One Hour with You ***** (1932, Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Genevieve Tobin, Roland Young, Charles Ruggles, George Barbier) – Classic Movie Review 5777

Producer-director Ernst Lubitsch re-teams Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald after The Love Parade (1929) in this delightfully witty, deliciously daring 1932 Paramount romantic comedy with songs, based on Lothar Schmidt’s play Only a Dream.

Chevalier plays a Paris doctor, André Bertier, happily married to Colette (MacDonald). But Colette’s flirty best friend Mitzi Olivier (Genevieve Tobin) wants to make love with André, and he succumbs. Mitzi is unhappily married to Professor Olivier (Roland Young) who wants to divorce her, so has her tailed, catching out André, who has to confess his adultery to his wife. And then Adolph (Charles Ruggles) wants to make love with Colette, giving her a hard time resisting his advances.

Original director George Cukor walked out after several weeks’ filming because he found that the producer Lubitsch was taking over.

The latter then reshot much of the film and Cukor is credited merely as ‘dialogue director’. Lubitsch had already filmed Lothar Schmidt’s play Only a Dream as The Marriage Circle with Adolphe Menjou in 1924.

The title number by Richard A Whiting (music) and Leo Robin (lyrics) became a hit of the day, as did the film.

Also in the cast are George Barbier, Josephine Dunn, Richard Carle, Charles Judels, Barbara Leonard, Sheila Bromley, Lita Chevret, Charles Coleman, George David, Bill Elliott, Bess Flowers, Florine McKinney, Donald Novis, Kent Taylor and Eric Wilson.

It runs 80 minutes, is written by Samson Raphaelson, is shot in black and white by Victor Milner, is scored by Oscar Straus, Richard A Whiting and W Franke Harling, and designed by Hans Dreier.

It was advertised as the ‘gayest screen event of the year!’

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5777

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