kennel). The flick itself is presented in a perfectly good condition, the sound and colours being top quality. Too bad the ones who made this miserable epic didn't put more into it. But at least this one pretty much explains why the musicals were out in the early thirties - too much BS was being turned out and hadn't B.Berksley saved the industry, God knows what might have been!

Wheeler and Woolsey supposedly saved the RKO studios in the early 30's, so I was interested in seeing what this early comedy team was all about. Well, what they were about is a very stale, crude, wooden vaudeville comedy duo act. Do NOT expect Burns and Allen. These two guys were awful. One guy is tall, wears glasses, and does nothing but pull a cigar in and out of his ugly mouth while he barks out the lamest lines you can imagine. The other guy is a short, somewhat wimpy/effeminate, guy with a whiny voice who doesn't do anything but stand close to the other guy. It was a pretty dismal routine. The film itself is of no interest to anyone but those obsessives who need to see it for the early technicolor sequence (wasted on a lame dance act and one of Bill Robinson's least inspired tap routines). The plot has something to do with plantations, freed slaves, music halls, practical jokes, searching for a bride, and dancing. I couldn't figure it out, but since it wasn't 'Showboat", I figured it wasn't worth trying to. I love old movies but this is scraping the very bottom of the lowest barrel.