"The Love Parade"*** 1\2 (out of ****)
It is a parade of laughter in Ernst Lubitsch's musical / comedy "The Love Parade" (1929).
If any movie fan ever needed to be reminded of the genius of filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch "The Love Parade" would serve as a nice reminder.
"The Love Parade", Lubitsch's first sound picture, is one of the master filmmaker's charming, adult, sophisticated, playful musical / comedies made at Paramont. Lubitsch made four films at the studio and each one of them is perfection or near perfection. The movies include "Monte Carlo" (1930) and "One Hour With You" (1932).
Maurice Chevalier stars as Count Alfred Renard, a Sylvanian military attache stationed in Paris. He has gained a reputation as a playboy engaging in one love affair after another and sometimes with married women. One such affair goes too far and Alfred is ordered to report back to Sylvania to meet Queen Louise (Jeanette MacDonald).
When we first meet Queen Louise she has awoken from a dream. She dreams of love and romance and proceeds to sing a song, "Dream Lover", suggesting her dreams will always remain that, a dream. However the queen has also been under pressure to find a husband. Marriage is something she appears to have no interest in. Perhaps because no man seems to meet her standards. It has gotten to the point that the royal counsel has simply given up. Initially this pleases Queen Louise but after she find out why they have given up she becomes upset. The queen's eventual husband would be a prince consort, a man with no power. He would only be her husband. A man would not find this appealing.
As soon as Queen Louise and Alfred meet there is an instant attraction. Queen Louise is not put off by Alfred's long list of love affairs. In fact she seems intrigue by the idea of him. Perhaps she wonders, what have so many women found intriguing about him?
The word "sex" is never spoken in "The Love Parade" but the entire movie is about it. If the movie were made today that may make it sound like a cheap, vulgar raunchy rom-com. In the hands of Lubitsch however a sex comedy can be smart, witty and charming. Although "The Love Parade" was made before the production code began to be strictly enforced the dialogue is full of double entendres and sly innuendos.
Take for example a scene filled with sexual tension in the air. Alfred and Louise have dinner after their first meeting. Everyone at the palace is amazed the queen has taken such a liking to Alfred. Could it lead to marriage? The scene is humorously played out as everyone is spying on the couple narrating what is happening off screen. They enter the room, they smile at each other, they laugh, they begin to drink champagne and soon the both of them are in the queen's boudoir. Had the scene ended there, it would be implied they spend the night together.
Lubitsch however doesn't leave the scene there. Now we can see Alfred and Louise together. Louise tells Alfred to forget she is a queen and treat her as he would any other woman. Alfred sits next to her, he takes her hand and kisses it and then kisses the inside of her palm. He places his arm around her. Louise stops him and tells him, if this is how he behaves with a woman on their first night meeting, what could be left for later. "Plenty" Alfred replies.
In this scene pay close attention to MacDonald, who makes her film debut. Look at her facial expression, the look in her eyes, the trembling quality in her voice. You completely buy into her character in the moment. You believe she is aroused by Alfred and her flirtation is real.
In this regard "The Love Parade" feels a little bit ahead of its time. You didn't often see characters you could actually believe were sexually active beings in American silent films and sometimes even into the early sound era. You can envision the two stars of this picture as being sexually involved. That helps keep an audience engaged.
These moments are countered with scenes involving Alfred's manservant, Jacques (Lupino Lane) and one of the queen's maids, Lulu (Lillian Roth). Jacques admires Alfred and likes to believe he has learned a lot about picking up women from Alfred and so Jacques courts Lulu. Their courtship is played for laughs and features a lot of comical musical numbers. One very good one is a duet between Jacques and Lulu called "Lets Be Common", which looks at how the common folk view romance compared to their royal counterparts.
For the most part the songs by Victor Schertzinger and Clifford Grey are entertainging and have some catchy melodies. The lyrics by Grey match the witty quality of the screenplay's dialogue.
The screenplay, which was based on the novel "The Prince Consort", was written by that great Hungarian playwright Ernest Vajda and Guy Bolton. Vajda wrote several screenplays directed by Lubitsch as well as "The Guardsman" (1931) a charming but sadly forgotten gem directed by Sidney Franklin. Bolton had written vehicles starring Joe E. Brown, the comedy team of Wheeler and Woolsey and Will Rogers.
The message found in "The Love Parade" is every man must be king of his castle. In today's world that is a very old-fashion sentiment and it may turn off some modern viewers. They may go as far as calling the movie "sexist". I can't deny the unappealing nature of the movie to modern eyes but I still enjoy the movie. For me it is a harmless piece of Hollywood escapism.
The musical was still in its early stages when Lubitsch directed this movie but his musicals really stand out against the other musicals of the time and what was to come afterwards. The musicals of the time, understandably, placed great emphasis on the songs and were usually back stage musicals revolving around characters putting together a show on Broadway. Lubitsch on the other hand made musical comedies that were comedies first. "The Love Parade" could function just as well as a straight comedy. If every song was removed from the movie the sparkling dialogue would still shine through. Not many musical comedies of the period could pull off this feat as well.
For its trouble "The Love Parade" was nominated for six Academy Awards including best picture, best director and best actor. Unfortunately it didn't win any awards. It lost the best picture Oscar to "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1930) and the movie's director, Lewis Milestone, won best director. Chavalier lost the best actor award to George Arliss for his performance in "Disraeli" (1929).
"The Love Parade" is a wonderful, entertaining and charming musical directed by Ernst Lubitsch. Its old-fashion message hopefully won't turn off too many younger viewers. Hopefully they can still be able to appreciate the witty dialogue and the performances given by Chavalier and MacDonald. This is truly a wonderful comedy.
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