Monte Carlo (1930 film)

This article is about the 1930 film. For for the 1931 German film, see Bomben auf Monte Carlo.

Monte Carlo
theatrical poster
Directed by	Ernst Lubitsch
Produced by	Ernst Lubitsch
Written by	Ernest Vajda Hans Müller-Einigen Booth Tarkington Evelyn Greenleaf Sutherland
Starring	Jack Buchanan Jeanette MacDonald Claud Allister
Music by	W. Franke Harling
Cinematography	Victor Milner
Editing by	Merrill G. White
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	August 27, 1930
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Monte Carlo is a 1930 American musical comedy film directed by Ernst Lubitsch. It stars Jeanette MacDonald as Countess Helene Mara. The film is also notable for the song "Beyond the Blue Horizon", which was written for the film and was performed by Jeanette MacDonald. The film was also hailed by critics as a masterpiece of the newly emerging musical genre. The screenplay was based on the Booth Tarkington novel Monsieur Beaucaire.

Plot

Countess Helene Mara is engaged to be married to Prince Otto Von Liebenheim but leaves him at the altar. She flees on a train to Monte Carlo and checks into a hotel. When she arrives at the casino a count named Rudolph Falliere takes a liking to her and poses as a hairdresser whom she hires and falls in love with but could not marry if he is a commoner. Her fiance later arrives and takes her to an opera and she sees Rudolph there in one of the expensive seats indicating he is too wealthy to be a hairdresser. When he reveals to her that he is a count, she realises she can marry him.

Cast

• Jack Buchanan as Count Rudolph Falliere / Rudy
• Jeanette MacDonald as Countess Helene Mara
• Claud Allister as Prince Otto Von Liebenheim
• ZaSu Pitts as Bertha
• Tyler Brooke as Armand
• John Roche as Paul
• Lionel Belmore as Duke Gustav Von Liebenheim
• Albert Conti as Prince Otto's Companion
• Helen Garden as Lady Mary in Stage Opera
• Donald Novis as Monsieur Beaucaire in Stage Opera
• Erik Bey as Lord Windorset
• David Percy as Herald

Music

The songs in the film were written by Richard Whiting and W. Franke Harling, with uncredited music by Karl Hajos, Herman Hand, Sigmund Krumgold, and John Leipold. The best-known song in the film is "Beyond the Blue Horizon" by Richard Whiting and W. Franke Harling with lyrics by Leo Robin. The song became an immediate hit record for Jeanette MacDonald on the film's release and again in the 1970s when it was covered by Lou Christie.

Other songs in the film are:

• "Give Me A Moment Please"
• "Always in All Ways"
• "She'll Love Me and Like It"
• "Days of Days"
• "Trimmin' the Women"
• "Whatever It Is, It's Grand"

External links

• Monte Carlo at the Internet Movie Database
• Monte Carlo at AllRovi
• Monte Carlo at Rotten Tomatoes
• Monte Carlo at the TCM Movie Database
• Criterion Collection essay by Michael Koresky