THE LOVE PARADE, 1929

This musical comedy starring Jeanette MacDonald as the Queen of Silvania and Maurice Chevalier as the count whom she marries, plays on the war of the sexes. He is less than thrilled over his marital obligation to be docile, and obedient to the queen. At various moments he displays righteous indignation, charm, tenderness, and trickery. The musical performance, although the first feature film for MacDonald, establishes her in the operetta genre with which she would always be associated. I enjoyed the fragile look of the film--like thin paper stretched over a frame, but starting to crack and fall apart. The sound is similarly crackly and thin. Through age, perhaps, the film glows like a ghost in the night. The music works despite the limitations of Chevalier’s voice. Hollywood of this era was fixated on European royalty, into which it stirs baudy, sexy routines from American vaudeville. It’s entertaining to see how these qualities blend and go toward defining romantic popular music and exuberant musical comedy of later years. The stage sets are astoundingly opulent, and I wonder how much of them were simply painted. Hard to tell. This the first talking picture by director Ernst Lubitsch, and it won some awards, including being nominated for six Oscars.