Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

wes-connors In 1885, the East European kingdom of Marshovia can only survive if French-accented playboy Maurice Chevalier (as Danilo) marries American soprano Jeanette MacDonald (as Sonia). The two are mutually attracted as Ms. MacDonald mourns her deceased husband, but Mr. Chevalier doesn't know what she looks like under the traditional widow's veil. He is sent to Paris to find her and finds himself attracted to a woman who happens to be MacDonald. Pretending to be a flirty playgirl named "Fifi", MacDonald is turned on by Chevalier but turned off by his playboy manner. Love will find a way..."The Merry Widow" was lavishly produced by MGM and directed by Ernst Lubitsch with his usual touch, but the co-stars are an acquired taste, today. Chevalier was partnered with MacDonald for her successful debut in "The Love Parade" (1929) and they made several films together. This one, their last, didn't ring up receipts at the box office like the studio anticipated. The studio had great critical and financial success with "The Merry Widow" in 1925 and some with Lana Turner's version in 1952. Still, this version can be appreciated for the results of its budget, and Mr. Lubitsch's direction.***** The Merry Widow (10/11/34) Ernst Lubitsch ~ Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Edward Everett Horton, Una Merkel

dimplet The film looks a little creaky starting out, but stick with it. The reason: Ernst Lubitsch, who provides just the right tongue-in-cheek humor that any good operetta needs. The Marx Brothers' Duck Soup had been released the year before, and Freedonia sounds like the next door neighbor to The Merry Widow's Marshovia -- both are bankrupt, backwards countries with rich widows. You half expect Groucho to show up to compete with Maurice Chevalier for Madame Sonia's hand. The Merry Widow occupies a pivotal place in the evolution of musicals, given its more classical operetta roots. There were some attempts to continue at least with this more classical style of singing. Irene Dunn tried using her beautiful, trained voice in Roberta - 1935, but it seemed out of place. Musicals already faced the challenge of plausibility of ordinary people breaking into song while going about their lives, without the extra issue of giving them classically trained voices. In this regard, Shirley Jones, with her wholesome good looks and sweet voice fit the bill perfectly. What obviously did survive from the Merry Widow vein was the mistaken identity plot device. We see this theme played to the hilt the next year in Top Hat, my favorite of the Fred Astaire -- Ginger Rogers musicals. This light, humorous story never gets old, no matter how many times I watch it. It is the perfect translation of the operetta mistaken identity theme, found in older works like Die Fledermaus or The Pirates of Penzance, into a modern, popular musical film format. It is interesting to compare Top Hat and The Merry Widow, which both convey a similar spirit and style, which many movies strive to reproduce, but few succeed.An amusing movie to follow this with is "Love in the Afternoon," in which a much older Chevalier plays a French private eye whose job it is to snoop on just the sort of playboys he plays in The Merry Widow. Trying to inject classical opera or operetta influences directly into Hollywood musicals was ultimately doomed to failure. But the goal of fully integrating story, singing and dancing was sound. The trick was to give it a modern, popular foundation. That was achieved with the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, which generally had a stronger, more enduring story line, and closer integration of songs, than most Hollywood musicals. This was no coincidence, since Hammerstein had personal and family roots in classical opera. Another reason to watch The Merry Widow is the wonderful twists and turns to the mistaken identity plot. You get the feeling that lots of later movies tried to imitate the concept. But this was the original. It's a fun movie.

bkoganbing 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.

jenn976-1 Interesting treatment of Lehar's "Merry Widow", almost 30 years after "Die Lustige Witwe" premiered in Vienna. There were many versions of The Merry Widow but this particular story is all jumbled up from the original. It's supposed to open in Paris but instead, we're in Marshovia which gives us a very slow opening. The English translation is by the screenplay writers, Vajda and Raphaelson and the lyrics are by Rodgers and Hart. Don't expect a true-to-the-original story. This story adaptation is okay although the original is charming by itself. However, the actors are very good and funny. The biggest song of the original, "Vilja", is very out of place right at the beginning and seems to have lost its charm by its placement. The widow of the original story is much more innocent - they cast her as a bit strident here. However, it is nice to see a movie that is pre-code. The costumes and the sets are sumptuous and beautiful. Chevalier and MacDonald are very good and Edward Everett Horton is a thorough delight.