Monte Carlo
About Monte Carlo
Countess Helene Mara leaves Duke Otto von Liebenheim at the altar and takes her maid Bertha to Monte Carlo with 10,000 francs. She wins at roulette, then loses the rest. Count Rudolph Fallière, turned down when he courts her as himself, gets her hairdresser Paul's help and takes the job of hairdresser, then chauffeur. At the opera Monsieur Beaucaire she sees that his disguise matches the plot. He tells her he prefers a happy ending, and they leave together by train.
Cast & crew
More about Monte Carlo
Ernst Lubitsch produced and directed. Ernest Vajda wrote the script. The opening credits call it an episode from Monsieur Beaucaire by Booth Tarkington and Evelyn Greenleaf Sutherland, with additional dialogue by Vincent Lawrence. Victor Milner photographed it and Merrill G. White edited. Paramount released it on August 27, 1930.
Themes
Reviews
Variety wrote that without Jeanette MacDonald there would be no picture, and called Lubitsch's direction disappointing and Jack Buchanan's talkie debut a letdown.
Look
Victor Milner shot the train number so the camera travels with Helene while a chorus answers from the fields.
Music
Richard A. Whiting and W. Franke Harling wrote the songs, Leo Robin the lyrics. W. Franke Harling is credited with the score. Karl Hajos, Herman Hand, Sigmund Krumgold, and John Leipold contributed uncredited music.
Preservation
Prints survive. The film is in the U.S. public domain as of January 1, 2026.
Notes
- Jeanette MacDonald plays Helene, Jack Buchanan plays Rudolph, Claud Allister plays the duke, and ZaSu Pitts plays Bertha.
- Beyond the Blue Horizon," by Richard A. Whiting, W. Franke Harling, and Leo Robin, was written for the film. MacDonald recorded it as a hit.
- Other songs include "Give Me a Moment Please," "Always in All Ways," and "Trimmin' the Women.
- The opera inside the film changes the ending of the real Monsieur Beaucaire so that Rudolph can refuse it.
- A 1930 release, it entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2026.
Scenes
- Helene sings "Beyond the Blue Horizon" from the train while workers in the fields join the chorus.
- Rudolph dresses her hair badly before the duke takes her to the opera.
- From his box he plays out Monsieur Beaucaire until she asks if he is really a hairdresser.
Influenced by
- Booth Tarkington and Evelyn Greenleaf Sutherland's Monsieur Beaucaire
Quotes
Rudolph: I don't like that ending.
Rudolph: I like happy endings.
