A total piece of fiction deals with the legendary Peter Stuyvescent and his reign as governor of the colony, his love for a young maiden (Constance Dowling) and his manipulation of a young journalist (Nelson Eddy) whom Dowling loves, getting him out of the way by sending him to prison. Coburn is a delightful old codger, crafty and manipulative and as young inside as Eddy is outside. That is covered in his big solo, "September Song", which humanizes him, although where there's politics and power, there's doubt of integrity. Coburn's presence was acceptable to the public because of his lovable quotient at the time, considering the popularity of Walter Huston who originated this part and had a hit single with "September Song". Eddy and Dowling lack the chemistry he had with Jeanette Macdonald; she's just average as a leading lady. A very thin Shelley Winters (no s, though listed in her last name) is noticeable in a shocking small cameo. Percy Kilbride (looking like Stan Laurel while playing one of the Schemerhorn's) and Ernest Cossart are also recognizable underneath their heavy Puritan costumes. There's a delightful opening explaining why it's New Amsterdam, not New York. It's played as a farce, obviously a parody at the times. Something tells me that's not how the original on Broadway was written. So it's a nice entertaining musical, one I can call the best ever set in New Amsterdam, well probably the only one.

There is no denying that is a low budget film, especially compared to Eddy's MGM classics. Yet there is something very satisfying about this musical. Eddy plays a small publisher who dares to criticize the local government. Charles Coburn is the visiting Governor, who is a scheming crook only interested in bettering his personal situation. The two men are sure to have a conflict. The conflict is heightened when Coburn meets Eddy's lady, the delightful Constance Dowling, and he takes a romantic interest in the lady.If this all sounds very dramatic, it is not. The film has it's tongue firmly in it's cheek throughout and the comedy parts are the film's strength. Of note, the print I purchased on Bonanza did include September Song as I understand the song is deleted in some prints. However, it should be noted the song is sung by Charles Coburn, not Eddy. And finally, I'd like to say how much I enjoyed the films opening musical number. The song is very catchy and the production is very amusing and well done.

Knickerbocker Holiday was one of three feature films Nelson Eddy starred in after leaving MGM after his last starring role with Jeanette MacDonald in I Married An Angel. His first film was the highly successful Phantom of the Opera, the third was a disastrous original musical for Republic, Northwest Outpost. Falling somewhere in the middle was Knickerbocker Holiday. It's not that it's a bad film, but nearly all the Kurt Weill-Maxwell Anderson score is eliminated and a whole lot of the biting satire in the book. Knickerbocker Holiday ran for 168 performances on Broadway during the 1938-1939 season and starred Walter Huston as Peter Stuyvesant, the famous one legged colonial governor of New Amsterdam, the last one before the British took over the colonies. Walter Huston's famous talk/sing version of the immortal September Song is world famous. Why they didn't get Huston for the screen is a mystery, but why Charles Coburn as Stuyvesant tried to actually sing the song is frightening. Coburn was decidedly not blessed with a singing voice and he really looks bad next to Nelson Eddy. Coburn can best be described as bellowing the immortal ballad.Eddy took the role of the young firebrand Brom Broeck, a part not unlike the one he did at MGM in Let Freedom Ring. He doesn't get to sing the immortal September Song. His songs are quite forgettable and most of them were written by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn who certainly have a lot better work to their credit. In fact a ballad entitled It Never Was You was Brom Broeck's big number on stage and that was eliminated. I commend a recording that Judy Garland made of it for Capitol records in the fifties. She sang it also in I Could Go On Singing.Playing Eddy's love interest is Constance Dowling who sings nice and who Coburn is also on the prowl for. In fact the September Song is his way of wooing her by saying he's not getting any younger. Her younger sister is Shelley Winters in one of her first screen roles. I also liked Ernest Cossart as their greedy father and Percy Kilbride as the timid jailer of New Amsterdam.Sad to say for all involved it was a nice effort, but a lot of improvement could have made this a classic.