The Smiling Lieutenant

The Smiling Lieutenant is a 1931 American pre-Code musical comedy film directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert and Miriam Hopkins, and released by Paramount Pictures. It was written by Samson Raphaelson and Ernest Vajda from the operetta Ein Walzertraum by Oscar Straus, with libretto by and , which in turn was based on the novel Nux, der Prinzgemahl ("Nux the Prince Consort") by Hans Müller-Einigen. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. This was the first of three films directed by Lubitsch and starring Miriam Hopkins. The other two were Trouble in Paradise and Design for Living. Plot In Vienna, Lieutenant Nikolaus "Niki" von Preyn (Maurice Chevalier) meets Franzi (Claudette Colbert), the leader of an all-female-orchestra. They soon fall in love. While standing in formation at a parade honouring the visiting royal family of Flausenthurm, Niki winks at Franzi in the crowd. Unfortunately the gesture is intercepted by Anna, the Princess of Flausenthurm (Miriam Hopkins). The naive princess takes offence; to assuage her, the lieutenant insists that he winked and smiled at her because of her beauty. This backfires; charmed and besotted, Anna demands that she marry the lieutenant, and threatens to marry an American if this plan is thwarted. Franzi leaves Niki upon seeing him return in a royal carriage. After intervention by the Emperor of Austria, an international incident is narrowly averted by the marriage of the lieutenant and the princess, though the marriage is not consummated as Niki will only chastely kiss his bride -- and his father-in-law. Homesick and lovesick, Niki wanders the streets, and encounters Franzi, who has continued to perform with her orchestra in Flausenthurm since the wedding, unable to move on. The two resume their romance.