The Merry Widow

Audience Reviews

View All (27) audience reviews

Steve D Not much here but Chevalier is fun. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 12/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Whenever you watch any movie with Maurice Chevalier, it’s hard to deny his abundance of charm. He feels like the type of guy that women would want to be with, and men would want to befriend (as long as he wasn’t with their women.) I did find it quite funny in The Merry Widow when he does both at the same time. In fact, the humor in situations like that is what allowed me to have a few laughs at his womanizing instead of just seeing him as a complete cad. It also didn’t hurt that Jeanette MacDonald was playing a different kind of character who didn’t instantly fall for his charms. Her resistance to his advances was a nice twist on the story I expected from this film. I loved her in the early scenes, and how comically over-the-top her transition from mourning to freedom seemed. She nails this character, and feels like a match for Chevalier throughout. Now, despite the positive twists they put on Chevalier’s promiscuity (and the fact that he was knocked down a few pegs because of it,) it’s still a character trait that I don’t love in a protagonist. I want to root for him as the suave leading man, but his behavior makes me think there might not be a happy ending after the events of this film conclude. Another thing that I didn’t love about The Merry Widow is more a fault with the audio technology of the time. Because they were still in the early days of talking films, the sound that was captured isn’t the best quality. This wouldn’t be a big deal, but they try throwing in a couple of songs, and the high-pitched tinny voice of Jeanette MacDonald was hard to understand. In fact, it was downright hard to listen to at all. Typically, I like a romantic-comedy that tries to be a musical, but this time I felt it could have done without the music altogether. I still enjoyed many aspects of the plot, and I think the lead performances were quite good. The Merry Widow might not be at the top of my list of films to watch again, but I certainly wouldn’t mind (I just might fast-forward the songs.) Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 10/29/19 Full Review Audience Member The best musical movie ever made! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Audience Member i watch this just because i love the silence version Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Audience Member The old chestnut given the Lubitsch touch, with Chevalier & MacDonald in their final film together; a little draggy at times, but the music (including "Vilia," "Girls, Girls, Girls," "Maxims" and the title waltz) is still beguiling, with updated lyrics by Rodgers & Hart. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member Jeanette MacDonald continues to be lovely and have a nice singing voice, but I really can't stand Maurice Chevalier; he's just too, "French." Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Merry Widow

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Most Popular at Home Now