Smiling Lieutenant, The

Smiling Lieutenant, The

About

Chevalier in the title role is flanked by demi-mondaine Colbert and Hopkins as his plain Proncess wife. Though Colbert is having an affair with Chevalier - this is the pre-Production Code era - she decides to help Hopkins save her marriage by advising her to 'Jazz Up Your Lingerie'.

With assistance from the superb Paramount make-up and costume department, Hopkins is transformed into a desirable enough lady to keep her officer husband home nights.

Cast & Connections

Actor: Claudette Colbert, Hugh O'Connell, George Barbier, Miriam Hopkins, Charlie Ruggles, Maurice Chevalier
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Writer: Ernest Vadja
Producer: Ernst Lubitsch
Photographer: George Folsey

In a nutshell

Lubitsch pokes sly fun at the antics of his European aristocrats, but concurs with the film's conclusion that beauty is skin deep enough.

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