THE MERRY WIDOW d: Ernst Lubitsch
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), [...]
by Andre Soares | April 14, 2009
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Tags: Cedric Gibbons, Classic Movies, Comedies, Ernst Lubitsch, Five-Star Movies, Five-Star Oscar Nominees, Franz Lehar, Jeanette MacDonald, Maurice Chevalier, Musicals, Oscar 1934, Oscar Movies, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Romantic Movies, Samson Raphaelson, The Merry Widow, Una Merkel
Best Films – 1937
Robert Taylor, Greta Garbo in Camille
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The Awful Truth
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The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
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Lost Horizon
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Night Must Fall
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Les Perles de la couronne / Pearls of the Crown
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The Prisoner of Zenda
d: John Cromwell; scr: Wells Root, John G. Balderstone, Donald Ogden Stewart
Quality Street
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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
d: David Hand; scr: Ted Sears, Richard Creedon and others
A Star Is Born
d: William A. Wellman; scr: Dorothy Parker, [...]
by Andre Soares | April 3, 2009
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Tags: A Star Is Born, Alan Campbell, Alan Mowbray, Alfred Newman, Alice Brady, Allan Scott, Anthony Veiller, Arletty, Bert Glennon, Best Films, Brian Aherne, Camille, Carole Lombard, Cary Grant, Christian-Jacque, Claire Trevor, Classic Movies, Colin Clive, Conquest, Constance Bennett, Cora Witherspoon, Dame May Whitty, David Hand, David Miller, Dead End, Dmitri Tiomkin, Donald Ogden Stewart, Dorothy Parker, Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Dudley Nichols, Eddie Moran, Edward Ward, Eric Hatch, Erich von Stroheim, Ermete Zacconi, Ernest Vajda, Etienne Girardot, Eve Arden, Frances Marion, Frank Borzage, Frank Capra, Fredric March, George Cukor, George Stevens, Ginger Rogers, Grand Illusion, Gregg Toland, Gregory La Cava, Greta Garbo, Henry Daniell, Herbert Stothart, History Is Made at Night, Irene Dunne, Jack Jevne, James Hilton, James Whale, James Wong Howe, Janet Gaynor, Jean Gabin, Jeanette MacDonald, Joan Crawford, Joel McCrea, John Barrymore, John Cromwell, John Ford, John G. Balderstone, John Van Druten, Joseph Walker, Karl Freund, Katharine Hepburn, Kathleen Harrison, La Grande illusion, Lawrence Hazard, Leo McCarey, Leon Gordon, Les Perles de la couronne, Lillian Hellman, Lost Horizon, Lucille Ball, Luise Rainer, Mannequin, Maria Ouspenskaya, May Robson, Maytime, Merle Tottenham, Monckton Hoffe, Morrie Ryskind, Mortimer Offner, Neil Fitzgerald, Nelson Eddy, Night Must Fall, Noel Langley, Norman Z. McLeod, Oliver H. P. Garrett, Oliver T. Marsh, One Hundred Men and a Girl, Parnell, Pearls of the Crown, Penny Wisdom, Pierre Fresnay, Quality Street, Ray June, Richard Boleslawski, Richard Creedon, Richard Thorpe, Robert Carson, Robert Montgomery, Robert Riskin, Robert Taylor, Robert Z. Leonard, Ronald Colman, Roy Webb, Sacha Guitry, Samson Raphaelson, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Stage Door, Sylvia Sidney, Ted Sears, The Awful Truth, The Good Earth, The Great Garrick, The Hurricane, The Last of Mrs. Cheyney, The Old Mill, The Prisoner of Zenda, Topper, True Confession, Wells Root, Wilfred Jackson, William A. Wellman, William H. Daniels, William Powell, William Wyler, Zoe Akins
Best Films – 1934
Norma Shearer in The Barretts of Wimpole Street
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Hide-out
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The Merry Widow
d: Ernst Lubitsch; scr: Samson Raphaelson, Ernest Vajda
Fredric March, Evelyn Venable in Death Takes a Holiday
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by Andre Soares | April 3, 2009
