The Love Parade
| The Love Parade | |
|---|---|
theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Ernst Lubitsch |
| Produced by | Ernst Lubitsch |
| Written by | Guy Bolton (libretto) |
| Story by | Ernest Vajda (film story) |
| Based on |
Le Prince Consort c.1919 novel by Leon Xanrof Jules Chancel |
| Starring |
Maurice Chevalier Jeanette MacDonald Lillian Roth |
| Music by |
Songs: Victor Schertzinger (music) Clifford Grey (lyrics) |
| Cinematography | Victor Milner |
| Edited by | Merrill G. White |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Paramount Famous Lasky Corp. |
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Release date
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November 19, 1929 (NYC) January 18, 1930 (US) |
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Running time
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107 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Love Parade is a 1929 American Pre-Code musical comedy film about the marital difficulties of Queen Louise of Sylvania (Jeanette MacDonald) and her consort, Count Alfred Renard (Maurice Chevalier). Despite his love for Louise and his promise to be an obedient husband, Count Alfred finds his role as a figurehead unbearable.
The film was directed by Ernst Lubitsch from a screenplay by Guy Bolton and Ernest Vajda, adapted from the French play Le Prince Consort, written by Jules Chancel and Leon Xanrof; which had previously been adapted for Broadway in 1905 by William Boosey and Cosmo Gordon Lennox.
The Love Parade is notable for being both the film debut of Jeanette MacDonald and the first "talkie" film made by Ernst Lubitsch. It was also released in a French-language version called Parade d'amour. Chevalier had thought that he would never be capable of acting as a Royal courtier, and had to be persuaded by Lubitsch. This huge box-office hit appeared just after the Wall Street crash, and did much to save the fortunes of Paramount.
Count Alfred (Maurice Chevalier), military attaché to the Sylvanian Embassy in Paris, is ordered back to Sylvania to report to Queen Louise for a reprimand following a string of scandals, including an affair with the ambassador's wife. In the meantime Queen Louise (Jeanette MacDonald), ruler of Sylvania in her own right, is royally fed-up with her subjects' preoccupation with whom she will marry.
Intrigued rather than offended by Count Alfred's dossier, Queen Louise invites him to dinner. Their romance progresses to the point of marriage when, despite his qualms, for love of Louise Alfred agrees to obey the Queen.
Although The Love Parade was Lubitsch's first sound film, he already displayed a mastery of the technical requirements of the day. In one scene, two couples sing the same song alternately. To do this with the available technology, Lubitsch had two sets built, with an off-camera orchestra between them, and directed both scenes simultaneously. This enabled him to cut back and forth from one scene to the other in editing, something unheard of at the time.
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