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The Smiling Lieutenant - 1931
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Our next film is 1931's "The Smiling Lieutenant", in which we find a dashing lieutenant in the Imperial Guards Regiment smiling at a princess. The princess takes offense and the lieutenant is summoned to give an answer for his behavior. Will he charm the princess or lose his head?
The film's cast includes Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert, Miriam Hopkins, Charles Ruggles, George Barbier, Cornelius MacSunday, and Elizabeth Patterson.
Our film begins in Vienna, specifically at the apartment of ladies' man, Lt. Niki von Preyn. His apartment seems to be one revolving door of ladies, one after the other.
Niki is invited by a friend to check out an all girl orchestra. The friend is particularly interested in the leader of the orchestra, Franzi. Niki also finds himself interested in her.
After the concert, Niki offers to walk with Franzi, and she accepts. The two fall hopelessly in love.
They even play duets together at Niki's apartment. When it's time for Franzi to go, the two can barely stand to be parted.
The two even breakfast together. "You put glamour in the grapefruit. You put passion in the prunes," sings Niki. "Breakfast time, this must be love!" the two exclaim.
On a visit to Vienna to visit their cousin the Emperor, King Adolf of Flausenthurm arrives with his very sheltered and unworldly daughter, Princess Anna. When their carriage passes, Niki's regiment is on duty and must give a salute.
Standing on opposite sides of the street during the carriage procession, Niki and Franzi smile and blow kisses at each other.
Niki winks at Franzi at the precise moment the royal carriage passes. The Princess witnesses the wink and smile and is horrified, thinking that the glance was intended for her. And Niki is pretty uncomfortable himself when he sees his breach of etiquette.
It turns out to be pretty scandalous, and Niki's job and reputation are at stake. The story makes the papers, and Niki is horribly embarrassed.
Niki succeeds in charming Princess Anna's ladies-in-waiting. And he even charms the Princess herself. In an effort to save his job, he tells her that he winked at her because he thought she was beautiful. Princess Anna arranges it so that Niki is made her adjutant while she is in Austria so he can always be in attendance on her.
Eventually, she decides that Niki is the one for her, and she begs her father for permission to marry him. Niki is, of course, completely unaware of the Princess's designs on him.
He's summoned to the palace, where he is informed that he and Princess Anna are engaged. He even gets the blessing of Emperor Franz Josef. This whirlwind of activity renders Niki speechless. He's really given no choice in the matter at all.
After receiving his blessing, the Emperor escorts Niki to meet his future bride.
Realizing that she must now leave Niki's life forever, Franzi sadly packs her things and disappears, leaving behind a very sad Niki.
At the wedding in Flausenthurm, Princess Anna is ecstatic. Niki, however, is deeply unhappy. He doesn't love Anna and can think only of Franzi.
On their wedding night, the bridal room is carefully made up to cater to the couple's comfort. However, Niki has no intention of spending the night with his new wife. He bids her goodnight and hastens to his own quarters. Princess Anna collapses on the bed in tears.
One day, Franzi and her orchestra come to play a concert in Flausenthurm. Niki discovers that she's in the country and has her brought to him, so they can pick up where they left off. They are overjoyed to see one another.
Princess Anna finds out about Franzi and angrily confronts her at the palace. Franzi ends up feeling sorry for her and decides to give the Princess some pointers on how to attract her husband. "Jazz up your lingerie just like a melody," sings Franzi to the Princess.
Franzi presides over a makeover that completely transforms Princess Anna. When her work is done, Franzi bids farewell to a grateful Anna and leaves the Palace and Niki's life forever.
When Niki gets a load of his "new" wife, he can hardly believe it. She's a chic-looking, chain-smoking woman of the new age.
She even plays hard to get. And when he does get her, we can see that Niki isn't letting go any time soon.
Cast rundown:
Maurice Chevalier..............................Lt. Niki von Preyn
Claudette Colbert..............................Franzi
Miriam Hopkins.................................Princess Anna
Charles Ruggles................................Max
George Barbier..................................King Adolf XV
Cornelius MacSunday.........................Emperor Franz Josef
Elizabeth Patterson............................Baroness von Schwedel
And that's it for The Smiling Lieutenant. This was Paramount's biggest hit of 1931, and advanced ticket sales for this film sold out almost immediately. This was a Pre-Code film, meaning it wasn't subject to censorship. As a result, some of the film is a bit risque, but very entertaining.
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