Maurice Chevalier is in “Merry Widow” Talkie

Manawatu Times, Volume 60, Issue 100, 1 May 1935, Page 5

Maurice Chevalier is in “Merry Widow” Talkie

JEANETTE MACDONALD MAKES A CHARMING SONIA

(State: Screening Saturday.)

The magic names of Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald make their first sound version of Franz Lehar’s “The Merry Widow,” an especially attractive offering, bul Franz Lehar would be hard put to recognise his opera as adapted for the screen.

The basis of the story is left—Dauilo does win tho wealthy widow for the benefit of Marshovia—but the operatic form has been almost lost in the technique required for tho screen. For example, Danilo was a Prince in his own right in the original “Mery Widow." In the screen version he is merely Captain Danilo, selected for the “widow episode" on account of his local reputation as a squire of dames. Ernst Lubitsch, one of the most artistic producers, has given “The Merry Widow" a setting far more sumptuous than it was ever accorded ou tho legitimate stage. Maurice Chevalier, as slim aud debonair as ever, plays Danilo, tho Marshovian Don Juan, with all his inherent intriguing charm, but uses tho art of tho disseur a great deal when it comes to the music. On the other hand, Joanetto MacDonald sings, acts and dances tho role of Sonia adorably.

Mao West failed to include a part tor Libby Taylor, her coloured maid, in her now Paramount picture, “How Am I Doing?" and to make up for it, gave Libby permission and time off to do a littlo screen work on the side. Libby

promptly got herself two screen jobs at once, aud is now working in both “Mississippi" and “Ruggles of Red Gap," at the Paramount studio.