As the princess (Miriam Hopkins) rides past she thinks he is smiling (and laughing) at her. Preyn is standing at attention waiting for an arriving king and princess, he flashes a big smile at Franzi who is standing across the street. The plot concerns Lieutenant Preyn (Maurice Chevalier), who after a life of jumping from one woman’s bed to another, falls in love with a violin player named Franzi (Claudette Colbert).
![the smiling lieutenant 1931 the smiling lieutenant 1931](https://criterion-production.s3.amazonaws.com/carousel-files/5b029a143a1f8106e7baed10f9f690b3.jpeg)
Because it is a pre-code film, the sexuality is a major factor in the plot and within a couple of years movies like this would no longer be “appropriate” for the general audiences. My Rating – 3.The Smiling Lieutenant is a 1931 romantic comedy musical directed by Ernst Lubitsch. It’s another charming film from the director, but an unoriginal, very flawed one. The film has its quite intriguing, fun and funny sequences, but it also has some forgettable scenes, a problematic pace and a weak soundtrack. All of the actors did a great job, but Colbert and Hopkins do not fit as well with Chevalier as Jeanette MacDonald does. The Smiling Lieutenant is a solid, but very disappointing Lubitsch flick that’s far from his best efforts.
THE SMILING LIEUTENANT 1931 MOVIE
It’s a well shot movie, technically very well made, some of the dialogue is playful and intriguing and the movie can be a lot of fun, but it can also be quite slow and tedious owing to problematic pacing and its soundtrack is very weak as all of the songs feature just a couple of repeated notes and offering nothing original. It thus did not deserve its Best Picture nomination at all and it’s weird that it only got that one nom and nothing else. The Smiling Lieutenant is well directed by Lubitsch, but it’s far from his best efforts. I also found their triangle uninteresting, though I have to commend on the relationship between the two women as those later scenes absolutely stole the show. Colbert and Hopkins are both reliably terrific as both are great talents, but they just did not fit with this style of film and the actor himself. He’s still fine here, but he was better in his previous movies. Jeanette MacDonald’s departure is definitely felt, I have to say, as Maurice Chevalier is better when he’s with her. But the movie is very uneven in quality as it jumps from one intriguing, amusing sequence to a rather dull, forgettable one for the majority of its runtime. The plot is fine for what it is, some plot points and scenes are actually quite memorable and the humor is solid with some quite charming, amusing moments to be found. I really enjoyed the flick, but I just thought it was solid, rarely truly great or memorable. That’s not to say that I disliked The Smiling Lieutenant. This movie is unoriginal as it’s so much influenced by that previous, better crafted flick. Also, ‘The Love Parade’ is so much better as a tale of imaginary kingdoms and intrigue.
![the smiling lieutenant 1931 the smiling lieutenant 1931](https://www.virtual-history.com/movie/card/151/large/maurice_chevalier_082.jpg)
‘One Hour with You’ was nominated for Best Picture the same year and it’s a much better film both in story and in suggestive humor. “Girls who start with breakfast don’t usually stay for supper “įirst and foremost, let’s negatively compare this movie unfortunately to other Lubitsch productions of the similar period and style. The Smiling Lieutenant is a 1931 musical romantic comedy film directed by Ernst Lubitsch and starring Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert and Miriam Hopkins.