The Love Parade

Ernst Lubitsch's 1929 film is his first with sound and offers an early answer to how a musical should be built for the screen. The queen of the imaginary kingdom of Sylvania has to marry; she recalls an officer from the embassy in Paris, notorious for his affairs, and marries him. After the wedding he finds himself useless: he has no place in protocol, no part in decisions, and the court gives him no role beyond being a husband. The comedy comes from that inverted balance of power. It is the first film Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald made together, the songs are woven into the dialogue, and you feel in every scene that sound is a new instrument. It received a number of Academy Award nominations. Who it's for: viewers who love classic Hollywood musicals and Lubitsch's manner. Who it's not for: anyone who will find the technical limits of the early sound era and the near-theatrical playing heavy going.