The Love Parade (1929): Zank 'Eavens For Chevalier

Not sure how this old chestnut got on my list, but I’m sure glad it did. The Love Parade was one of the earliest “Talkies”, as sound movies were first called, and was, I’m told, the first true movie musical EVER! Sure, Jolson sang in The Jazz Singer (1927), but that was his gig – he sang on stage. He didn’t sing in the rain, sing to his lover, or just sing for the pure joy of it. In The Love Parade, Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald  Lupino Lane and even Chevalier’s dog burst into song all over the place. While the style of music is certainly not au courant, it was then, and it is still interesting and enjoyable.

The Love Parade is also a comedy, and at times it is laugh-out-loud funny. This is not really surprising, as it was directed by a master of early screen comedy, the great Ernst Lubitsch. In this country, Lubitsch is known for such classics as Trouble in Paradise (1932), Design for Living (1933), Ninotchka (1939) and To Be Or Not To Be (1942). In 1929 Lubitsch was already a noted director of silent films, but The Love Parade was his first talkie.  With wonderful actors, a good script and a pastiche of comic styles , it was (deservedly) a big success. The humor is a mix of physical comedy – some really hilarious slapstick moments – and verbal wit. It's still funny, more than eighty years later.

The story centers on Count Alfred Renard (Chevalier) an officer in the army of a mythical European kingdom of Sylvania. Chevalier/Alfred starts the film in Paris (naturally) as an attaché of the Sylvanian Embassy. He is a happy philanderer, high on life, carousing all night, sleeping with beautiful women, etc. His one faux pas was hooking up with the wife of his boss, the ambassador – and for this he is sacked and sent back to Sylvania. Before he leaves, he has time for a lovely, smile-inducing farewell song to the beloved ladies of Paris. Lubitsch lets us know that the ladies will miss him too. Alfred’s similarly ribald servant, Jacques (Lane) joins in this reverie, and the serving class wenches reply in kind. Even Alfred’s pooch gets in a verse, reciprocated by the neighborhood bitches. A great musical number.

Let me say right here that until I saw The Love Parade, I could never understand the Maurice Chevalier thing. To me, he was always this kind of passé old French guy, famous for being famous, creepily singing Thank Heavens For Little Girls at age 70 to 26 year old Leslie Caron in Gigi (1958). Now I get it. Back in the day, he was a charming ladies man, cute even. He was funny, with just the right amount of self-mockery. He knew his French accent was silly, yet romantic to the American ear and played on that. In this picture, at least, you can’t help liking him. I’m not alone in this opinion: the spouse liked him, too.

The kingdom of Sylvania is kingless. Queen Louise (MacDonald) is in charge (sort of – there’s also this passel of old stuffed- shirt courtiers following her around “advising” her about running the country.) But the important thing is that she is young and hot – and lonely. Seems that her staff can’t seem to find her a suitable mate. And she wants to mate. This being a pre-code film, her yearnings are made quite evident. Along comes Alfred, supposedly to be sanctioned for his roguish behavior. He’s cute. He’s interested. We know where this is heading … directly to the bedroom; but only after some witty repartee and another lovely song about the birds and the bees or whatever.

Oh, and there’s this thing about getting married before you have sex, so that gets taken care of post-haste.
This sets up a problem, though. Louise is a Queen, with power, duties, respect; Alfred is an attractive goofball, merely a consort, with nothing to do, no one to command, and now he’s not even allowed to go catting around. He's frustrated. He pouts. How long can the young couple be happy with this kind of dynamic going on?

Meanwhile, Jacques hasn’t been idle. Following in the master’s footsteps, he quickly connects with Lulu (!) (Lillian Roth) a servant girl in the palace. Lulu is attractive. She is also bigger and stronger than Jacques, and a no-nonsense kind of a gal. Together they supply some great slapstick schtick, and a musical number or two. I don’t recall having seen either Lane or Roth before, but each is a blast to watch. Actually, I just lied – turns out Roth played Arabella Rittenhouse, Margaret Dumont’s daughter, in Animal Crackers, but that was less a comedic than a romantic role. Here, she is a wonderful comedienne, and more memorable. Lane was a veteran of scores of silent comedies as well as the vaudeville stage, and just brilliant and physical comedy. His slapstick scenes in The Love Parade are a reason in themselves to see the movie.

The rest of the acting ensemble is also strong. Of special note is the character actor Russ Powell, who has a very small, but hilarious role as the Afghan ambassador. He speaks a made-up Afghan language that totally cracked us up – worth the price of admission.

I must admit that the last twenty minutes or so of this picture is a bit of a let-down. The comedy fades a bit, as the writers and Lubitsch struggle to resolve the gender power dynamics between the queen and her consort. And the solution, while not surprising for 1929 perhaps, is what we would now call politically incorrect. Indeed, my companion left before the end, because she didn’t care to watch this play out. Not a bad choice, actually.

I highly recommend The Love Parade. A bit of cinematic history, it’s silly, airy, fluffy and fun most of the way. And, if you decide to quit a few minutes early, you won’t miss much.

Available on DVD (Criterion Collection), including Netflix