Good concept, poorly executed.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

In fact, Monte Carlo is a nice film that left me mostly in a good mood. It does have a few fairly major flaws, starting with Jack Buchanan who is a total charmless wimp of a leading man and his chemistry with Jeanette MacDonald doesn't really convince, Maurice Chevalier would have been a much better fit. The song Trimmin' the Women is forgettable at best and embarrassing at worst, a song that really should have been left on the editing room floor, a shame because there was some clever musical choreography in it. The story also even for a 1930s musical is rather contrived with a few situations stretched to the limits in credibility. And sadly, ZaSu Pitts is wasted and strains for laughs, she's often delightful but her comic talents are just not used very well at all. As ever with an Ernst Lubitsch film Monte Carlo is a lavish-looking film with opulent period detail and attractive cinematography and Lubitsch directs with his usual class and elegant style. The songs, with the exception of one, are lovely and staged in a witty(a couple alternatively intimate) and light as a feather way, the memorable scene being the tear-jerking Beyond the Blue Horizon staged on a moving train. Give Me a Moment Please is very amusing as well and the most story-enhancing of the songs. The dialogue is sweet and funny with some nice interplay between the actors, the supporting performances are solid enough but other than the songs Jeanette MacDonald is the best thing about Monte Carlo. She is effortlessly charming and feisty and her voice while not large is beautiful in tone and shaped with tasteful style and phrasing. All in all, Lubitsch is nowhere near his best here(Heaven Can Wait, the Merry Widow and particularly The Shop Around the Corner are much preferred) but while problematic Monte Carlo is not a bad film at all, lesser Lubitsch but Lubitsch when not on best form is better than most other directors in the same position. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Found in the Eclipse set of Lubitsch Musicals, this is probably the least good movie in there. The first thing that strikes you is that it could be just as good as the other three (Love Parade, One Hour with You and The Smiling Lieutenant) if Lubitsch had cast Maurice Chevalier as the lead once again. I don't know the story, but it seems meant for the charming Chevalier, and instead went to Jack Buchanan (best known for playing the Orson Welles-based character in The Bandwagon). Buchanan is, to be polite, not leading man material. He comes off here as a sniveling wimp. In fact, he's so similar in character to his rival, goofy Claud Allister, that you have to wonder what Jeanette MacDonald is getting by the trade. I'm sure this pretty much ruined the film for me the first time around, but, I have to say, I got over it this time. I like the film a lot - it's still very charming. Jeanette MacDonald is wonderful again, and the songs are great. Buchanan is a black hole of charm, but the rest of the film escapes from him.

Monte Carlo fail to attain the rate of other Lubistch musicals like "Love Parade" or "One hour with you".But this is anyway a very cute,funny and surprising movie who contains some great sequences and some holes.A sort of musical "Bluebeard's eight wife".Jeanette Mac Donald gives one exhilarating performance.She's used to play the noble lady charming and snob and she excels at it.Just watch the scene where she breaks her hair and shut,while crying:"Here!I'm going to the Opera and i'll say to everyone you dressed my hair!" I couldn't stop laughing.About Jack Buchanan-well,he's not Maurice Chevalier to say the least.He doesn't seem very comfortable with his part.In some scenes (mainly the one where the count and his friends laugh endlessly) he is mechanical and unnatural.He drift from cynic to genuine lover in a very disturbing way. Anyway,it must be said that in certain sequences he's not bad at all.I liked the way he shook his head when Jeanette calls him Rudolph and at the end,when he affect indifference each time the countess looks at him then smile irrepressibly. The supporting cast is excellent but some characters (as the fiancé's father disappear in the middle of the movie and left a strange impression.The songs are quite good -except the funny but forgettable little number about hairdresser- Jeanette Mac Donald sings the legendary,Lubitsch favorite song "Beyond the blue horizon" and there is a beautiful duo between the two leads "Always in all ways".At a certain moment of the song,you feel an almost palpable atmosphere of joy.Verdict: "Not bad,not bad at all".Forgive the script's incoherences and Buchanan's weaknesses and enjoy.

This was Jeanette Macdonald's 4th film in all and 2nd for director Ernst Lubitsch – both getting into their sound-stride and both with many classics still ahead of them, after all – their lives had only begun. Print quality on the DVD is marvellous for a 1930 film, making me wonder why it was never shown on UK TV in the days when they used to cater for people like me.In the gambling dens of Monte Carlo Countess Jeanette pretends to be rich when she's poor and the guy who fancies her, Count Jack, pretends to be poor when he's rich so as to be her hairdresser. Later famous variations in Paramount films were with Chevalier as her (nothing but a) tailor unintentionally masquerading as a Baron in Love Me Tonight directed by Mamoulian and the fake Baron and Countess in the sublime Trouble In Paradise directed by Lubitsch. The story goes in a few unexpected directions but ultimately all's well that ends well – this was the Golden Age of course. Out of the seven songs only Beyond The Blue Horizon and Always In All Ways were truly memorable, but all were listenable to and pleasant. Zazu Pitts was as sadly underused as Jeanette's maid as was Barbara Leonard as Mitzi's in One Hour With You and Jack Buchanan managed to keep it a dark secret why he was such a big star; the film only lost a little momentum at the opera but overall everything worked well. The sets and costumes were relentlessly beautiful – in fact an extremely colourful black and white. Jeanette looked radiant with her gorgeous hair – Roll Over Madonna!A lovely little film and a window on 1930 – it's not a classic but it was another building block for those to come from Paramount in the next few years.