GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Nonureva Really Surprised!

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Jem Odewahn An exquisite musical, and one of the best examples of the celebrated "Lubitsch touch". Lubitsch really was the master of sophisticated romantic comedy. Jeanette MacDonald is the widow of the title, whom ladies man Maurice Chevalier woos twice and eventually wins. A lovely confection, with Lubitsch's fluid directing and elegiac camera movements really making it a swell piece of early sound cinema. I loved how he staged the musical numbers, even if I wasn't too fussed over MacDonald's operatic stylings. The film is structurally just about perfect, with the ending "answering" the beginning. Chevalier sings "Girls, Girls, Girls" in the opening scene, yet by the end we know he only wants one girl, the lovely Jeanette. He still has only one thing on his mind, but only one woman on his mind to do it with! Great fun!

MartinHafer Jeanette MacDonald,...now that's a star who ONLY would have become famous during one particular cinematic era. By today's standards, her singing is excruciating to listen to despite her being a pretty good actress. Her operatic-type style is, to put it bluntly, horrid--as she hits notes high enough to curdle milk and make babies cry. If you haven't guessed, I'm not one of her biggest fans.However, apart from Jeanette's horrid singing, I loved the film. Maurice Chevalier makes it so worth watching with his enchanting performance--sort of like a middle-aged version of the same lusty but sweet guy he played in GIGI. Plus, I actually liked his singing--it didn't make my ears bleed.As for the movie itself, much of its charm is owed to director Lubitsch. He truly had a magical touch when it came to romances and light comedy. This is particularly true in the last 5 minutes of the film--pure Lubitsch magic and about the best 5 minutes you'll ever see on film.So my final verdict--hit the fast-forward button when Ms. MacDonald sings and you'll love this picture.

fiat0903 No need to add to the many reviews finding this a delightful, well made film. It is every bit that. Yet, this film violates one of the principles of truth in filming. It is NOT the Lehar Merry Widow. At best it is a distant cousin. To be sure, the film uses some of the music, albeit in odd places. and uses the names of some of the characters.One of the plot elements of both the Lehar and the Lubitsch is the need for the tiny country to have the widow marry to keep her millions in the country's bank. The male lead is Danilo in both but in Lehar he is a playboy count. Here he is a bold captain. In Lehar, the leads were lovers in the past. Here they are newly met. And so it goes.From the standpoint of faithfulness to the Lehar work, a work which still enraptures, this film is a travesty. Yet, it is a delightful travesty. Too bad they did not give it a different name.

Ron Oliver The Monarch of Marshovia sends a romantic count to Paris to woo back THE MERRY WIDOW whose vast wealth is vital to running the tiny kingdom.Nine years after producing a non-talking film based on the Franz Lehár operetta, MGM mined the same material again, this time as a musical comedy. The Studio would give the film its trademark opulent treatment, with production values of the highest order. Celebrated lyricist Lorenz Hart was engaged to write words for the music. And, to make absolutely certain of success, director Ernst Lubitsch and stars Maurice Chevalier & Jeanette MacDonald were reunited to duplicate their previous triumphs at Paramount Studios.If, ultimately, the film does not have quite the effervescence of Lubitsch's previous pictures, this is probably understandable. MGM, while wonderful with epics and dramas, often took an unnecessarily heavy-handed approach to subjects which should have been given a lighter, airier treatment. Also, the film was released a few months after the imposition of the Production Code, which obviously had a significant effect upon the movie's final persona.Chevalier & MacDonald continue the on screen relationship already well established in their earlier films: she, the rather aloof and powerful female who needs a good man; he, the social inferior who wins her with his enormous Gallic charm. Their singing is vivacious & charming and sometimes you can almost understand her words.Unlike the 1925 version of THE MERRY WIDOW, there is no villain here to provide dramatic tension. The costars, however, provide much comic amusement. Foremost among them is waspish Edward Everett Horton, very funny as Marshovia's nervous Ambassador in Paris. Rotund George Barbier & sprightly Una Merkel make the most of their small roles as the diminutive nation's conniving King and flirtatious Queen.Some of the smaller roles are also humorously cast: Sterling Holloway as Chevalier's loyal orderly; Donald Meek as the King's gossipy valet; and Herman Bing as Horton's dramatic factotum.Movie mavens will recognize Akim Tamiroff as the head waiter at Maxim's & Arthur Housman as a drunk (what else?) trying to gain entry into that establishment, both uncredited.