The Chocolate Soldier (film)

The Chocolate Soldier

Film poster
Directed by Roy Del Ruth
Produced by Victor Saville
Written by Leonard Lee
Keith Winter
Based on Testőr
by Ferenc Molnár
Starring Nelson Eddy
Risë Stevens
Nigel Bruce
Music by Herbert Stothart
Bronislau Kaper
Cinematography Karl Freund
Edited by James E. Newcom
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
  • October 31, 1941 (1941-10-31) (New York City)[1]
Running time
102 minutes
Country United States
Language English

The Chocolate Soldier is a 1941 American musical film directed by Roy Del Ruth.[2] Using the original music by Oscar Straus the plot is somewhat loosely based on the Ferenc Molnár play entitled Testőr and is unrelated to either the original play or the Oscar Straus operetta.

Plot

Karl Lang and Maria Lanyi are not only successful musical performers, they have also recently been married. However, both suffer pangs of jealousy where the other is concerned, since both receive quite a bit of attention from members of the opposite sex. Karl's jealousy is heightened, however, when Maria tells him that she intends to leave their current musical comedy career and seek a career in opera. Karl sees it as a pretext to spend more time away from him.

In order to test his jealous suspicions, Karl hatches a plan to impersonate a Russian singer, Vassily Vassilievitch, and romance Maria in that guise. The plan goes awry however, when Maria seemingly begins to respond to Vassily's advances. Unknown to Karl, Maria has seen through his impersonation, and his thrilled that her husband would go to such lengths for her attention. Even the couple's dog sees through Karl's disguise. When events come to a head with an on-stage confrontation between a disguised Karl and Maria, she reveals her knowledge all along that Vassily was really Karl, and the two live happily ever after, except for Maria's continued flirtations.

Cast

Awards

The film was nominated for three Academy Awards:[3]

Notes

This was the film debut for Risë Stevens.[1]

This film is the second adaptation, not a remake, of the play by Ferenc Molnár. The first adaptation was the 1931 film, The Guardsman, which was a non-musical version starring the husband/wife acting team of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 "The Chocolate Soldier: Detail View". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on April 2, 2014. Retrieved July 30, 2014. |archive-url= is malformed: timestamp (help)
  2. "The Chocolate Soldier". NY Times. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
  3. "The 14th Academy Awards (1942) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
  4. "The Chocolate Soldier, Articles". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on June 23, 2013. Retrieved July 30, 2014. |archive-url= is malformed: timestamp (help)
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