"Enter Madame!" begins with Gerald (Cary Grant) going to see an opera. He's smitten with the Prima Donna, Lisa Della Robbia (Elissa Landi)....and gets a set right up next to the stage. Out of the blue, an accident occurs and the lady's dress catches fire...and Gerald jumps on stage to save her. However, a stage hand released the curtain...and it knocks out Gerald after he's put out the fire. When he awakens, Lisa takes the injure man home to care for him. Very soon after, they are married. Unfortunately, Lisa's career and life choices make having a married life nearly impossible. And, once she loses him, she concocts a plan to try to trick Gerald into coming back to her.
Casting Cary Grant made sense, as although this is one of his early films, he already was well on his way to becoming a matinee idol. Landi, on the other hand, is an odd choice. While she is Italian, like many great opera singers, I could find nothing in what I read about her online which would indicate she ever sang opera or was known for her singing. I can only assume her singing was actually performed by someone else. This makes me wonder why they didn't just find an opera singer for the role, as Hollywood had a short infatuation in the 1930-40s with opera stars and tried to make several of them stars (such as Lawrence TIbbett and Grace Moore*). A few made it...though most of these sang operatic music but chose to act as opposed to doing opera full-time (such as Deanna Durbin, Nelson Eddy and Kathryn Grayson). So, it wasn't like the studio had to use an actress like Landi who wasn't actually a singer. If I am wrong about her singing, please let me know....but as I said, I could find NOTHING about her singing opera music.
So is it any good? Yes and no. Grant is very professional and exactly what you'd expect. Landi, on the other hand, is occasionally rather shrill...but I think the script and director probably instructed her to overact and scream a lot...like a stereotypical temperamental opera star. I don't know for sure...but it was not exactly subtle and should have been toned down a bit. The same can be said about a few of the supporting characters as well. Enjoyable but far from a must-see unless you are a die-hard Cary Grant fan.
*By the way, Grant DID star in a film with Ms. Moore ("When You're in Love"), a genuine opera star. Sadly, the Grace Moore films I have seen weren't particularly distinguished and her career in movies was rather brief.
