Monte Carlo (1930 film)

Monte Carlo is a 1930 American pre-Code musical comedy film, directed by Ernst Lubitsch. It stars Jeanette MacDonald as Countess Helene Mara. The film is 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.

Monte Carlo
theatrical poster
Directed byErnst Lubitsch
Produced byErnst Lubitsch
Written byErnest Vajda
Hans Müller-Einigen
Booth Tarkington
Evelyn Greenleaf Sutherland
StarringJack Buchanan
Jeanette MacDonald
Claud Allister
Music byW. Franke Harling
CinematographyVictor Milner
Edited byMerrill G. White
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • August 27, 1930 (1930-08-27)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

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 fiancé 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.[1]

Cast

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 A. 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"

References
  1. Green, Stanley (1999) Hollywood Musicals Year by Year (2nd ed.), pub. Hal Leonard Corporation ISBN 0-634-00765-3 page 13


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