Product Details

• Actors: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Edward Everett Horton, Una Merkel, George Barbier
• Directors: Ernst Lubitsch
• Writers: Ernst Lubitsch, Ernest Vajda, Henri Meilhac, Leo Stein, Marcel Achard
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Language: English, French
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Warner)
• VHS Release Date: January 2, 1993
• Run Time: 99 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301973380
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72,985 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The celebrated "Lubitsch Touch" is everywhere to be seen in this sumptuous soufflé of romantic silliness. The movie takes place in the miniscule mythical Eastern European principality of Marshovia, cousin to the Marx Brother's Freedonia (Duck Soup) and W.C. Field's Klopstokia (Million Dollar Legs). Marshovia's wealthiest widow, Sonia--she owns 52 percent of every cow--is wasting away in mourning. Her massive closets are packed with black: black veils, black shoes, black gowns, black corsets. But Sonia (Jeanette MacDonald, at the height of her bubbly blonde beauty) happens to look fabulous in black. Even from behind her veil, she is irresistible to Marshovia's master masher, Captain Danilo, the ever-randy, eternally charming Maurice Chevalier. (He leads Marshovia's army parade, singing, "Our country will never make war! We surrender to girls, girls, girls!") Sonia falls in love with Danilo, but when she hears all three of her maids recite his address from memory, down to the apartment number, she determines to put him out of her mind. This proves impossible, so it's off to gay Paree to drown her sorrows. It's Danilo's patriotic duty to win her back, for Marshovia will go bankrupt without her.

Franz Lehar's comic operetta was given swell, witty new lyrics by the incomparable songwriting team of Rodgers and Hart, along with Gus Kahn. The scenes of belle époque Paris--the cancan dancers at Maxim's and whirling waltzers at the embassy ball--are yummy. The film certainly deserved its Academy Awards for Interior and Art Direction; it's absolutely gorgeous to look at. Rivaled only by their earlier pairing in Rouben Mamoulian's Love Me Tonight, the twosome of MacDonald and Chevalier in The Merry Widow is pure delight. --Laura Mirsky

Amazon.com

Ernst Lubitsch's last musical teamed him with his two favorite performers, Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald. It proved to be his last picture with either of the stars. Working with screenwriter Samson Raphaelson, he transformed the operetta that Erich von Stroheim had made in 1925 as a lavish silent melodrama into a frothy farce with wit, understatement, and a modicum of sexual innuendo. Chevalier stars as Danilo, the playboy captain of the guards sent to Paris to woo back the wealthy widow Sonia (MacDonald), whose purse strings control the kingdom's economy and could ruin it if she marries one of her doting French suitors. A merry game of mistaken identities, sparring romantics, and the teasing of would-be lovers lands Danilo in jail for treason and with true love his only hope. Chevalier plays his role with good cheer, gusto, and an ear-to-ear grin that wins over every lady on the screen, and MacDonald is at her sassy, sexy best, before her all-American image took hold in the Nelson Eddy musicals. From the opening shot, where a magnifying glass is brought to a map of Europe to pick out the tiny Kingdom of Marshovia, Lubitsch is in fine if somewhat restrained form, toning down his driest humor for the more stolid but luxurious MGM style. But he still sneaks in a couple of precode zingers: "Have you ever had diplomatic relations with a woman?" asks Ambassador Edward Everett Horton. Chevalier's sly smile is all the answer needed. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MUCH better than the Brazilian release, June 2, 2007

By 

Carolyn Thomas (Thermopolis, Wyoming, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Merry Widow (1934) (DVD)

I bought this DVD with trepidation after seeing the reviews on the Brazilian release of this film. However, I was wonderfully surprised: The sound and picture quality, while not perfect (come on, it was filmed in the 30s!), are passable, and you can actually hear the whole film.

If you are a purist when it comes to original stories, this is not for you. If you think Jeannette MacDonald is shrill, or can't sing, this is definitely not for you! However, for those of us who love Miss MacDonald, Maurice Chevalier, and the campy, smarmy musicals of filmdom's early days, this is a keeper.

