The Merry Widow

source: The Merry Widow

An exquisite musical, and one of the best examples of the celebrated "Lubitsch touch". Lubitsch really was the master of sophisticated romantic comedy. Jeanette MacDonald is the widow of the title, whom ladies man Maurice Chevalier woos twice and eventually wins. A lovely confection, with Lubitsch's fluid directing and elegiac camera movements really making it a swell piece of early sound cinema. I loved how he staged the musical numbers, even if I wasn't too fussed over MacDonald's operatic stylings. The film is structurally just about perfect, with the ending "answering" the beginning. Chevalier sings "Girls, Girls, Girls" in the opening scene, yet by the end we know he only wants one girl, the lovely Jeanette. He still has only one thing on his mind, but only one woman on his mind to do it with! Great fun!

Lubitsch, Lehar and Larry (Hart) are an unbeatable parlay in this entry where the only jarring notes are those leaving the mouth of Jeannette McDonald and heading for the stratosphere pursued by a pack of Labradors. Enough people love the voices of McDonald, Kathryn Grayson, Jane Powell, etc to neutralize my antipathy but if only they could have used someone who could sing and not screech - impossible, I accept, at the time because in 1934 the likes of Peggy Lee, June Christy, Dinah Shore etc were not available for operetta. That cavil -albeit a major one - aside this is one of the most sophisticated, witty, lavish musicals that ever came down the pike. Samson Raphaelson supplied a gem-encrusted 'Book' and Larry Hart turned in some of his finest lyrics. Decor, costumes, camera movement all score heavily and the waltz sequence is so fluid and captivating it reveals Busby Berkley as merely a traffic cop with a train set. There was more than a touch of the ham in Chevalier but if we try to ignore the worst excesses of the two leads there is a lot to enjoy from the supporting players and simply the overwhelming STYLE of the thing.

Based loosely on the operetta by Franz Lehár, this Ruritanian confection has some of the original music—notably the waltz, and "Meet Me at Maxim's—both as musical numbers and leitmotifs. The tiny kingdom of Marshovia is in trouble—its principal citizen, the wealthy widow Sonja (Jeanette MacDonald)—who, heavily veiled, has attracted the attention of Count Danilo (Maurice Chevalier)—has cast off her black clothes and gone to Paris. The King sends Danilo to Paris to marry her so her fortune won't leave the kingdom. Sonja is already smitten, and goes to Maxim's to see him. He hasn't seen her face, and accepts her as "Fifi." She declines his advances in a private dining room, saying she prefers truth to lies, and she leaves. He goes to the embassy to be presented to the woman he must marry, and the nervous ambassador Popoff (Edward Everett Horton) introduces them. Okay, but she gets wind of the plot and calls the union off. Danilo manages to win her back. There is a great deal of singing, and some rather luscious waltz scenes where maybe a hundred couples swoop through a colonnaded ballroom. Chevalier maintains his usual charm even though the part—a man no woman can resist, and about whom no woman is jealous of another, and whose leaving they accept perfectly cheerfully—is tripe. He throws back his head and laughs. As a musical it can succeed only if you like Jeannette MacDonald and her fluttery soprano voice and the swoopy big orchestral productions behind her. No really memorable tunes except the great Lehár waltz. Oh, and Marshovia is a mess—it's sort of Slavic and sort of Islamic (the king is named Achmet) and sort of feudal and backward, and yet the palaces are vast. Mme. Sonja's bedroom looks about the size of a hockey arena in a populous city; if there's a vase, you can bet it is twelve feet high and made of marble, and if there's a bed, you can bet that there's room for milady and all her household staff, including the Russian wolfhound they forgot to throw in. This is a stupid movie of the sort one rather enjoys in spite of one's better judgment.

