Not quite as in love with it as I was the first time, but that's hardly a dismissal. It's still Lubitsch, it's still Chevalier, it's still a joy.

Oh Chevalier, you wonderfully leering cad, you! But it feels like there's so much more that could've been done with this concept, and for the love of heaven why are there not more songs? Terrific last 10 minutes kicks it up a notch, but it just seems to putter along for too long, waiting for a burst of humor or that irresistible honh-honh-honh Chevalier leer.

Eighty five minutes of this and I still can't work out whether Maurice Chevalier is gay or not. Either way, Lubitsch's gleeful European trifles continue to amaze me visually (this was 1931?!), although - like Von Sternberg's films - the dramatic centre of them can often get lost. This is undoubtedly one of the success stories.

Maurice Chevalier sure made some silly movies back in the day. This one features a truly ridiculous premise -- a soldier caught smiling at a princess is forced to marry her! -- but it's pretty cute, really. Chevalier is always charming. The female leads are Claudette Colbert and Miriam Hopkins, both of whom are also extremely likable. The movie essentially ends the same way as Grease (without the flying car) so it's a bit sexist. I was a little disappointed by that, and by which girl the Lieutenant ends up with. Oh well.

It looked to me as though Miriam Hopkins was really playing the piano in some scenes. If so I'm impressed!

An entertaining Pre-Code film dealing with the sexual exploits and subsequent love triangle surrounding the titular lieutenant, played by Maurice Chevalie. Chevalie's shtick gets a little old and the second act is mostly a drag, but everything else is classic Lubitsch. It's clever, funny, expertly directed, and wonderfully acted by Claudette Colbert and Miriam Hopkins. I wouldn't quite put it in with Lubitsch's best, but it's well worth a watch, particularly if you enjoy cheeky dialogue and double entendre.

This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.

This Ernst Lubitsch film is one of those early 30s movies that sort of walk the line between being a musical and being more of a straightforward comedy. There are songs here, but they aren’t really full on musical numbers and they aren’t overly frequent. They also aren’t tremendously catchy or entertaining for modern audiences. In fact I can’t say I really found much of the movie all that entertaining, which is a problem because this is an unpretentious romp that was meant to do little more than distract audiences from the depression. Movies that are strictly meant to entertain generally age worse than movies with artistic or narrative ambitions and this is no exception. It was interesting to see what Maurice Chevalier was like before he was old and creepy, otherwise there wasn’t that much of interest for me. Still, considering the expectations of audiences of the time, I can’t be all that harsh in my judgment.