The Smiling Lieutenant

CinemaSerf

May 4, 2024 · via TMDB

★ 7.0

How many films are you ever going to watch that have songs rhyming "liver" with "quiver" - or that quote Emperor Napoleon's last words before entering exile on Elbe - "so long!"? "Niki" (Maurice Chevalier) is a happy-go-lucky military officer in love with "Franzi" (Claudette Colbert) and all is set fair with their lives until a state visit to the Emperor by the princess "Anna" (Miriam Hopkins) lands him in hot water. He smiled at her as the carriage carrying her and her father, the King (George Barbier) passed by. His Majesty is outraged at such a diabolical liberty and so “Niki" is duly summoned. Luckily, he can think on his feet and he can also spell, so is spared death and becomes the apple of the princess's eye! Next thing, wedding bells are being readied and he is swept back to their home land of Flausenthurm a married man. "Franzi" follows and they try to keep something illicit going, but "Anna" is no fool and soon we have a sort of reverse love triangle as the two woman and their hapless hero try to work things out in quite an unusual fashion. Oscar Straus and Clifford Grey provide the musical numbers and though they are pretty unremarkable by themselves, they give the charismatic Chevalier a chance to grin quite a lot, wink now and again and for Colbert and Hopkins to shine. The humour is gently paced, and the whole thing looks like it was shot on the sound stage of the "Prisoner of Zenda". Sure, the story is a bit old hat but it has plenty of charisma to keep it going and is worth a watch.