Previously made as a silent film in 1925 and then remade in color in 1952, this is often noted as the best version of the famous operetta (featuring The Merry Widow Waltz which has appeared in various places ever since from other films to ice skating.) MacDonald is the title character, an attractive, hugely wealthy young woman who is in mourning in the tiny country of Marshovia. She floats around in a black veil until one day deciding to run off to Paris. When the King (Barbier) discovers this, he worries that her fortune may be siphoned out of the otherwise poor nation and he sends one of his most charming officers (Chevalier) to win her back. Adding to the confusion is that Chevalier has met MacDonald through her veil, but doesn't know what she looks like without it and MacDonald knows him and is attracted to him, but doesn't wish him to know it. They play romantic cat and mouse with each other (while confounded Marshovian ambassador Horton looks on) until the requisite happy ending. The featherweight story is punctuated by the famous music of the original operetta by Franz Lehar with new words by Lorenz Hart. MacDonald is charming and beautiful (aided by some sparkling Adrian gowns) with a voice that seems to reach impossibly high notes (though the lyrics are hard to catch at times.) Chevalier is engaging and smooth, though, for some reason, he appears much shorter than his nearly six feet in this film. Despite a real-life coolness between the actors, they generate quite a bit of chemistry on screen. Horton doesn't have a great deal to do, but is always a reliable presence. Barbier and Merkel are very amusing as the King and Queen. She would appear in a different role in the 1952 remake. The entire film is jaw-droppingly opulent and strikingly filmed. It's laced with many amusing visual touches and mildly suggestive dialogue and situations. MacDonald has a closet full of clothes and a shoe collection that would make most women weep with jealousy and a dog that is the ultimate fashion statement. The famed waltz, with more couples than can be counted (especially when the mirrors come into play) is a major highlight. The film does become ever so slightly tedious towards the end, but that's carping when a film is this ebullient and skillfully handled. Holloway, who provided the voice of Winnie the Pooh, appears in a small role as Chevalier's sidekick.

I absolutely adore the operetta and this 1934 film is a real pleasure. It is not quite as good as the operetta, which is my favourite operetta of all time alongside Der Fledermaus, but there are so many things to love. The film looks splendid. I personally love the fashions, while the photography is stylish and the sets beautiful. The performances are first rate, Maurice Chevalier is charming and naughty and Jeanette MacDonald is a revelation. The story is told with style and polish, and the script is witty and acerbic. Two things especially made this film work. One is Lehar's music, which is absolutely magnificent, the overture and the music in the waltz scene show a master at work as does the beautiful Vilja. The other is Ernst Lubitsch's brilliant direction, this film has a rather risqué directorial approach that you see in every scene and this worked. Overall, this film is pleasure and if you love classic film or operetta or both(that's where I fit) I recommend you see The Merry Widow. 10/10 Bethany Cox

When Jeanette MacDonald left Paramount and signed with her new studio of MGM it was her wish that she not do any more films with Maurice Chevalier. Though the three films she did for that studio with him were very successful, the two of them did not get along at all. She thought he was a rake, he thought she was frigid. So imagine her chagrin when she learned that her first MGM film, The Merry Widow which has some great songs for a soprano she would be co-starred once again with Chevalier. He wasn't exactly thrilled either, it was known he was hoping to do the film with Grace Moore. But they both went back to work for Ernst Lubitsch who had guided them in The Love Parade and One Hour With You. Lubitsch got the best out of them, especially Jeanette. There are some who say her work at Paramount with him is far superior to anything she would do at MGM, even with Nelson Eddy. Jeanette's the richest woman in the tiny kingdom of Marshovia, her taxes bankroll the kingdom. But she's bored there and cynical about all the men courting her for her money. The king and queen of Marshovia, George Barbier and Una Merkel, want to keep her Marshovian money in Marshovia so they send the most romantic guy they know, captain of the guard Maurice Chevalier as Count Danilo who cuts quite a romantic figure and romantic swath among the ladies. Of course he falls in love, but he's still got a roving eye and in his own way Maurice is as cynical as Jeanette. It will take some doing to get these two together. The Merry Widow had its American premiere on Broadway in 1907 and ran for 416 performances. The basic numbers of the score that Franz Lehar wrote are retained. My favorite is one of the best operetta numbers ever written for a soprano, Vilia. Jeanette sings it beautifully as she does the famous Merry Widow Waltz. And who could sing about the joys of courting Girls Girls Girls while hanging out at Maxim's than Maurice Chevalier? Lubitsch does a grand job at getting some real comic moments out of Edward Everett Horton as the Marshovian Ambassador in Paris who together with Herman Bing. I do so love the scene where Bing is translating the diplomatic codes for Horton with the king's editorial comments. Chevalier and MacDonald never worked together again, but they certainly went out on a high note (no pun intended) with The Merry Widow.

