Directed by ERNST LUBITSCH. Based on the 1905 operetta Die Lustige Witwe by Franz Lehar, Victor Leon and Leo Stein. Screenplay: Samson Raphaelson and Ernest Vajda. New lyrics: Lorenz Hart and Gus Kahn. Photographer: Oliver T. Marsh. Art direction: Cedric Gibbons and Frederic Hope. Set decorator: Edwin B. Willis. Film editor: Frances March. Costumes: Ali Hubert. Miss MacDonald's gowns: Adrian. Adapted by Ernst Lubitsch and Marcel Achard. The stage musical was based on the play L'attaché d'Ambassade by Henri Meilhac. Uncredited art direction: Gabriel Scognamillo. Set design: Fred Gabourie. Unit set decorator: Henry Grace. Props: Bert Sperling. Make-up: Robert J. Schiffer. Dance director: Albertina Rasch. Stills: Ted Allen. Music orchestrations: Paul Marquardt, Leonid Raab, Charles Maxwell. Gaffer: Ted Wurtenberg. 2nd camera operator: Lester White. Assistant cameraman: Johnny Greer. Stagemen: Carl West, F.D. Raymond. Waltz instructor for Miss MacDonald: Bert Spencer. Grips: Harry Reid, Art Spang. Business manager: Eric Locke. Assistant directors: Joseph M. Newman, Joe Lefert. Sound mixers: James Brock, Mike McLaughlin. Sound: Douglas Shearer. Musical adaptation: Herbert Stothart.* Producer: Irving Thalberg.
Copyright 27 October 1934 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. New York opening at the Astor, 11 October 1934. U.S. release: 2 November 1934. U.K. release: 2 February 1935. Australian release: 10 April 1935. 10 reels. 110 minutes.
TV title: The LADY DANCES.
SYNOPSIS: Tin-pot European kingdom's economy depends upon the residence and goodwill of a wealthy widow. Boudoir expert Prince Danilo is ordered to Paris to woo her back.
NOTES: Academy Award, Art Direction, Cedric Gibbons and Frederic Hope (defeating The Affairs of Cellini and The Gay Divorcée). Negative cost: $1,605,000. Gross domestic rentals: $1,492,000. Previously filmed in 1912 (a two-reeler with Alma Rubens and Wallace Reid) and 1925 (with Mae Murray and John Gilbert, directed by Erich von Stroheim). Re- made in 1952 with Lana Turner and Fernando Lamas.
COMMENT: "The Merry Widow" is the best movie ever made. If I were cast ashore on that proverbial desert island and were allowed only one movie for my battery-powered projector, I would choose The Merry Widow. A tuneful, splendidly extravagant delight, impossible to duplicate (I counted over 22 different camera angles in one 3-minute aria by Miss MacDonald), superbly edited and photographed, sparkingly played and sung, with some of the grandest light-opera music ever composed, The Merry Widow is an unbeatable example of cinema art and skill.
A lavishly sophisticated entertainment, directed with wit, style and supremely authoritative panache, The Merry Widow is a model on how to over-spend your budget with taste and flair. The art directors deserved their Academy Award for the beguiling sets, but it's scandalous that the picture was not even nominated in other categories. It should have swept away every award from Best Picture to Sound Recording. Chevalier never gave a more ingratiating performance, nor MacDonald a more vibrant, thrilling characterization.
OTHER VIEWS: "Comes close to being one of the most perfect film musicals ever made." —The Films of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy by Eleanor Knowles
Copyright 27 October 1934 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. New York opening at the Astor, 11 October 1934. U.S. release: 2 November 1934. U.K. release: 2 February 1935. Australian release: 10 April 1935. 10 reels. 110 minutes.
TV title: The LADY DANCES.
SYNOPSIS: Tin-pot European kingdom's economy depends upon the residence and goodwill of a wealthy widow. Boudoir expert Prince Danilo is ordered to Paris to woo her back.
NOTES: Academy Award, Art Direction, Cedric Gibbons and Frederic Hope (defeating The Affairs of Cellini and The Gay Divorcée). Negative cost: $1,605,000. Gross domestic rentals: $1,492,000. Previously filmed in 1912 (a two-reeler with Alma Rubens and Wallace Reid) and 1925 (with Mae Murray and John Gilbert, directed by Erich von Stroheim). Re- made in 1952 with Lana Turner and Fernando Lamas.
COMMENT: "The Merry Widow" is the best movie ever made. If I were cast ashore on that proverbial desert island and were allowed only one movie for my battery-powered projector, I would choose The Merry Widow. A tuneful, splendidly extravagant delight, impossible to duplicate (I counted over 22 different camera angles in one 3-minute aria by Miss MacDonald), superbly edited and photographed, sparkingly played and sung, with some of the grandest light-opera music ever composed, The Merry Widow is an unbeatable example of cinema art and skill.
A lavishly sophisticated entertainment, directed with wit, style and supremely authoritative panache, The Merry Widow is a model on how to over-spend your budget with taste and flair. The art directors deserved their Academy Award for the beguiling sets, but it's scandalous that the picture was not even nominated in other categories. It should have swept away every award from Best Picture to Sound Recording. Chevalier never gave a more ingratiating performance, nor MacDonald a more vibrant, thrilling characterization.
OTHER VIEWS: "Comes close to being one of the most perfect film musicals ever made." —The Films of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy by Eleanor Knowles