Customer Reviews

The Merry Widow (1934)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

THE MERRY WIDOW is arguably Jeanette MacDonald's finest film, and is still regarded as one of the greatest musicals ever made by MGM.

The story concerns one widow, Sonia (Jeanette MacDonald), a beautiful young woman who owns 52% of the small kingdom of Marshovia. Sonia lives a life consisting of black dresses, black shoes, black corsets and black veils...even a black dog. Sonia decides to flee to the gay city of Paris, and swaps her dull attire for a new wardrobe, and a new outlook.

The King of Marshovia (Edward Everett Horton) and his flirtatious Queen (Una Merkel) decide to dispatch the handsome Count Danilo (Maurice Chevalier) to Paris in order to woo Sonia and her millions back into Marshovia...but Sonia has a few tricks up her own sleeves!

Filled with the timeless music of Franz Lehar's score, THE MERRY WIDOW is joyously directed by legendary Ernst Lubitsch, and Jeanette MacDonald literally sparkles in designer Adrian's lavish costumes.

Later re-made starring Lana Turner, Fernando Lamas and Una Merkel (refer to my review for this).

It is very good, as expected, for a 75years old movie. Only problem I have is the Chinese subtitle which refuses to be eliminated by my DVD player instruction.

A bankrupt king orders a nobleman to court a wealthy American widow. For lovers of vintage operettas, this 1934 film is one to cherish. The Franz Lehar masterpiece began life in Vienna in 1905 and it was an instant smash hit. It was first brought to the American stage in 1907, made into a lost silent with Alma Reubens and Wallace Reid in 1912, and brought true stardom to the eccentric Mae Murray in Erich Von Stoheim's 1925 version which co-starred John Gilbert. Grace Moore was originally to play Sonia, but she wouldn't accept second billing to Maurice Chevalier. This sparkling, frothy, funny and tuneful movie is a delight, and MacDonald shows a fine flair for comedy: she snaps off her lines with Lombard-like aplomb and expertise. Chevalier was a huge star at the time, and although he was never too crazy about Jeanette, their pairing here is near perfection.

In spite of what's been said of the mutual dislike felt by both stars in real life, Chevalier and MacDonald's chemistry onscreen is absolutely undeniable, and certainly here, they're in top form as Count Danilo and Sonia, the not-so-merry-widow of the title. This is the best filmed version of a romantic "Graustarkian" or "Ruritanian" Operetta (which in this case takes place in the Kingdom of "Marshovia") that I've ever seen, thanks mainly to the "Lubitsch touch". Great dialogue, perfectly paced, expertly cast and with some very funny pre-code risqué situations (most notably the scene, at the beginning of the film, between the king, the queen and Count Danilo, in the formers' bedroom, delightful!). Great supporting cast, especially Edward Everett Horton as the ambassador, George Barbier, as the king, and Una Merkel, what a sexy and flirtatious queen!. MacDonald wears some stunning outfits by Adrian. A must for vintage musical lovers.

This is a great black and white classic. It's one of my favorite musicals. Sadly, I saw no indication that this particular DVD was produced for a Chinese market. IT HAS CHINESE SUBTITLES and these subtitles greatly detracted from my enjoyment of this movie.

If in the Lana Turner version many of Lehar's melodies are played by the orchestra (a la Josh Logan's FANNY) while Turner and Fernando Lamas exchange smoldering glances, Ernst Lubitsch similarly downplays the music in this--the classic version of the operetta. And he had two of the 20th century's greatest musical personalities to carry off those signature tunes. Here and there we get full-bore versions of "Vilia" and others, but anyone familiar with the stage score feels a biting disappointment at seeing the screen version at how little of the score remains on screen. Even the famous "Merry Widow Waltz" gets only a minute or two--whereas in any production on the stage worth its salt, you hear that tune about two hundred times, until you're in an altered state. Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration. Anyhow Chevalier and McDonald are both out of this world and totally attuned to Lubitsch's stylish, comic, "saucy" production, and it might be that he never again worked with two such professional technicians. There are some movie fans who are immune to the charm of MC and JMcD, and they are perhaps best taken in small doses, but after seeing their Danilo and Sonia, you might well forgive them for their sins of haming it up elsewhere, for they are so restrained here. Meanwhile that lush creamy music burns in your brain:

Golden glowing lamps are throwing light above.
While the swaying tune is saying, "Love, Love, Love."
And the feet of dancers sounded as they go.
Don't you hear them say, my dear,
"I love you so?"

Once in a while, when one is done spackling the wall or resealing the driveway or changing the car's engine oil, one gets in the mood for a frothy operetta. And, in that instance, the first option should always be Ernst Lubitsch. Lubitsch was crafting sophisticated musical sex farces long before Hector was a pup, and THE MERRY WIDOW is widely regarded as his finest effort in the comic operetta. His star pupils are paired up again, Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier, and these two are just about as marvelous as they were in Rouben Mamoulian's LOVE ME TONIGHT.

When the wealthiest widow of the microscopic and impoverished European kingdom of Marshovia gets fed up with her years of mourning and flees to Paris to live it up, the frantic king deploys the virile and dashing Captain of the Guard, Count Danilo - whom he had just caught hanky-pankying his flirty wife, the Queen (Una Merkel) - to Paris to woo the widow and bring her and her money back home, lest the kingdom go bankrupt. The City of Light finds Danilo very much at home, given that he frequents Paris enough that he's built up a notorious rep, specifically with the can-can girls at the swank nightclub Maxime. In Maxime, to test Danilo's character, the beautiful widow in question, Sonia, poses as a hostess named Fifi. She disapproves of what she sees. A fella's debauchery with a chorus of can-can girls will probably sour a good girl, at that. The widow Sonia flees in disappointment, leaving behind a quite smitten Danilo, too late become a one-woman man. But since this is a frothy operetta, you can bet the bank that a happy resolution is just around the corner. Although there may be tears and sacrifices and a court martial before the happily ever after.

Before her movie pairings with Nelson Eddy would tame her screen persona, Jeanette MacDonald exhibited a sassier and, at times, a more coquettish streak. No doubt, due to that effervescent (and juuuust a bit naughty) Lubitsch influence. THE MERRY WIDOW would be the fourth and final time MacDonald and Chevalier would co-star, and you still couldn't tell that, in real life, they couldn't stand each other. As always, Chevalier sells it as the rakish seducer.

The script is witty. Rodgers and Hart provides new lyrics. The Lubitsch touch is in full display, celebrating the sophisticated tweaking of prudish conventions. The film basks in snappy banter, not only from the two leads, but from veteran supporting actors Una Merkel, Edward Everett Horton (as the fidgety French ambassador), and George Barbier (as the cuckolded king). One of the many highlights features Horton and Chevalier engaged in a paltry dispute (over a woman, natch) which instantly dissipates when each learns the identity of the other. And then there's George Barbier's dejected king, about to move out of the palace, woefully wrapping his crown in sad newspaper.

THE MERRY WIDOW never did recoup its budget of $1.6 million (a titanic amount, for its time), so, technically, the film was a bust. Critically, it was another smash hit. I would say that THE MERRY WIDOW, this 1934 version, is one of the greatest musical classics around. Lubitsch's theater of playful salaciousness always could elicit an appreciative grin from the audience. The things you can get away with, if only you have that touch of class.