The Smiling Lieutenant (1931)

When the advent of sound came into the realm of motion pictures the musical genre naturally spawned as a result. For as long as theater had been around there was musical theater, but with films only having the ability to play back recorded sounds for a short and shaky four years the motion picture business had to discover the new talent to manufacture the most enjoyable means in creating a musical. Director Ernst Lubitsch was found to be the man that brought one of the greatest contributions to motion picture with defining what a musical would be in the infancy of the genre. With hit films like The Love Parade and Monte Carlo Lubitsch found a great mix of characters, story, humor, and music that would make him one of Hollywood's most influential directors of his time. He would take his success and turn out yet another picture starring Maurice Chevalier in a rather suggestive film produced in the pre-Code era. The Smiling Lieutenant was a romantic musical comedy that would play with the creative minds of the audience while being entertaining.

The Smiling Lieutenant shares the tale of a misunderstanding between a military officer and a visiting dignitaries that leads to a near international affair and an awkward love triangle. Lieutenant Nikolaus or "Niki" (Chevalier) while standing in line to welcome the visiting king and princess can't help but wink at love interest Franzi (Claudette Colbert), but as luck would have it Princess Anna (Miriam Hopkins) would think the wink was for her. This misunderstanding would lead to a near international incident which led to Niki having to marry the princess. Niki has no interest in Anna and continues to see Franzi, while Anna is compleatly infatuated with Niki. In the end Franzi helps teach Anna, through music, how to please her man in a song called "Jazz Up Your Lingerie" leaving Niki and Anna a happy and saucy couple and Franzi a somewhat forgotten hero to the relationship.

The film is absolutely filled with innuendos. Chevalier plays his lusty Niki character that is absolutely crazy about women and does anything to get as close to them as possible. Early in the picture he is told about Franzi and that she has wonderful hands. "She plays the violin," Niki is told. This excites him greatly. (Be creative adult readers. Picture the hand movements of a violin player.) Niki's sharply response is "Well, I play the piano." (Wow) This dialogue is very suggestive to creatively minded audience as it plainly plays with the notion of sexuality. Later the two have a "duet." (Hint, hint.) Other suggestive conversations are whether Niki and Franzi when first meeting dicuss the idea of when they should share breakfast together, after the first night or soon after. (Come on, play along with me people. You get it right?) Also in one of the last scenes is when Niki handling a checkers board, being the favorite game of Anna, he throws it on the bed as they walk over to have a "game." You have to hand it to Lubitsch he never had the characters every discuss anything sexual, but the film is packed with suggestive materials making the entire film one giant talk about sexual relationships. In an era where people may think movies are squeaky clean, this was far from it as sexual undertones are so understood, but no alarming words are ever used. Though this movie was a "love story," in actuality it was more about lust and sexism, as the man only wanted one thing out of the women and gets it.

A distinct attribute that is found in the film that may have been common of this time period is that the story follows wealthy characters. Hollywood unlike say European cinema loved lavish lifestyles on the screen, and with much of America in financial troubles it would make it esier to see such luxury in the hands of European royalty. This put the finacial gap between characters and the audience in a fanciful level that did not alienate the person that paid a quarter to see the film. Europe was a far off land that would not directly effect the average person in their everyday life, so it would be safe to give that buffer zone when showing off wealthy characters.

The film was not thought to be a great picture, but would do surprisingly well at the box office and with critics. The picture would even be nominated for the Oscar for best picture. Lubitsch would continue to produce many picture for years to come, being a regular musical genius. Chevalier would have a long carrer as a entertainer with his French accent. Hopkins, the actress with the most experience at the time of the picture would work with Lubitsch a couple more times and do some fine acting in the 30s, even getting an Oscar nod in the decade for her work in Becky Sharp. Colbert was the youngster of the group, but she would be the lasting star as she would be one of Hollywood's busiest actresses making on average two pictures a year until 1955, going down as one of the all time greatest actresses.

The Smiling Lieutenant would be a just another musical, but one that would playfully toe the line of risque. The film is fun to watch as it toys with the sexual innuendos in a film that on the surface seems so innocent. It is a rather sophisticated picture that plays with the audience giving many winks along the way letting the audience know that they are in on the jokes. What makes the film entertaining is that as the audience is in on what is happening, the characters are figuring it out what all the suggestiveness means. Even though the film is sexist as the man has a one track mind, and the women only want to please him, in the end giving Niki exactly what he wants, the picture was meant to simply be playful, not to offend anybody. The picture is a fantasy for a masculine audience, but gives a little heart and romance for the females viewers as well. The film caught me off guard with its suggestive creativity and teaches us not to judge a book by its cover.