The Love Parade

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ernst Lubitsch directs. Victor Milner behind the camera. W. Franke Harling scores. Merrill G. White cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in French, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 197 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: French, English.
• 3Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, shot by Victor Milner. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Original score by W. Franke Harling. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 5Editor Merrill G. White shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald and Lupino Lane carry the top of the cast.
• 7Marketing tagline: "He sang himself into the Queen's boudoir! One kiss and the whole kingdom was his!".
• 8IMDB entry: tt0020112 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 9Only 51 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography

Victor Milner

Original score

W. Franke Harling

Editing

Merrill G. White

Runtime

107 min · 1h 47m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

NR

IMDB

The Love Parade (1929) ↗

Also by

Ernst Lubitsch

• 
  The Shop Around the Corner

  1940 · ★ 8.1
• 
  The Honeymoon Express

  1926 · ★ 8.0
• 
  To Be or Not to Be

  1942 · ★ 7.8
• 
  Ninotchka

  1939 · ★ 7.5
• 
  The Wildcat

  1921 · ★ 7.5
• 
  Broken Lullaby

  1932 · ★ 7.5

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Community reviews

What people are saying

• CinemaSerf2024-02-11
  ★ 6/10

  Diplomat "Count Alfred" (Maurice Chevalier) is recalled to his home country where he quickly becomes the amorous pawn of the Queen (Jeanette MacDonald). She is looking to marry, but whom? She alights on "Alfred", makes him a prince so he is more suitable then subjects him to a rather humiliating wedding ceremony in which he is the one who promises to love, honour and obey! He's in love, though - so that's all fine. Until, that is, he discovers that being a trophy husband is a bit dull. He can't even have his breakfast on his own. Meantime, though, the Kingdom is having a bit of a cashflow crisis and the Queen can't afford any scandal as a loan is being negotiated. "Alfred" cottons on to this and realises this could could give him some leverage to change the hen-pecked dynamic of his marriage. Whilst all of these shenanigans are taking place "upstairs", "Jacques" (Lupino Lane) and "Lulu" (Lillian Roth) are having their own domestic squabbles but in a far more equilibrate state - even if she does always seem to end up with the upper hand. Victor Schertzinger and Clifford Grey have written half a dozen unremarkable numbers for this that Chevalier and MacDonald wade through without much emotion, and I felt that as the initially engaging relationship between this power couple shifted, so did my interest in a story with just too little chemistry on screen.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Paramount Pictures

  US

Key crew

• EditorMerrill G. White
• SongsVictor Schertzinger
• LyricistClifford Grey
• ProducerErnst Lubitsch
• Original StoryLeon Xanrof
• Original StoryJules Chancel
• CinematographyVictor Milner
• SongsClifford Grey
• Art DirectionHans Dreier
• SoundFranklin Hansen

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• queen
• marriage
• prince
• pre-code

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere1930-01-19· Los Angeles, California
• Theatrical (limited)1929-11-19NR· New York City, New York
• Theatrical1930-01-18