I’m just not a fan of musicals or romantic comedies, which inevitably lowered my personal rating for this movie.
#The smiling lieutenant 1931 review movie#
Chevalier’s character comes off as a jerk in the second half of the movie and shallow at the end which is a problem when he’s you male lead in a romantic comedy Has a lot more heart than I was expecting it to, with some genuine emotional depth to the two female leads This is less of a musical comedy, and more of a pure romantic comedy which for me is a good thing considering I don’t really like musicals and Chevalier is a terrible singer Colbert, a marked improvement over Jeanette MacDonald, is charming, lovely and beautiful I look forward to seeing more of her-Colbert’s 1934 is arguably the most successful year any actress has ever had. Interestingly enough, while I think this is Chevalier’s weakest role/performance of the Chevalier-Lubitsch trilogy of Best Picture nominees, his drop-off is more than made up for by Claudette Colbert. Summary: A misfired flirtation lands a young lieutenant in a marriage with a princess instead of the one he loves Now, if you do enjoy The Smiling Lieutenant, may I recommend Erik Charrell’s German-made The Congress Dances / Der Kongress tanzt, a bittersweet 1931 comedy-drama starring Lilian Harvey and Willy Fritsch that in my view far surpasses any other Hollywood movie of the genre, from The Smiling Lieutenant to Ramon Novarro’s final MGM star. Starring: Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert, Miriam Hopkins