Directed: Ernst Lubitsch

Year: 1929

Nominated: Best Film, Best Director – Ernst Lubitsch, Best Actor – Maurice Chevalier

Plot in 25 Words: Ambassador shags about on duty and is sent home. He falls for and marries the queen, eventually becoming a cuckold. With singing. Lots of singing.

In My Opinion: I was a little worried at the start of the film. The accents were unintentionally hilarious. Maurice Chevalier stars as a military attache from Sylvania based in France. His Sylvanian accent sounded like the French accents in ‘Allo ‘Allo, and the French accents were in perfect queens English!

But as soon as the setting shifted to Sylvania, the tone changed and the film shifted to high gear. Oh it was wonderful. One of the funniest films I’ve watched for a long time, and not just from my Oscars challenge.

Maurice Chevalier was just incredible. His comedy timing and facial expressions were spot on. I’ve only seen a couple of the other nominees for best actor, but I’m struggling to imagine a better choice for the award. He had a great voice, and his performance of ‘Nobody’s Using It Now’ had me in hysterics.

Jeanette MacDonald as Queen Louise made for a great match. The pair had real chemistry and played off each other. The only complaint I would have with her would be her singing. She had a great voice but sang in such a high pitch it was nigh on impossible to hear the words she was singing. During some of the funny duets it would have been nice to hear her retorts.

The reverse sexism was quite nice to see. After watching however many films with the woman shown as the stay at home, needy character who can’t live without her man, it was funny to watch the 20s take on the reverse. Admittedly they had to use the extreme case of a queen and her figurehead husband rather than a regular couple but it was a start. Or it was til the end of the film when Queen Louise apologises for being a woman in charge and hands over control to her husband!

Star Performer: It has to be Maurice Chevalier. Magnificent and utterly robbed of an Oscar.

Overall: Well I just loved this film. I laughed from start to finish. Dodgy accents and humans barking pretending to be dogs in the background. Such a brilliant film and one I will definitely watch again.