Review of The Love Parade (1929) by Richard S — 23 Feb 2008

The first feature in the Lubitsch Musicals set is frustrating at times, but the highs make up for the relative lows. Billed as the first Hollywood film to integrate musical numbers with narrative (as opposed to breaking away to songs for their own sake), it was no doubt a daring production. Some of the songs do contain the good old Lubitsch Touch, but others left me flat. Part of it is the somewhat muddy sound mix (not the DVD's fault). Sometimes I had to turn on the subtitles to get every word. This was never an issue during the dialogue based scenes. Further, the musical scenes lean more heavily on slapstick and vaudeville traditions than the rest of the film, so they can feel disjointed. There are a few that I ended up going back to after the film ended. I'd say "Let's be Common" was my favorite. It's the most obviously pre-code.

The bulk of the other highlights come courtesy of gender reversals. Although it isn't as daring as "I Don't Want to be a Man", it's pretty advanced for 1920s Hollywood.

I wouldn't count this as my Favorite Lubitsch and I don't think he does enough with the cinematography or the sound design in the non-musical scenes (Think "Applause" or "Love Me Tonight" for stronger efforts), but there's an undeniable charm that makes the film worth seeing for any fan of the early sound era.

2.5 stars for the film. 1/2 a star bonus for the S&M.