The story revolves around Count Danilo and Madam Sonia. Sonia, the richest woman in Marshovia (She's into every cow in the country for 52%!), tires of dower widowhood and decides to go to Paris. In order to avoid national bankruptcy should the lovely widow marry a foreigner, the king of Marshovia sends Danilo to Paris to woo and win Sonia and bring her back home. From there, you have mistaken identities and everything else that makes movies like this so much fun.

The ending is ridiculously stupid to those that prefer "gritty realism", but is a true joy to those that love entertainment for entertainment's sake. This movie is a gem that is fun, light, airy and adorable. If you need realism or some kind of social political correctness in order to be entertained, do the rest of us a favor and don't watch this. We don't need to be told there is no point to this film, we already know--that's why we love it!

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the last, great Pre-Code musical comedy gems, December 2, 2001

By 

Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Merry Widow [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This utterly delightful film stands as the ultimate condemnation for the shameful censorship that the Hays office would soon inflict on the movies. THE MERRY WIDOW was one of the very last Pre-Code films to be released before Hollywood was forced to mute all sexuality, prove in every film that crime didn't pay, and purify all on screen language of all improprieties. After 1934, all sex was decidedly nonsexual, married couples always slept in twin beds (full sized beds were banned as being too suggestive), criminals died or were arrested by the end of each gangster film, and all forms of naughtiness were ejected from the movies.

THE MERRY WIDOW would never have passed muster for the Hays office. Edward Everett Horton and Maurice Chevalier embrace and are assumed to be a gay couple by a police officer. One of the most important scenes in the film takes place in a brothel (Maxim's), and Jeanette MacDonald pretends to be a courtesan. The movie is laced with suggestive jokes and sexual interplay. And not only is there a king sized bed in the king and queen's bedroom, Chevalier and MacDonald make out on a day bed reserved for trysts between prostitutes and customers in Maxim's.

None of this would, however, rise above merely sociological interest except for the deft direction of Ernst Lubitsch. Like many of his best films, THE MERRY WIDOW is very nearly a textbook on how to construct a movie. Lubitsch did so many things so well, that it is difficult to focus on any one aspect of his virtuosity. No other comedic director in the history of cinema possessed his mastery of filmmaking. One could argue, in fact, that he and Hitchcock were the greatest masters of cinematic technique in the history of American cinema. There is an unbelievable tightness to his films, and this is especially true of THE MERRY WIDOW. His ability to transition from one scene to another is frequently breathtaking. He does so many things with so little apparent effort, that his mastery is sometimes easy to overlook. And whether working with a supporting cast of hundreds, with music, with huge sets, or with intimate comedy, Lubitsch was always in control of every aspect of the film.

One of Lubitsch's greatest gifts as a director of great comedy was his ability to surprise his viewers over and over. For instance, the king discovers that Maurice Chevalier has been romancing the queen. Instead of being an outraged and jealous husband, he is concerned that the servants not be aware of the scandal. The conversations that ensue are some of the most delightful that you could ever hope to find in the movies. Unfortunately, had this film been made in 1935 instead of 1934, the Hays office would probably have eliminated most of the dialog.

This movie is a must see for anyone who loves the history of film, who appreciates the work of one of cinemas greatest masters, and who loves a great film. But most of all, it should be seen by anyone who loves a delightful, funny, and just a tad risqué musical comedy.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A charmer that holds up well, July 26, 1999

By 

RAUL DASILVA (Hamden, CT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Merry Widow [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is the very best filmed version of Franz Lehar's delighful operetta. The cast is perfectly matched, the music and songs wonderfully rendered. Though black and white, one rapidly begins to see all the true color. This is a charmer from Hollywood's Golden Age that holds up well. Forget the 1952 version, it does not have the vitality of Ernst Lubitch direction, nor does it have a peak Maurice Chevalier nor the lovely Jeanette MacDonald. You will want to watch it many times, as a picker-upper.