I think I've seen my fill of Ernst Lubitsch's early movies starring Maurice Chevalier.
I discovered Lubitsch's later films -- "Ninotchka," "The Shop Around the Corner," "To Be or Not to Be" -- first, and instantly fell in love with them. Now, watching his earlier works, it's clear that he matured as a film-maker. His early musicals are all right, I suppose, if you're in the mood for them, but they're missing the trace of sweet melancholy that make his later films so unique.
But mostly, I've discovered that I just dislike Maurice Chevalier. He's so effeminate and just so, well, creepy, that I have trouble enjoying the movie around him. In "The Smiling Lieutenant," he's nearly always on screen, but one of the only times he's not, during a musical number in which Claudette Colbert and Miriam Hopkins sing about spicing up Hopkins' wardrobe of lingerie, ends up being the highlight of the film.
Grade: C
I discovered Lubitsch's later films -- "Ninotchka," "The Shop Around the Corner," "To Be or Not to Be" -- first, and instantly fell in love with them. Now, watching his earlier works, it's clear that he matured as a film-maker. His early musicals are all right, I suppose, if you're in the mood for them, but they're missing the trace of sweet melancholy that make his later films so unique.
But mostly, I've discovered that I just dislike Maurice Chevalier. He's so effeminate and just so, well, creepy, that I have trouble enjoying the movie around him. In "The Smiling Lieutenant," he's nearly always on screen, but one of the only times he's not, during a musical number in which Claudette Colbert and Miriam Hopkins sing about spicing up Hopkins' wardrobe of lingerie, ends up being the highlight of the film.
Grade: C