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Tags: Albert Hackett, Alice White, Anna May Wong, Anton Walbrook, Best Films, Broadway Bill, Buster Crabbe, Charles Laughton, Classic Movies, Claudette Colbert, Constance Bennett, Easy to Love, Ernest Vajda, Ernst Lubitsch, Etienne Girardot, Fay Wray, Four Frightened People, Frances Goodrich, Frank Capra, Franz Planer, Genevieve Tobin, Ginger Rogers, Gold, Heinz Ruhman, Helen Lowell, Here Comes the Navy, Hide-out, Imitation of Life, James Cagney, Jean Arthur, Jeanette MacDonald, Karl Hartl, Lloyd Bacon, Louise Beavers, Marian Nixon, Mark Sandrich, Mary Astor, Mary Boland, Norma Shearer, Peter Lorre, Philip Dunne, Ramon Novarro, Ray June, Robert Montgomery, Rowland V. Lee, Samson Raphaelson, Sidney Franklin, The Affairs of Cellini, The Barretts of Wimpole Street, The Cat and the Fiddle, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Gay Divorcee, The Merry Widow, The Most Precious Thing in Life, Viva Villa!, W. S. Van Dyke, Wallace Beery, We're Rich Again
Best Films – 1931
Willi Fritsch and Lilian Harvey in Congress Dances
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by Andre Soares | April 3, 2009
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Tags: A nous la liberte, Alfred E. Green, Aline MacMahon, Barney McGill, Bartlett Cormack, Best Films, Boris Karloff, Brown Holmes, Byron Morgan, Carl Hoffman, Carl-Heinz Schroth, Charles Lederer, Charpin, Cimarron, City Streets, Classic Movies, Congress Dances, Cuban Love Song, Cyril Hume, Dashiell Hammett, Daybreak, Der Kongress tanzt, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dracula, Dudley Digges, Edmund Lowe, Edna May Oliver, Edward G. Robinson, Ernest Torrence, Ernest Vajda, Ernst Lubitsch, Five Star Final, Francis Edward Faragoh, Garrett Fort, Gary Cooper, George J. Folsey, Greta Garbo, Guy Bolton, Guy Kibbee, Harvey Thew, Helen Chandler, J. Grubb Alexander, Jacques Feyder, James Whale, James Wong Howe, Janie Mareze, John Barrymore, John L. Balderston, Joseph Jackson, Karl Freund, Karl Struss, La Chienne, Lee Garmes, Lewis Milestone, Lilian Harvey, Little Caesar, Louise Fazenda, Lucien Hubbard, Lyn Harling, Marius, Marlene Dietrich, Mata Hari, Maude Fulton, Max Marcin, Merritt B. Gerstad, Mervyn LeRoy, Michael Curtiz, Michel Simon, Miriam Hopkins, Ona Munson, Otto Matieson, Paul Lukas, Percy Heath, Raimu, Ramon Novarro, René Clair, Ricardo Cortez, Robert Lord, Robert N. Lee, Rouben Mamoulian, Roy Del Ruth, Ruth Cummings, Sam Wood, Samson Raphaelson, Samuel Hoffenstein, Smart Money, Sylvia Sidney, The Bitch, The Hot Heiress, The Mad Genius, The Maltese Falcon, The New Adventures of Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford, The Public Enemy, The Smiling Lieutenant, Transatlantic, Willi Fritsch, William A. Wellman, William H. Daniels, William Haines, William K. Howard, Zelda Sears
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by Andre Soares | August 31, 2004
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Tags: Akim Tamiroff, Alvah Bessie, Anna Svierkier, Arthur C. Miller, Best Films, Busby Berkeley, Carl Andersson, Carl Theodor Dreyer, Carmen Miranda, Charles Coburn, Charles Laughton, Charles Van Enger, Classic Movies, Curt Siodmak, Dame May Whitty, Dashiell Hammett, Day of Wrath, Dudley Nichols, Edward Cronjager, Erich von Stroheim, Ernst Lubitsch, Five Graves to Cairo, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Frank Gruber, Gary Cooper, Gene Tierney, George Seaton, Greer Garson, Harry Stradling, Heaven Can Wait, Helmut Dantine, Henry King, Herbert Selpin, Herbert Stothart, Herman Shumlin, I Walked with a Zombie, Ingrid Bergman, J. Carroll Naish, Jacques Tourneur, Jean Arthur, Jean Renoir, Jennifer Jones, Joel McCrea, John F. Seitz, Joseph A. Valentine, Joseph Ruttenberg, Katina Paxinou, Kim Hunter, L'Eternel Retour, Laird Cregar, Lassie Come Home, Lisbeth Modin, Madame Curie, Max Steiner, Northern Pursuit, Patricia Collinge, Paul Lukas, Raoul Walsh, Rex Ingram (actor), Roger Hubert, Sahara, Samson Raphaelson, Shadow of a Doubt, Sherlock Holmes Faces Death, So Proudly We Hail, Teresa Wright, The Eternal Return, The Gang's All Here, The Human Comedy, The Lady Takes a Chance, The More the Merrier, The Ox-Bow Incident, The Seventh Victim, The Song of Bernadette, This Land Is Mine, Titanic, Una O'Connor, Veronica Lake, Vredens Dag, Walter Bullock, Watch on the Rhine, Werner Klingler