The Monarch of Marshovia sends a romantic count to Paris to woo back THE MERRY WIDOW whose vast wealth is vital to running the tiny kingdom. Nine years after producing a non-talking film based on the Franz Lehár operetta, MGM mined the same material again, this time as a musical comedy. The Studio would give the film its trademark opulent treatment, with production values of the highest order. Celebrated lyricist Lorenz Hart was engaged to write words for the music. And, to make absolutely certain of success, director Ernst Lubitsch and stars Maurice Chevalier & Jeanette MacDonald were reunited to duplicate their previous triumphs at Paramount Studios. If, ultimately, the film does not have quite the effervescence of Lubitsch's previous pictures, this is probably understandable. MGM, while wonderful with epics and dramas, often took an unnecessarily heavy-handed approach to subjects which should have been given a lighter, airier treatment. Also, the film was released a few months after the imposition of the Production Code, which obviously had a significant effect upon the movie's final persona. Chevalier & MacDonald continue the on screen relationship already well established in their earlier films: she, the rather aloof and powerful female who needs a good man; he, the social inferior who wins her with his enormous Gallic charm. Their singing is vivacious & charming and sometimes you can almost understand her words. Unlike the 1925 version of THE MERRY WIDOW, there is no villain here to provide dramatic tension. The costars, however, provide much comic amusement. Foremost among them is waspish Edward Everett Horton, very funny as Marshovia's nervous Ambassador in Paris. Rotund George Barbier & sprightly Una Merkel make the most of their small roles as the diminutive nation's conniving King and flirtatious Queen. Some of the smaller roles are also humorously cast: Sterling Holloway as Chevalier's loyal orderly; Donald Meek as the King's gossipy valet; and Herman Bing as Horton's dramatic factotum. Movie mavens will recognize Akim Tamiroff as the head waiter at Maxim's & Arthur Housman as a drunk (what else?) trying to gain entry into that establishment, both uncredited.

Forget that this classic film was made forty years ago! You will also forget that it is in black and white from the moment that 'the curtain goes up' because of the wonderfully convincing performances and the romance of the music - just surrender to it - even the make-believe fantasy of the story; be a fly on the wall and let yourself be swept along as the scenes unfold at good pace.This is beautifully directed by Lubitsch whilst Vajda and Raphaelson have produced a great script.MGM built some wonderful sets - the opulence of the King of Marshovia's palace is fun with the lovely cast crowns on the huge doors ( a bit 'Wizard of Oz'ish'!) and the great dance sequences at the Embassy Ball may have influenced others 20 or so years later for 'My Fair Lady'. There are some lovely humourous touches and every performance is polished right down to the gypsy violinist. The music is wonderful but at the top of the credits are performances by Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier which are totally believable. We need to remind ourselves that when this was made in 1934 the film industry was not long into its infancy and despite the absence of all of today's surround sound - the distraction of colour -and all the technical 'advances' - this is a little masterpiece. You can hear clearly every word (what a refreshing change from todays films!!)and this delightful Lehar masterpiece rolls along on the great and convincing performances with the romance atmosphere of the music tugging at your heartstrings. Those without hearts or strings give this a miss - but sadly if you do I believe that you will be incomplete because you will have denied yourself the thrills,fun and fantasy of a delightful, beautifully performed 'once upon a time' romance.

Jeanette MacDonald,...now that's a star who ONLY would have become famous during one particular cinematic era. By today's standards, her singing is excruciating to listen to despite her being a pretty good actress. Her operatic-type style is, to put it bluntly, horrid--as she hits notes high enough to curdle milk and make babies cry. If you haven't guessed, I'm not one of her biggest fans. However, apart from Jeanette's horrid singing, I loved the film. Maurice Chevalier makes it so worth watching with his enchanting performance--sort of like a middle-aged version of the same lusty but sweet guy he played in GIGI. Plus, I actually liked his singing--it didn't make my ears bleed. As for the movie itself, much of its charm is owed to director Lubitsch. He truly had a magical touch when it came to romances and light comedy. This is particularly true in the last 5 minutes of the film--pure Lubitsch magic and about the best 5 minutes you'll ever see on film. So my final verdict--hit the fast-forward button when Ms. MacDonald sings and you'll love this picture.