Les trois valses

Oscar Straus put together "Les trois valses" as a vehicle for Yvonne Printemps and her husband Pierre Fresnay. In the 1920s, Yvonne Printemps had scored a massive hit in her first husband Sacha Guitry's play "Mariette, ou comment on écrire l'histoire", for which Straus had composed the music. "Les Trois Valses" traces the love story of two people over three eras. In the first waltz (music based on Johann Strauss I), Yvonne is a sensitive Parisian ballet dancer, whose romance with a dashing officer is brought to an abrupt end by his family. She goes off to Vienna to become a big star. In the second waltz, her daughter, an even bigger star, but now of Paris music halls, has a brief flirtation with the rakish man-about-town who is the son of suitor number one. She throws him over pretty quickly for a chance to shine at a Gala performance. (In this scene , Yvonne also plays Sarah Bernhardt, seen entering her box for the big night, while the Prince of Wales is opposite.) The ,music for the second "Waltz" is based on Johann Strauss II, the big song is "Je t'aime". The scenes in the theatre and at a restaurant in the Bois are really gorgeous. Berger's direction gets the mood of the Belle Epoque just right. Finally, in the third waltz, the two get together, when she is a movie star, and he is posing as an insurance salesman. The marvellous moment here is when we see Yvonne's screen test, in many different poses and costumes, as she sings Oscar Straus's "C'est le destin peut-etre". The story is a bit silly, but the sense of the erotic charge between Printemps and Fresnay is never absent. The "Second Waltz" is probably Mlle Printemps's greatest moment on screen. The stage version ran for two years, the film, coming just before the Second World War, didn't get the distribution it deserved.

Pierre Fresnay and his wife Yvonne Printemps -who is some kind of French Jeanette McDonald -were at their peak and "TRois Valses" which appeared when the French cinema went from strength to strength ,may seem a bit old-fashioned compared to the contemporary masterpieces .

Hinsight displays its charm .It is a portmanteau film since it features three segments the moral of which should be : aristocracy is on the wane and make way for the stars who replaced the marquees ,princesses and countesses .

Segment one: an aristocrat military man ,on the verge of a brilliant career ,falls in love with a music hall singer ,but his family is not prepared to accept it cause she is of common birth.Although the young officer introduces her to Emperor Napoleon the Third and Empress Eugenie ,it's not sure that love will be the stronger.

Segment two:another aristocrat from the same family (but older) falls in love with the singer's granddaughter on a verge of a brilliant singer career.She decides she would have a few days vacation and they head for the country .But she's told that tonight's show will be attended by Prince of Wales and Sarah Bernardt;will love get the upper hand? Segment three :A big star's plane is landing on an airport where her fans are eagerly expecting her.She's a descendant of the two first heroines and she is to make a movie with Gary Cooper.The American star being not available (or was he too expensive for European budgets?),the director has to be content with a French co-star.They choose an amateur who is none other than a descendant of the two first heroes.Being an aristocrat doesn't give a man a living wage and he works in an insurance company.He will play the occasional actor and the two thespians do not get on very well first .The emperor and his wife appear again,a good trick.Will love triumph?

Fresnay and Printemps play three parts each ,but only the former can really create three characters :maybe his wife was handicapped by the fact she was a singer .The movie is a semi-musical :not only Printemps sings several songs (you really have got to be into McDonald 's style to dig them) but she also sings lines of dialog ,which her partner cannot obviously do.