The Woman from Monte Carlo (1932)

Lack of good storyline.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The one and only opportunity to see German actress Lili Dagover in an American film occurs in this rather old fashioned melodrama The Girl From Monte Carlo. Lili plays a notorious woman of leisure and pleasure who hangs out in the casinos looking for rich men to spend on her.But she yearns for respectability and what's more respectable than a Captain in the French Navy. She marries the formal and stiff Walter Huston who's been at sea too long.But this is not Dagover's only acquaintance with the navy. From out of her past is John Wray a notorious rake and Huston's executive officer. And one of Huston's newer officers Warren William gets Dagover's motor running. Without saying any more about the plot it ends badly for all three of these men.It was obvious that Warner Brothers-First National imported Dagover from Germany to rival the appeal Marlene Dietrich. She certainly gives a worthy go of it. But as well as Dagover puts her own brand of femme fatale on this film, she decided unlike Dietrich to return to Germany. An interesting role here is that of George E. Stone who is Warren William's orderly and most discreet keeper of secrets. He's as loyal to William as he was as Otero in Little Caesar to Edward G. Robinson. I'll say nothing more, make of it viewer what you will.As for Dagover it took more than one man to make her Monte Carlo Lili.

Captain Corliax of the LAFAYETTE (Walter Huston) has a very attractive wife, Lottie Corliax (Lil Dagover). She has had previous relations with his executive officer Bromberg (John Wray) and a junior officer, D'Ortelles (Warren William). She wants to remain loyal too her Husband, but feels ignored being drawn back to D'Ortelles and repulsed by Bromberg. A Naval battle intrudes upon all of this and in the end there is NO happy ending for anybody. Watch and find out the details.Strong cast supports the film. Lottie Corliax a popular German Actress is attractive and seductive, if She had stayed over here (Hollywood) might have rivaled Garbo or Dietrich. Huston and William did what needed too be done, acted like professional Naval Officers. As for John Wray, he is just as big a weasel in this film as he was as Himmelstoss in ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930).The SFX are credible done for the time and the Naval battle a fair representation of early 20th Century Sea combat. The LAYFAYETTE described in the film as a Battle-Cruiser would more correctly be called a Armored Cruiser. A type totally obsolete by 1914. In the film represented by full sized sets a large scale model and some pick up shots of ship activity from a Colorado class standard Battleship. The model taking its inspiration from the EDGAR QUINET class Armored Cruiser. Just like in the real conflict, the LAYFAYETTE showed little resistance to underwater attack and succumbed fairly quickly too her Central Powers opponent. France was very lucky She had Great Britain and its Royal Navy on Her side. Her Navy would have been no match for the powerful German Fleet.

Too bad Lil Dagover made only one Hollywood movie, but at least it's not lost, and English- speaking audiences get a chance to savor her without the distraction of subtitles.There is a lot of plot ellipsis in this story about a lady with a past trying to settle into respectability as the wife of a French naval officer (Walter Huston). Unfortunately, the husband is at sea most of the time and when his ship finally comes into port and she arrives on board for a welcoming party World War One suddenly begins, the party is called off and the ship is torpedoed. Romantic rivalry (involving Warren William as an officer subordinate to Huston) and a threatening figure from her past (John Wray) are also mixed up in the mayhem. However, the film is mostly about Lil. Her charm, her poise, her jewels, her costumes, her legs, her profile, her ivory skin, her raven hair, her captivating smile—all on display in generous close-ups. If this all seems reminiscent of Dietrich in the von Sternberg films, this exposure of Dagover was probably intended by the executives at First National who imported her, probably as their version of Dietrich or possibly Garbo, whose manner resembles hers. Her rather thick German accent is difficult to understand at times, and creates problems in some scenes, but she hits all of the required emotional notes, especially when playing the frustration of an abandoned wife.The final fadeout is particularly striking.

Sporting a plot with gaping holes (one of them large enough to accommodate a battleship), The Woman from Monte Carlo (1931) is more than somewhat disappointing. We waited years to catch up this one. Now it's finally available; but although it has some great moments – principally contributed by John Wray and occasionally by Lil Dagover – the preposterous plot and peculiarly lethargic performance by Warren William undermine its appeal. Nonetheless, although occasionally ill-treated by photographer Ernest Haller, Dagover works hard to build up credibility. Alas, her efforts are sabotaged, largely by Warren William but also by Walter Huston. Admittedly, the admiral is supposed to be a dull old stick, but in my book that doesn't mean he has no charisma whatever. (Incidentally, the studio's credits are wrong. Wray is the ship's captain, Huston is an admiral, and William plays an officer called "D'Artelle"). Michael Curtiz's visual flair is also under pressure from the talky script, the predictable plot and its lifeless characters. All in all, The Woman from Monte Carlo rates as a must-see for Lil Dagover (and John Wray) fans, but little more than a melodramatic curiosity for everyone else.