- #THE SMILING LIEUTENANT 1931 CRITERION CRACKED#
- #THE SMILING LIEUTENANT 1931 CRITERION MOVIE#
- #THE SMILING LIEUTENANT 1931 CRITERION CODE#
In fact she likes what she sees and persuades Daddy to get the Emperor who's her uncle to part with Chevalier. But when the coach carrying Barbier and Hopkins passes, Hopkins intercepts one of those winks and considers it an uncalled for act upon a royal personage. In one of those priceless Ernst Lubitsch moments, Chevalier while at attention spots Colbert across the street and throws a few knowing smiles and winks. And then he's put on duty to greet the visiting royal house of Flausenthurm which includes King George Barbier and Princess Miriam Hopkins. Maurice does, but the sly rogue gets her for himself. Maurice is busy planning his latest campaign when a friend played by Charlie Ruggles asks him with that Chevalier charm to intercede for him with a female violinist in Claudette Colbert. But with the Austrian Empire at peace all the men have a lot of idle time on their hands.
He's a guardsman again in The Smiling Lieutenant. Only now and again would Chevalier play something as prosaic as a tailor. It must have been that the movie-going public loved seeing Maurice Chevalier in those tight uniforms, he seemed to be in them in most of those early talkies he made for American studios. Here, she seems a bit less glamorous than she did in the subsequent films. This film was made rather early in her career and it's obvious that she got a bit of a makeover after the film-lightening and thinning/shortening her hair significantly. By the way, you may notice that Claudette looks quite a bit different in this film than in films made just a year or two later.
#THE SMILING LIEUTENANT 1931 CRITERION CRACKED#
Otherwise, it's just not all it's cracked up to be. Additionally, simply put, Colbert and Hopkins (particularly Colbert) could not carry a tune-a serious deficit for a musical! The only really positives in the film was the nice direction and look of the film.
Overall, a major disappointment since this is a film of the famed Franz Lubitsch.and not just because of its unlikable and selfish main characters (aside from Hopkins). My daughter suggested they all should have just had a threesome instead-especially since Hopkins and Colbert REAAALLY seemed to like each other! This "Girls Gone Wild" approach would have been preferable to the path the film actually took-as the resolution was just unsatisfying and dumb. Colbert then teaches the Princess to "slut herself up" like Olivia Newton-John did in GREASE.and they all lived happily ever after. In a dumb twist that came completely out of the blue (and made no sense), eventually Claudette meets with the Princess. And, once again, this is part of the plot is DEFINITELY Pre-Code in its sensibilities. This just seemed cruel and selfish-making me (and I'm sure many other viewers) dislike him intensely. While the Princess seemed like a nice lady and had done him no wrong, Chevalier behaves horribly towards his new wife-refusing to consummate the marriage and doing, I mean "seeing" Colbert on the side.
#THE SMILING LIEUTENANT 1931 CRITERION MOVIE#
However, at this point, the movie lost me.
Eventually, Chevalier is forced into a marriage with Hopkins. At first, she is insulted.but later she LIKES the idea of this cheeky lieutenant making a pass at her! Now, Chevalier needs to woo BOTH the Princess and Claudette on the side, lest he be punished for playing with the Princess' affections. When he sees pretty Claudette in the crowd, Chavalier smiles at her-and this is taken, incorrectly, as a pass at the Princess. A bit later, Chevalier is at a parade for visiting King Adolf (no relation with the nasty tempered nut-case of WWII fame) and his daughter (Miriam Hopkins). Since he is such a great lover, she instantly falls for him and they "do it" in a scene that is surprisingly frank for the times. Although Ruggles' character is married, Chevalier is willing to help him seduce her-until he sees her for himself. Claudette Colbert is a pretty young band leader who Charlie Ruggles is smitten with as the film begins. The film and the songs are, at times, quite overtly sexual and seems to revel in it! The film is set in Vienna at what appears to be about 1890-1900.
#THE SMILING LIEUTENANT 1931 CRITERION CODE#
Such goings on would never have been allowed in American films after the strengthened Production Code would be adopted in 1934 and so is a very sharp contrast to films made later in the decade. In this Pre-Code film, Chevalier is much more the Lothario-who beds women with abandon. While Chavalier's screen image was of the consummate French lover, here he is a bit different. This is the fourth and final film directed by Ernst Lubitsch that starred Maurice Chevalier.
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