Welcome to an Ernst Lubitsch musical comedy, full of wonderful examples of his celebrated "touch". Of course some of these touches were present in the screen story by Ernest Vajda and some may have been added in the additional dialogue by Vincent Lawrence. Our star, Jeanette MacDonald is charmingly photographed and is in fine voice. This was a Paramount picture and therefore the sound recording was top notch and not third-rate as it often was in Miss MacDonald's MGM pictures. Among the songs presented here, I particularly liked "Beyond the Blue Horizon", "Always in All Ways", "Give Me a Moment Please", "She'll Love Me and Like It", "Trimmin' the Women", and "A Job with a Future". As usual, Hans Dreier's gorgeous sets make a notable contribution to the movie's success. In all, "Monte Carlo" is a most pleasant, witty and diverting offering.

This time it's the beautiful and witty early Jeanette MacDonald, before Nelson Eddy came along - in an unusual Lubitsch romantic comedy musical! A high society romp involving financially embarrassed Countess Helene (Jeanette MacDonald) bolting during a wedding to stuffy but rich Duke Otto (Claude Allister). Her idea is to escape to Monte Carlo and gamble herself back into the upper circles, without depending on men in her life. It doesn't work out, due to many twists of the wheel as well as the plot, involving Count Rudolph (Jack Buchanan) - and Duke Otto - now both after her. Lots of sophisticated laughs at the antics of the high-born, sort of verbal slapstick. And some great music too, even beyond the blue horizon!

This is the only one of Lubtisch's five films with MacDonald and Chevalier that can be considered a failure and primarily because of poor casting.There are lovely Lubitsch touches: the red carpet, the rain, the discovery of the missing bride, all without dialogue; the slap and the hair pat; the clock with first trumpet, then tuba, then flute; the elaborate four key locking of her chambers.The error is in casting Jack Buchanan, ugly, effeminate and silly, as her leading man. She runs to him from the equally ugly and effeminate Claude Allister. What were they thinking???? She needed a "man," not someone playing a man. I have no idea of the sexuality of either Buchanan or Allister, but she did not have a "real man" by Hollywood standards to play against, yet did her valiant best, as she always would in all her films. At one point in the dialogue, MacDonald accuses Buchanan of "not being a man at all."I'm not homophobic - I'm a gay man myself, but it must be said, Miss MacDonald was very poorly served in this outing. Yet, there is a grand original score, including two real gems: BEYOND THE BLUE HORIZON and ALWAYS, IN ALL WAYS. Enjoy it for Jeannette, Lubitsch and the songs, despite the non chemistry with her leading man and the long, long dull parts of the play itself.Songs:Day of Days – Chorus She'll Love Me and Like It – Allister BEYOND THE BLUE HORIZON – MacDonald GIVE ME A MOMENT PLEASE – MacDonald and Buchanan Trimmin The Women – Buchanan, Roche, Brooke WHATEVER IT IS, IT'S GRAND – MacDonald and Buchanan YOU'LL LOVE ME AND LIKE IT– reprise – Allister and MacDonald ALWAYS, IN ALL WAYS – MacDonald and Buchanan Give Me A Moment Please – reprise – Buchanan ALWAYS, IN ALL WAYS – reprise –MacDonald and Buchanan BEYOND THE BLUE HORIZON – reprise – MacDonald and BuchananMacDonald sings 5 songs: Beyond The Blue Horizon; Give Me A Moment Please; Whatever It is , It's Grand; You'll Love Me And Like it; Always, In All Ways – plus two reprises.

Aside from introducing "Beyond the Blue Horizon" to the public, this musical is pretty weak for MacDonald and Ernst Lubitsch. As several of the writers on this thread have pointed out, the leading man (Jack Buchanan)is just not strong enough to lift his half of the love story plot. He is a count at Monte Carlo, and he pretends to be a hairdresser to keep close to Countess Jeanette. He is given such third rate songs like "Trimmin the Women" and "Always in All Ways" to sing (only MacDonald had a really memorable tune, and it was sung too early in the film). Even Claude Allister's "She'll Love Me and Like It" has more bounce and pizazz to it - and it is not a good song. Also, Buchanan may have been terrific on the West End stages of the 1930s and 1940s, buy his movie career was spotty. His most memorable part was as Jeffrey De Cordoba, the great man of the theater in THE BAND WAGON who almost destroys the musical that Fred Astaire is trying to put on - and while good in that role, the thought that Clifton Webb might have played the role makes Buchanan's performance irritating. Webb was Astaire's chief Broadway rival in the 1920s, and this would have been his one chance to show the early Webb reputation as a great song and dance man with his one peer. Oh yes, Buchanan's was the "star" of Preston Sturges' last film THE FRENCH, THEY ARE A FUNNY RACE. That is regarded as Sturges' worst film.The best thing in the film tends to be Claude Allister's performance as the cuckolded fiancé Prince Otto. Besides his big song number (totally unexpected), Allister puts on more force than normal for his usual "silly ass" Englishman performances. He suddenly reappears at Monte Carlo to confront Jeannette (who keeps leaving him at the alter) and immediately takes control of her situation. In fact, given his more active personality Allister deserved to win Jeannette - he just looks preposterous, so he has to lose to the better looking Buchanan. That seems a more ridiculous reason to accept the conclusion of any film. Because Jeannette pushed some real excitement across the screen with "BEYOND THE BLUE HORIZON" twice in the film, and Allister does manage to squeeze unexpected juice out of his role and performance, I give this a five. If Buchanan's co-stars had been equally dull as he, it would have gotten a 2.