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1 article from 2009

14 April 2009 10:45 PM, PDT | Alternative Film Guide | See recent Alternative Film Guide news »

The Merry Widow (1934) Direction: Ernst Lubitsch Screenplay: Ernest Vajda and Samson Raphaelson; from Franz Lehár’s operetta Cast: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Edward Everett Horton, Una Merkel, George Barbier, Minna Gombell, Sterling Holloway     The Merry Widow is not one of Ernst Lubitsch’s most discussed films. Critics generally tend to focus on his early Paramount talkies, such as One Hour with You (co-directed by George Cukor) and Trouble in Paradise, and his later comedies Ninotchka and To Be or Not to Be. Yet, The Merry Widow is a superior musical, boasting sumptuous sets (production design by Cedric Gibbons), exquisite cinematography (courtesy of Oliver T. Marsh), a magnificently staged ballroom-dancing sequence, witty lines and situations (by Lubitsch collaborators Samson Raphaelson and Ernest Vajda, from Franz Lehár’s operetta), and charming performances by a surprisingly restrained Maurice Chevalier, and by an alternately hilarious and heartrending Jeanette MacDonald. Indeed, in the title role, »

- Andre Soares

1 article from 2009