Posts Tagged ‘musicals’

Monte Carlo

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Released – August, 1930  Eclipse%20Series%208%20Lubitsch%20Musicals Monte Carlo

Directed By - Ernst Lubitsch

Starring – Jack Buchanan (Count Rudolph Falliere/Rudy the hairdresser), Jeanette MacDonald (Countess Helene Mara), Claud Allister (Prince Otto Von Seibenheim), Zasu Pitts (Bertha).

Description – Down to her last 10,000 francs, Countess Helene Mara has fled to Monte Carlo after leaving her fiance at the alter. 

Posing as a hairdresser, Count Rudolph Falliere is hired by the Countess and they begin to fall in love.  Countess Mara, believing Count Falliere a commoner, believes they have no future as she is prohibited as royalty to marry a commoner.

With her jilted fiance on his way to Monte Carlo, will the Countess find out about her hairdresser actually being royality himself in time for them to marry?

NOTABLE: This film was hailed by critics as a masterpiece of the newly emerging movie genre the musical.

Introduced in this film, the song ‘Beyond The Blue Horizon’ became an immediate hit and was known as the theme song for Jeanette MacDonald.

Included in the Eclipse Series 8 – Lubitsch Musicals

Eclipse Series 8 – Lubitsch Musicals (The Love Parade / The Smiling Lieutenant / One Hour with You / Monte Carlo) (Criterion Collection) Monte Carlo

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Maurice Chevalier Charms America

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

January, 1930 - With a combination of his Parisian accent, charming demeanor, and mischievous smile, Maurice Chevalier captured the hearts of American movie-goers. His popularity gaining him two Best Actor Academy Award nominations for the films The Love Parade (1929) and The Big Pond (1930).  Maurice Chevalier Maurice Chevalier Charms America

With his trademark straw hat and cane, he became one of the most loved musical comedy stars of his time. Signing a contract with Paramount Pictures in 1928, Chevalier played his first American movie role in Innocents of Paris.

Despite an apparent lack of interest by the general public regarding musicals in the early 1930s, the Paramount musical classic One Hour With You starring Chevalier opposite Jeanette MacDonald became a box-office smash. This proved to be one of Hollywood's most instrumental films in it's effort to help make musicals popular with the public again.