One Hour with You is a bit of sophisticated, amusing and perfectly executed sexual fluff. The whole point is an adventure in adultery -- schemed for, resisted, accomplished and forgiven. If anyone could make adultery into a joyful occasion for gaiety, Lubitsch is the man. And he does.
Dr. Andre Bertier (Maurice Chevalier) and his wife, Colette Bertier (Jeanette MacDonald, have been married three years three years of madly passionate bliss. Why, they even go to Parisian parks for an evening of kissing before returning to their apartment or more precisely, their apartment's bedroom. But Colette has a best friend, Mitzi (Genevieve Tobin), a sly minx who thinks husbands are the perfect trophies for her own bedroom, one she doesn't share with her older husband, Professor Livier (Roland Young). The professor, a dry, wry and worldly man, has no illusions about his wife. When he unexpectedly walks into the parlor of his home one day and sees Mitzi with Andre, we know Mitzi called for Andre to come over on the pretext that she was feeling badly so that she might seduce him. So Mitzi quickly says to her husband, "Darling, I'm not feeling very well." "Why should you?" the professor asks. "Oh, no, Professor," Andre says, "Madame is in a very serious condition." Says the Professor, "Why shouldn't she be? Conditions are bad everywhere."
Hovering nearby is Adolph (Charles Ruggles), the eager-man-about town and friend of both of the Bertiers, who is eager to get to know Colette even better. Mitzi, when she meets Andre, is determined to know Andre better, too. Resist though Andre does well, as he asks us, what would you do? And Colette, when she suspects what might have happened, begins to think Adolph might be just the thing for a bit of what's good for the gander is good for the goose. And after all, Adolph tells Colette, "Any man who leaves a woman like you with a man like me deserves it"
Does Andre give in to Mitzi? For that matter, does Colette give in to Adolph? If this movie were made after the Code, the answer would be no. But One Hour with You was made just before the Code slammed down. Do Andre and Colette confess and does the movie end with a shrug, a laugh, a kiss? Well, of course. Adultery shouldn't be seen as anything more than a momentary temptation if two married people married to each other, of course -- love each other.
The movie swirls through this charming tale of love and temptation with the men in white ties and the women in sleek gowns and skimpy scanties. The songs are few but light- hearted. Perhaps more importantly, a light-hearted score drawn from the songs runs through most of the film. Lubitsch even features rhyming dialogue on several occasions that is clever and pointed. When Colette tells Mitzi all about her passionate husband and her life, she and Mitzi discuss things in rhyme, as in this intriguing couplet. Says Colette to Mitzi, handing her a tiny wisp of something silk, "Oh, I must show you my new lingerie " Replies Mitzi, "Too stunning for only a husband to see "
As delightful, sexy and uncorseted as Jeanette MacDonald is as Colette, the movie is definitely Maurice Chevalier's. He often explains to us his dilemma loving his wife yet with Mitzi throwing herself at him by talking directly to us. Chevalier's Hollywood screen persona as an immensely charming and light-hearted man who sees providing satisfying, intimate pleasure to as many ladies as possible as almost a duty, makes the dish Mitzi puts him in tasty indeed.
This movie also owes a great deal to the literate and sophisticated screenplay by Samson Raphaelson. He and Lubitsch in partnership gave us some great movies this one and The Smiling Lieutenant the year before, but most particularly Trouble in Paradise (1932), The Merry Widow (1934), The Shop Around the Corner (1940) and Heaven Can Wait (1943).
Dr. Andre Bertier (Maurice Chevalier) and his wife, Colette Bertier (Jeanette MacDonald, have been married three years three years of madly passionate bliss. Why, they even go to Parisian parks for an evening of kissing before returning to their apartment or more precisely, their apartment's bedroom. But Colette has a best friend, Mitzi (Genevieve Tobin), a sly minx who thinks husbands are the perfect trophies for her own bedroom, one she doesn't share with her older husband, Professor Livier (Roland Young). The professor, a dry, wry and worldly man, has no illusions about his wife. When he unexpectedly walks into the parlor of his home one day and sees Mitzi with Andre, we know Mitzi called for Andre to come over on the pretext that she was feeling badly so that she might seduce him. So Mitzi quickly says to her husband, "Darling, I'm not feeling very well." "Why should you?" the professor asks. "Oh, no, Professor," Andre says, "Madame is in a very serious condition." Says the Professor, "Why shouldn't she be? Conditions are bad everywhere."
Hovering nearby is Adolph (Charles Ruggles), the eager-man-about town and friend of both of the Bertiers, who is eager to get to know Colette even better. Mitzi, when she meets Andre, is determined to know Andre better, too. Resist though Andre does well, as he asks us, what would you do? And Colette, when she suspects what might have happened, begins to think Adolph might be just the thing for a bit of what's good for the gander is good for the goose. And after all, Adolph tells Colette, "Any man who leaves a woman like you with a man like me deserves it"
Does Andre give in to Mitzi? For that matter, does Colette give in to Adolph? If this movie were made after the Code, the answer would be no. But One Hour with You was made just before the Code slammed down. Do Andre and Colette confess and does the movie end with a shrug, a laugh, a kiss? Well, of course. Adultery shouldn't be seen as anything more than a momentary temptation if two married people married to each other, of course -- love each other.
The movie swirls through this charming tale of love and temptation with the men in white ties and the women in sleek gowns and skimpy scanties. The songs are few but light- hearted. Perhaps more importantly, a light-hearted score drawn from the songs runs through most of the film. Lubitsch even features rhyming dialogue on several occasions that is clever and pointed. When Colette tells Mitzi all about her passionate husband and her life, she and Mitzi discuss things in rhyme, as in this intriguing couplet. Says Colette to Mitzi, handing her a tiny wisp of something silk, "Oh, I must show you my new lingerie " Replies Mitzi, "Too stunning for only a husband to see "
As delightful, sexy and uncorseted as Jeanette MacDonald is as Colette, the movie is definitely Maurice Chevalier's. He often explains to us his dilemma loving his wife yet with Mitzi throwing herself at him by talking directly to us. Chevalier's Hollywood screen persona as an immensely charming and light-hearted man who sees providing satisfying, intimate pleasure to as many ladies as possible as almost a duty, makes the dish Mitzi puts him in tasty indeed.
This movie also owes a great deal to the literate and sophisticated screenplay by Samson Raphaelson. He and Lubitsch in partnership gave us some great movies this one and The Smiling Lieutenant the year before, but most particularly Trouble in Paradise (1932), The Merry Widow (1934), The Shop Around the Corner (1940) and Heaven Can Wait (1943).