It has the “Lubitsch touch,” as it was directed by the revered director Ernst Lubitsch is quite Pre-Code in its content and is a musical, though it is not chockful with songs.
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The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) is a treasure trove of a film for a classic movie lover. The Criterion essay calls this film “infectiously giddy,” which is the perfect description.
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Claudette teaches Miriam how to jazz up her underwear to keep her husband. Based on the operetta Ein Walzertraum by Oscar Straus and a silent version of this story was filmed in 1925 under the title “The Waltz Dream.” In the 1950s, this film was believed to be lost but was found in the Danish Film Archives Shot simultaneously in French with all the actors speaking in French
Miriam Hopkins and Claudette Colbert also didn’t get along. Ernst Lubitsch and his wife Leni were going through a divorce and Maurice Chevalier mother had just died. Though a fun and happy film, not all was happy on set. To escape a potential court marshall, Niki says he was winking at Princess Anna, which complicates his love life. The king (Barbier) is furious, thinking Niki is laughing at his daughter, the Princess Anna (Hopkins). Nikolaus ‘Niki’ von Preyn (Chevalier) is standing at attention for the visiting king of Flausenthurm, he winks at his girlfriend Franzi (Colbert). Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert, Miriam Hopkins, Charles Ruggles, George Barbier, Hugh O’Connell, Elizabeth Patterson (uncredited) The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) – Musical #358 To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals. In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. And I personally did not like the resolution as the decision and writing feels a little disingenuous.Įrnst Lubitsch’s The Smiling Lieutenant is a so-so musical elevated only due to Maurice Chevalier’s infectious attitude and smile and some witty lines.It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals. Let’s just say Lubitsch was thinking with something far below his brain. And, with the screenplay only partially written during production, Lubitsch had to make a choice who the smiling lieutenant eventually ends up with. The ever-opportunistic Lubitsch encouraged the fighting in order to make the conflict on screen real. Both Colbert and Hopkins’ best sides just happened to be the best side. The lieutenant at first needs to lie to the royal family, saying he was smiling because he had never seen anyone as beautiful as the princess - a lie at first, but he discovers himself stuck in yup, you guessed it, the dreaded love triangle.Ĭolbert and Hopkins reportedly hated each other on set and jockeyed the cinematographers to shoot them on their better sides. The princess, whose reaction is dumbfoundedness to end all dumbfoundedness, is taken aback by this man, grinning from cheek to cheek like an oaf. Chevalier has a ridiculously charming smile and as the royal family of Flausenthurm passes by Chevalier, Miriam Hopkins - who plays the princess of Flausenthurm - takes a look at the smiling lieutenant. Chevalier’s character smiles at Claudette Colbert’s travelling violinist from across the street while standing at attention during a parade. It’s a strange fusion of screwball comedy and early sound musical which I found a bit strange. The quick-wit humor has since aged, sometimes eliciting a chuckle or maybe a good laugh or two, but nothing gut-bursting. It’s a remarkably skeletal musical score for a film considered to be a musical. But it doesn’t hurt the film too much because there are actually only five musical numbers and one reprisal. This may be attributed to the poor sound quality of the print I saw or just both actresses’ lack of experience regarding singing. Nevertheless, Maurice Chevalier does well as the titular smiling lieutenant but Claudette Colbert and Miriam Hopkins falter a bit in their singing roles. The veiled sexual tension also may not be watchable for modern audiences as well. The Smiling Lieutenant is a light-hearted, giddy early sound, pre-Code musical which might be a bit difficult for modern audiences to sit through. Now, I’ve always admired Ernst Lubitsch and his films but have never seen any of his musicals with Maurice Chevalier starring.