Monte Carlo (1930)

best movie i've ever seen.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

There's little to find fault with in this practically perfect early talkie musical comedy, directed by the master of early 30's art decco-Ernest Lubitsch. Jeanette MacDonald is the bored fiancée of an extremely effeminate duke who can't believe it when she runs off on their wedding day. So who does she fall in love with? A hairdresser, of course! There is plenty of homosexual innuendo in this VERY pre-code farce. Of course, there's the duke who will never be confused with a soon-to-be Western movie star or even all those large dogs named "Duke" by their owners. Then, there's the hairdresser that lovelorn count Jack Buchannan takes over for so he can do MacDonald's hair himself. The celluloid closet was filled to the rim with curlers, creams and powder puffs, and I suspect that the closet door for this delightfully stereotypical characters was slightly ajar.I have mixed feelings about Jack Buchannan's performance as the count, but I think it is because he was perhaps too British for American taste. Perfectly cast as the eccentric producer in 1953's MGM masterpiece "The Band Wagon", Buchannan's hellion laced voice made him lack in the romance department. MacDonald is radiant throughout, especially singing "Beyond the Blue Horizon" on a moving train. Her comic timing is impeccable. Zasu Pitts sadly is wasted as her maid. The music is interestingly dropped into the plot which in spite of its leading man makes the film rank in the list of precode gems.

I'm going to try to convince you that this picture is not as good as they say, it bored me like hell. please don't forget that I like the genre, romantic comedies rule (especially Les Pärapluies de Cherbourg). but I don't know, maybe I felt bad about it because I just had an exam or maybe I didn't like the length of it (90 minutes) because I still had to go to school. so yes, maybe the movie was interesting, because I watched it until the end was long gone.but I'm afraid I will have to confess I only watched this because it was standing in my book with hard to find movie titles in it. maybe I sound a bit negative, which I am not, let me assure you that I can be happy with a small gift. and yes, Jack Buchanan does in fact steal the audiences attention completely to him. but than again, if you like Buchanan, go see The Band Wagon and not this Monte Carlo (even though he doesn't sing bad in here).so why did I wrote this review, beginning with saying I would prove you the film is not as good as they say it is, writing down why I didn't like the picture? that's no argument. well, maybe it's just a bad movie in my eyes, go see it and judge this picture yourself.

Monte Carlo fail to attain the rate of other Lubistch musicals like "Love Parade" or "One hour with you".But this is anyway a very cute,funny and surprising movie who contains some great sequences and some holes.A sort of musical "Bluebeard's eight wife".Jeanette Mac Donald gives one exhilarating performance.She's used to play the noble lady charming and snob and she excels at it.Just watch the scene where she breaks her hair and shut,while crying:"Here!I'm going to the Opera and i'll say to everyone you dressed my hair!" I couldn't stop laughing.About Jack Buchanan-well,he's not Maurice Chevalier to say the least.He doesn't seem very comfortable with his part.In some scenes (mainly the one where the count and his friends laugh endlessly) he is mechanical and unnatural.He drift from cynic to genuine lover in a very disturbing way. Anyway,it must be said that in certain sequences he's not bad at all.I liked the way he shook his head when Jeanette calls him Rudolph and at the end,when he affect indifference each time the countess looks at him then smile irrepressibly. The supporting cast is excellent but some characters (as the fiancé's father disappear in the middle of the movie and left a strange impression.The songs are quite good -except the funny but forgettable little number about hairdresser- Jeanette Mac Donald sings the legendary,Lubitsch favorite song "Beyond the blue horizon" and there is a beautiful duo between the two leads "Always in all ways".At a certain moment of the song,you feel an almost palpable atmosphere of joy.Verdict: "Not bad,not bad at all".Forgive the script's incoherences and Buchanan's weaknesses and enjoy.

Aside from introducing "Beyond the Blue Horizon" to the public, this musical is pretty weak for MacDonald and Ernst Lubitsch. As several of the writers on this thread have pointed out, the leading man (Jack Buchanan)is just not strong enough to lift his half of the love story plot. He is a count at Monte Carlo, and he pretends to be a hairdresser to keep close to Countess Jeanette. He is given such third rate songs like "Trimmin the Women" and "Always in All Ways" to sing (only MacDonald had a really memorable tune, and it was sung too early in the film). Even Claude Allister's "She'll Love Me and Like It" has more bounce and pizazz to it - and it is not a good song. Also, Buchanan may have been terrific on the West End stages of the 1930s and 1940s, buy his movie career was spotty. His most memorable part was as Jeffrey De Cordoba, the great man of the theater in THE BAND WAGON who almost destroys the musical that Fred Astaire is trying to put on - and while good in that role, the thought that Clifton Webb might have played the role makes Buchanan's performance irritating. Webb was Astaire's chief Broadway rival in the 1920s, and this would have been his one chance to show the early Webb reputation as a great song and dance man with his one peer. Oh yes, Buchanan's was the "star" of Preston Sturges' last film THE FRENCH, THEY ARE A FUNNY RACE. That is regarded as Sturges' worst film.The best thing in the film tends to be Claude Allister's performance as the cuckolded fiancé Prince Otto. Besides his big song number (totally unexpected), Allister puts on more force than normal for his usual "silly ass" Englishman performances. He suddenly reappears at Monte Carlo to confront Jeannette (who keeps leaving him at the alter) and immediately takes control of her situation. In fact, given his more active personality Allister deserved to win Jeannette - he just looks preposterous, so he has to lose to the better looking Buchanan. That seems a more ridiculous reason to accept the conclusion of any film. Because Jeannette pushed some real excitement across the screen with "BEYOND THE BLUE HORIZON" twice in the film, and Allister does manage to squeeze unexpected juice out of his role and performance, I give this a five. If Buchanan's co-stars had been equally dull as he, it would have gotten a 2.