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Ernst Lubitsch – The Merry Widow (1934)

Posted By: newland

Date: 25 May 2010 06:22:16

Sonia is an immensely wealthy widow whose spending keeps the small kingdom of Marshovia afloat economically. When she decides to move to Paris to find a husband, the king dispatches prince Danilo –a notorious Casanova– to seduce and bring her back home.

The best musical helmed by the great Ernst Lubitsch, The Merry Widow is frothy, funny, and tuneful from start to finish.
"Witty and incandescent…heady as the foam on champagne, fragile as mist, and as delicately gay as a good-natured censor will permit." – The New York Times

The third film version of Franz Lehar's 1907 operetta, The Merry Widow (1934) was the first talking version, and thus the first to take full advantage of Lehar's glorious music. Cedric Gibbons and Fredric Hope won the film's only Oscar for their sumptuous set design. It was the last great example of the "continental" musical that had made Maurice Chevalier a star. Its combination of European operetta with a witty, sophisticated script hinting at more sexuality than it ever shows was typical of such musicals as The Love Parade (1929) and Love Me Tonight. (1932). Many critics have hailed it as the best of its kind. (…)

(…) Wittily directed by Ernst Lubitsch, The Merry Widow is a rich Viennese pastry of a movie, perfectly cast with a sparkling Jeanette MacDonald as the widow and a roguish Maurice Chevalier as the playboy prince. It was MacDonald and Chevalier's fourth and final film together, and their only one at MGM. Yet as perfect as their romantic pairing seemed, they actually disliked each other intensely. He thought she was a prude, and she called him "the biggest bottom-pincher I have ever come across." They had made three films together at Paramount, with MacDonald taking second billing to Chevalier, who was a much bigger star. Then she went to MGM, and her star was on the rise. MGM Producer Irving Thalberg, trying to entice Chevalier away from Paramount, offered him The Merry Widow. Chevalier was interested, but only if Thalberg would promise that he would not have to co-star with MacDonald. Thalberg agreed, signed Chevalier…then reneged on his promise. To add insult to injury, he gave MacDonald equal billing to Chevalier. Chevalier was furious, and his fury extended to Ernst Lubitsch as well. (…)

(…) Somehow, none of these animosities showed onscreen. The Lubitsch Touch, the delicacy with which director Ernst Lubitsch deflected sentimentality and hinted at sexuality, was in full flower in The Merry Widow. He keeps the film light and lively by filling it with witty and comical supporting characters whose lines and reaction shots provide a sophisticated context for the action. They also offer reactions that suggest what's really going on behind the famous closed bedroom doors in his films.
Because of his ability to alter the meaning of a scene with a single reaction shot or by focusing on one detail, Lubitsch is one of the key directors in the development of the auteur school of film criticism, the theory that the director is the true author of the film who communicates his personality through the way in which he films scenes. (…)

(…) Critics loved The Merry Widow, and predicted a big hit. But the film had cost $1,600,000, and it ended up losing money. By 1934, it must have seemed old-fashioned to audiences dazzled by the art-deco sleekness of RKO's Astaire-Rogers musicals, and Warner Bros.' Busby Berkeley films. Regardless, Jeanette MacDonald's performance convinced MGM that she was more than just a classically trained singing actress. They saw her star potential and started grooming her, which would lead to her pairing with Nelson Eddy for her next film, Naughty Marietta (1935). As for The Merry Widow, it shows remarkable durability. Today, its charm, wit, and style seem not quaint, but ageless. (…)
— Frank Miller & Margarita Landazuri, "Why The Merry Widow is Essential"

IMDb review — About The Merry Widow

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Subtitles (from opensubtitles.org)

Comedy Art-house Melodrama DVD-Rip Romance Fantasy HDTV 1930 Classics Musical

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