It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The film looks a little creaky starting out, but stick with it. The reason: Ernst Lubitsch, who provides just the right tongue-in-cheek humor that any good operetta needs. The Marx Brothers' Duck Soup had been released the year before, and Freedonia sounds like the next door neighbor to The Merry Widow's Marshovia -- both are bankrupt, backwards countries with rich widows. You half expect Groucho to show up to compete with Maurice Chevalier for Madame Sonia's hand. The Merry Widow occupies a pivotal place in the evolution of musicals, given its more classical operetta roots. There were some attempts to continue at least with this more classical style of singing. Irene Dunn tried using her beautiful, trained voice in Roberta - 1935, but it seemed out of place. Musicals already faced the challenge of plausibility of ordinary people breaking into song while going about their lives, without the extra issue of giving them classically trained voices. In this regard, Shirley Jones, with her wholesome good looks and sweet voice fit the bill perfectly. What obviously did survive from the Merry Widow vein was the mistaken identity plot device. We see this theme played to the hilt the next year in Top Hat, my favorite of the Fred Astaire -- Ginger Rogers musicals. This light, humorous story never gets old, no matter how many times I watch it. It is the perfect translation of the operetta mistaken identity theme, found in older works like Die Fledermaus or The Pirates of Penzance, into a modern, popular musical film format. It is interesting to compare Top Hat and The Merry Widow, which both convey a similar spirit and style, which many movies strive to reproduce, but few succeed.An amusing movie to follow this with is "Love in the Afternoon," in which a much older Chevalier plays a French private eye whose job it is to snoop on just the sort of playboys he plays in The Merry Widow. Trying to inject classical opera or operetta influences directly into Hollywood musicals was ultimately doomed to failure. But the goal of fully integrating story, singing and dancing was sound. The trick was to give it a modern, popular foundation. That was achieved with the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, which generally had a stronger, more enduring story line, and closer integration of songs, than most Hollywood musicals. This was no coincidence, since Hammerstein had personal and family roots in classical opera. Another reason to watch The Merry Widow is the wonderful twists and turns to the mistaken identity plot. You get the feeling that lots of later movies tried to imitate the concept. But this was the original. It's a fun movie.

Lubitsch, Lehar and Larry (Hart) are an unbeatable parlay in this entry where the only jarring notes are those leaving the mouth of Jeannette McDonald and heading for the stratosphere pursued by a pack of Labradors. Enough people love the voices of McDonald, Kathryn Grayson, Jane Powell, etc to neutralize my antipathy but if only they could have used someone who could sing and not screech - impossible, I accept, at the time because in 1934 the likes of Peggy Lee, June Christy, Dinah Shore etc were not available for operetta. That cavil -albeit a major one - aside this is one of the most sophisticated, witty, lavish musicals that ever came down the pike. Samson Raphaelson supplied a gem-encrusted 'Book' and Larry Hart turned in some of his finest lyrics. Decor, costumes, camera movement all score heavily and the waltz sequence is so fluid and captivating it reveals Busby Berkley as merely a traffic cop with a train set. There was more than a touch of the ham in Chevalier but if we try to ignore the worst excesses of the two leads there is a lot to enjoy from the supporting players and simply the overwhelming STYLE of the thing.

The great Ernst Lubitsch clearly understood the material in which "The Merry Widow" was based. Being European himself, he clearly identified with this delightful Franz Lehar operetta that had been charming audiences throughout the years. Mr. Lubitsch places the action in the small country of Marshovia, in central Europe. The director had an eye for the great spectacle he presents for us. Mr. Lubitsch greatest achievement is that he seems to have his camera waltzing all the time. The result is an amazing triumph for MGM.In fact, the glorious sets one admires in the film are breathtaking. For a film made in 1934, the art directors, Cedric Gibbons and Gabriel Scognamillo recreate the royal palace of Marshovia in amazing detail, as well as the Paris scenes with an elegance and good taste that shows the resources of the studio that didn't spare anything. The black and white cinematography of Oliver Marsh enhances the Lubitsch style. Adrian's gowns look luxurious and the editing of the film by Francis Marsh give the film continuity without ever making the action appear forced or staged.The pairing of Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald was an match that seems to have been made in haven. Both actors are a delight to see. Mr. Chevalier with his French accent and mannerisms make his Count Danilo the charmer he is. The beautiful Ms. MacDonald is mysterious at first, when we meet her, then as she has fallen in love, changes her attitude and realizes Danilo is the man for her.The secondary roles are played with great panache by the genial Edward Everett Horton, who as the ambassador to Paris, is under orders to have Sonia, the wealthy woman, accept Danilo and return to Marshovia with all her money. George Barber plays the King Achmed and the incomparable Una Merkel is seen as Queen Dolores.The Merry Widow waltz received a great production number in which about a hundred couples are seen dancing around Sonia and Danilo, first in white tuxedos and gowns and later in black ones. Later all the couples are mixed together creating such a rich moment. By today's standards that sequence couldn't have been done, or it must have cost a fortune, or perhaps would have digitally mastered in order not to pay dancers to appear dancing in the movie.Let's just be thankful there was a man with a vision, Ernst Lubitsch, and let's be grateful for his vision and his legacy.

Is is possible to rate a movie zero? This movie is one of the worst. The Lehar Merry Widow is full of great charm, a lovely plot and, of course, wonderful music. Some of the music survives -although ill presented- but the plot has been butchered and the charm is all gone. Is is simply awful.Maurice Chevalier is miscast -he is fine in many roles, but not this one. Jeanette MacDonald does not have the right voice, and I have never before seen Edward Everett Horton detract from a movie. Think of how good is was in the Astaire-Rodgers musicals. The sets and costumes have a heavy, unpleasant look which is the opposite of what the operetta calls for. I have to rate it was a complete failure.