The Merry Widow (films)

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For the operetta on which the films are based, see The Merry Widow

There have been three major film versions of The Merry Widow, all in English, and all produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. None of the three film versions use the same plot, although all three use the Lehár score. The 1925 version however, is a silent film, so the songs, quite naturally, are never sung. The two sound versions each use a different set of lyrics. The 1934 version features lyrics by Lorenz Hart, and the 1952 one has lyrics by Paul Francis Webster.

The 1925 version starred Mae Murray and John Gilbert, and was directed by Erich von Stroheim. It was notable for introducing the subject of foot fetishism into the quite innocent original operetta.

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The Merry Widow (1934)

The 1934 version was directed by Ernst Lubitsch and choreographed by Albertina Rasch and stars Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier, who had been brought over from Paramount especially for the film. Despite the Hays Code that had just gone into effect, the film was filled with Lubitsch's typical double entendres.

The 1952 film version was made in Technicolor and was a failure both critically and commercially. Directed by Curtis Bernhardt, it starred Lana Turner (whose singing voice was dubbed by Trudy Erwin) and Fernando Lamas, who not only did most of the singing, but was even given the song "Vilja". This was the only version of the operetta, on stage or screen, to make the widow an American showgirl.

In addition to the English films, there were also two foreign language films, made in 1918 and 1962, by Michael Curtiz and Werner Jacobs, and an erotic black comedy very freely adapted from the original story was produced in Russia in 1994.