A Wink and a Smile: A look at "The Smiling Lieutenant"

From what I understand during the first rocky "sound" years of cinema, many filmmakers and industry people alike were cynical about the new invention. Cinema was largely considered a silent art form for a long time, and the fact that actors could now speak dialogue seemed to have taken some of that magic away. However sound never stopped Ernst Lubitsch from being innovative. Lubitsch entered his "sound" years with a new genre: The musical! Although music had been a part of talking pictures before, most famously with Al Jolsen and "The Jazz Singer", Lubitsch made use of it as another way to move a picture forward. In a Lubitsch musical, the songs were as important to the plot as the actual dialogue, we were made more aware of situations and character motivations. Perhaps more importantly it was another way for Lubitsch to drop in an extra double entendree or innuendo in a lyric.

While I love all of Lubitschs' musicals I must admit I do have a favorite, in fact I would rank it as one of my absolute favorite Lubitsch films of all time: "The Smiling Lieutenant". This film is a nice hidden jewel in the Lubitsch lexicon, but I think of it more as his hidden masterpiece.

The film begins with a Lubitsch trademark motif: a door. We see a surly looking fellow walk up a flight of stairs to the door, we find out it's a tailor inquiring about a bill. He knocks on the door but no one answers, he knocks again, and no one answers, he exits. We then see a beautiful lady walk up the stairs, she gives a special "it's me" knock and then the door opens. We then see a dimmed light which is then brightened, and we finally see the man behind the door. It is Maurice Chevalier who portrays the title character from Vienna who's name is Lt. Nikolaus von Preyn, although his friends call him "Niki".

Near the beginning Niki falls for a lovely violinist Franzi (Claudette Colbert) and for the moment they enjoy a wonderful love affair, but soon it is threatened by a Princess (Miriam Hopkins) from a small and insecure little country known as Flausenshaum. One day when standing at attention for the Princess and her father the king, he smiles at Franzi who is on the other side of the street. The Princess mistakes it as a gesture towards her and sees it as an insult at first. To save face and his own neck, Niki explains that he was smiling at the Princess because he thought she was beautiful. The Princess is now smitten and to smooth things over with Vienna and Flausenshaum, both countries agree that marriage between the two is the best course of action.

Niki must now marry the Princess and move to Flausenshaum where he is miserable, but he soon finds Franzi who has followed him, and their affair begins again, meanwhile the poor homely Princess is left wondering how to win Niki's affection.

I suppose the reason why I love "The Smiling Lieutenant" is I am completely surprised as to where it goes. What separates a Lubitsch love triangle with a regular love triangle is we feel sympathy with all three people involved. I couldn't help but think that if this was done by a less skilled director, he might've gone off and made the Miriam Hopkins character too stupid and annoying, which would make her a villain. Lubitsch treats her as a sympathetic character who's desperate in love but naive in the ways of making love.

By making all characters sympathetic, it gives room for pathos that is commonly unseen in a musical comedy. The ending is rather bittersweet as the two woman meet, however Lubitsch doesn't wallow in misery for too long and makes this scene all the more lovable.

SPOILER ALERT (Although I hate saying that but please don't read further if you haven't seen the film)

I must stop a minute and point out my favorite moment from this film and one I often think of with fondness. It is the final moment when Franzi exits the film, she has left the Princess who she has made over as a desirable woman for Niki, but rather than just have her exit, Lubitsch lets her leave with class. The camera follows her out of the palace and with her back to the screen she is aloud a brief wave of goodbye. This moment isn't spoken of very much in all the great ones Lubitsch has left us, but as I saw this I wondered what other director would let "The Other Woman" leave with such dignity and style? To me nothing exemplifies a "Lubitsch Touch" better than that gesture.

The final part of this film becomes ingenious as it is done with only music, action, and very little dialogue, we are left with a delightful film done with perfection by a master of the craft. "The Smiling Lieutenant" is rarely considered to be a major Lubitsch film, it is often thought of as a younger sibling to his masterpiece "Trouble in Paradise" which dealt with a similar love triangle. However I would say "The Smiling Lieutenant" stands as one of Lubitschs' best, or perhaps it just goes to show he was the kind of director who never had a best film, each one had its own unique brand of perfection.