So much for my prediction that if I ever saw another Maurice Chevalier movie, it would be from late in his career. I seem to have a poor memory for such resolutions. Regardless, I had wanted a '30s picture on the unserious side, and that's just what I got.
In Paris, Andre (Chevalier) and Colette (Jeanette MacDonald) are such passionate spouses that everyone assumes they're unwed or at most newlywed. Enter Colette's friend Mitzi (Genevieve Tobin), whose husband Adolph (Charles Ruggles) rightly suspects her of infidelity. She falls for Andre right away and doesn't even care that he's married to her alleged best friend. As Andre's resolve weakens in the face of Mitzi's aggressive advances, Adolph turns his attention to Colette.
Before I discuss spoilers in the next paragraph, I thought I'd point out a few elements I found somewhat interesting. Andre periodically talks directly to the audience, making oh so many assumptions about what we're thinking or doing. Some of the songs (not his) are mostly if not completely spoken rather than sung, but to call them early rap is a stretch. The DVD has closed captioning on by default, and the menu screen offers no way to turn them off; fortunately, they didn't hurt my enjoyment of Green Book or 1917, and in this case, they helped on the few occasions that characters talked over each other. The women, even beyond the main two, look awfully alike, probably because of the rigid beauty standards of the era. And I shouldn't be surprised that no one besides Chevalier even attempts a French accent.
Now for the spoilers, because they are too important to my overall judgment to gloss over: All four main characters cheat. Oh, they don't show or mention any activity more lurid than kissing, but I doubt that kissing and chatting were all they did for that much time. In the end, Mitzi and Adolph divorce, but Andre and Colette, after their initial outrage, realize they're even and make up. There is no evidence of continued interaction between Andre and Mitzi or between Adolph and Colette. Perhaps all their friendships are over, but the ex-friends never have it out. I get the impression that Colette is never really attracted to Adolph (he's no Chevalier); she just gives in to his seduction for revenge. Which might have been his own plan all along.
It's not exactly a surprising development. Mitzi and Adolph only fake their mutual affection right from the start, and Adolph implies that he'd like to commit uxoricide. But no '30s musical comedy would end unhappily for the lead singer, and even pre-Code Hollywood had enough mores not to let him live happily ever after with his (former) mistress.
While it could have been worse, I have to shake my head at Andre. In his shoes, I would have clued my wife in on her friend's treachery instead of making flimsy excuses not to be around said friend. (This isn't the first time a Chevalier protagonist has lied for a poor reason; see The Smiling Lieutenant.) When he sins, he claims that any man would have done the same, and at one point, he has the nerve to claim that what he did wasn't wrong. Mitzi does coerce him into positions that would make others suspect him of infidelity anyway, but that's no excuse in my book. If anything, it erases any sexiness she had in my eyes. And she never gets punished or ashamed.
It would take far funnier jokes and/or a much catchier set of songs to convince me to overlook the messaging of OHwY. Not only will I let this be my last taste of early Chevalier; I'm going to be leery of director Ernst Lubitsch as well.
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