Directed: Hobart Henley

Year: 1930

Nominated: Best Actor – Maurice Chevalier

Plot in 25 Words: A Euro dandy crosses the big pond to be with his heiress lover. Her family haze, test and grow to respect him, til he kidnaps!

In My Opinion: The last Maurice Chevalier film I watched, I absolutely adored. It was funny, whimsical, and showcased the talented cast perfectly. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I was very excited to watch another of his films.

To begin with I was a little disappointed. I was expecting a comedy and while it did have little moments of humour the whole thing seemed a little deflated.

Maurice Chevalier was on fine form but the rest of the cast just seemed a little flat in comparison. They were completely interchangeable, and I forgot about several of the ‘key’ roles for large portions of the film.

I was watching away, content for this film to fall into the ‘just OK’ category. Nothing special but certainly nothing bad. But then it happened. The scene that made my blood boil. The ending that ruined all of the work done before. The scene that turned Maurice Chevalier from a fancy European gentleman, to a violent dirty criminal.

But not in the eyes of the 20’s – oh no!

Barbara (Claudette Colbert) is preparing to run away with Ronnie (Frank Lyon) and Pierre (Mr. Chevalier) cannot allow that to happen. So he kidnaps her. Yes, that’s right, he kidnaps her! Not in a kinky role-playing way, but an actual sack over the head, thrown in the back of the boat, kidnapping!

There’s screaming and struggling and panicking, all the while Pierre laughs and once he reveals himself it’s laughs all round.

No. Just no.

Star Performer: Well obviously it was Maurice Chevalier. While his Oscar nomination might have been less deserving he was still the best part of the film. His many performances of “Livin’ in the Sunlight, Lovin’ in the Moonlight” were wonderful.

Overall: The first 90% wasn’t bad. The last 10% was beyond dreadful.