The Merry Widow is a 1934 film adaptation of the 1905 operetta of the same name by Franz Lehár. The film was directed and produced by Ernst Lubitsch starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald with a supporting cast featuring Edward Everett Horton, Una Merkel, Sterling Holloway, Donald Meek, Jason Robards Sr. and Akim Tamiroff. A French-language version was produced at the same time and released in France the same year as La Veuve joyeuse with some but not all of the same cast (Chevalier, MacDonald, and Tamiroff appear in both versions). Lorenz Hart and Gus Kahn wrote new English lyrics for some Lehar songs under the musical direction of Herbert Stothart.
Plot
Playboy Captain Danilo (Maurice Chevalier) is ordered by King Achmet of Marshovia (George Barbier) to court and marry Madame Sonia (Jeanette MacDonald), a rich widow who owns a large portion of the kingdom.
Cast
English
Maurice Chevalier as Captain Danilo
Jeanette MacDonald as Madame Sonia / Fifi
Edward Everett Horton as Ambassador Popoff
Una Merkel as Queen Dolores
George Barbier as King Achmet
Minna Gombell as Marcelle
Ruth Channing as Lulu
Sterling Holloway as Mischka
Donald Meek as Valet
Herman Bing as Zizipoff
Jason Robards Sr. as Arresting Officer (uncredited) Akim Tamiroff as Maxim's Manager (uncredited)
French
Maurice Chevalier as Prince Danilo
Jeanette MacDonald as Missia
Marcel Vallée as L'ambassadeur
Danièle Parola as La reine
André Berley as Le roi
Fifi D'Orsay as Marcelle
Pauline Garon as Lola
George Davis as L'ordonnance
Jean Perry as Le valet
Akim Tamiroff as Turk
Awards and honors
Cedric Gibbons and Fredric Hope won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction.
The film was nominated for the American Film Institute's 2006 list AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals.
Reception
The film earned $861,000 in the US and $1,747,000 overseas for a total rental of $2,608,000. It earned a further $151,000 on re-release in 1949–1950 to almost break even.