Main Cast: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Edward Everett Horton, Una Merkel, George Barbier
Release Year: 1934
Country: US
Run Time: 99 minutes
Plot
Ernst Lubitsch directs the 1934 musical comedy The Merry Widow, based on the 1905 operetta by Franz Lehar. In 1885, King Achmed (George Barbier) strives to protect the financial interests of his small, poor kingdom of Marshovia in Central Europe. When the kingdom's wealthiest widow, Sonia (Jeanette MacDonald), goes off to Paris, the king sends the village's greatest lover, Prince Danilo (Maurice Chevalier), off to marry her. The king demands that Danilo must romance and marry Sonia so she will return to the small kingdom with her riches. If he doesn't succeed, he'll be arrested. While in Paris, Danilo is distracted from his royal task when he finds himself in the company of many lovely Parisian women. Unbeknownst to him, one of the ladies is really Sonia pretending to be an escort girl. After a dance number and some songs, the Ambassador (Edward Everett Horton) announces that they are to be married. When Sonia refuses to marry Danilo, he is arrested and sent back to the small kingdom. Eventually Sonia returns to Marshovia, where she visits him in jail. She testifies on his behalf and they are finally married. The Merry Widow was filmed several other times, including the 1925 silent version directed by Erich Von Stroheim and the1952 version starring Fernando Lamas as Danilo. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Review
The apparent goal of MGM in adapting The Merry Widow as a vehicle for Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier was to emulate movies such as Love Me Tonight, which they'd made at Paramount -- they even got Lorenz Hart, who'd co-authored the music from that film, to adapt the score for this production. And in the main it works as one of the best of the early MGM musicals, with memorably charming numbers amid a glittering setting, spiced with engaging moments of romantic comedy and misunderstanding (this is, after all, an adaptation of an operetta). The only reservation may be that there's nothing here as clever in design or execution as what Rouben Mamoulian achieved in Love Me Tonight. Not that it's the fault of director Ernst Lubitsch -- it's more a matter of MGM weighing the proceedings down a bit in sheer opulence and sheer scope of the production, as though the studio never quite wants you to forget that this is an MGM picture. As a result, it's just a little clunkier and less light on its feet, in the execution (including the editing) than Mamoulian's earlier effort. Which doesn't mean that The Merry Widow isn't filled with brilliant moments, musical, comedic and otherwise, and have lots of inspiration -- even the supporting cast, forget the two stats, have great moments, and the Franz Lehar music speaks for itself. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Cedric Gibbons - Art Director, Frederic Hope - Art Director, Albertina Rasch - Choreography, Adrian - Costume Designer, Ali Hubert - Costume Designer, Ernst Lubitsch - Director, Frances Marsh - Editor, Herbert Stothart - Musical Direction/Supervision, Oliver Marsh - Cinematographer, Irving G. Thalberg - Producer, Gabriel Scognamillo - Set Designer, Edwin B. Willis - Set Designer, Samson Raphaelson - Screenwriter, Ernest Vajda - Screenwriter, Franz Lehár - From Opera by
