La femme de Monte Carlo

Lil Dagover stars with Walter Huston and Warren William in The Woman from Monte Carlo, a 1932 film - actually a remake of a silent film and also a French film starring Annabella.

The story concerns a woman, Lottie (Dagover) whose husband (Huston) commands a ship and is away for long periods of time. When the ship arrives in port, she is escorted to the ship by his lieutenant D'Artelles (Warren William) who is in love with her.

Lottie is devastated when her husband tells her that because of danger, she cannot stay on the ship overnight and must go home. When d'Artelles informs her of this, she is very upset and talks about how she can never see him, and is alone, has to live like a nun...

The ship is torpedoed while she is still with d'Artelles, and though his associate is able to get her home, the fact that she was there becomes critical when her husband is arrested - the boat sinks, and most of the crew is lost. He is accused of bringing the ship too near the enemy; however, the signal he received was the code of a friendly ship. But the only person who knows this, besides Lottie, is a real snake who wants something from Lottie in return for his testimony.

It's a shame Dagover only made one film in the U.S., because of all the foreign imports brought over to rival Garbo and Dietrich, she was perhaps the strongest, certainly stronger than Anna Sten and others. She was an excellent actress, her appearance was somewhat similar to Garbo's, and she had great legs. Her accent was a little thick, but in time that would have lessened.

She was a huge star in Germany during the Wehrmacht era and was one of Hitler's favorite actresses. She continued to work under the Hitler regime but the films she did were apolitical, musicals and comedies. She also entertained the troops. She worked in Germany until retiring in 1976; she died at the age of 92. A six-decade career, and we got to see her in one movie.

Warren William, as others have said, was miscast, and Huston was on the stiff side. That, I think, was how the role was written.

All in all, nothing special but it's a good opportunity -- and probably your only one -- to see Lil Dagover.

This is an interesting film - made in the U.S. but set in and around the French Navy of 1914, at the start of WW I. The cast includes Warren William and Walter Huston in lead roles, and talented German actress Lil Dagover.

"The Woman from Monte Carl" was released on Jan. 9, 1932, and is the only film that Dagover made in Hollywood, during a stay there in 1931. She also went to England for a year, but lived and filmed most of her life in Germany and Austria.

Dagover was fluent in English and this film is a good look at this talented actress, who performed until near her death in 1980 at 92 years of age. She stayed in Germany during WW II and averaged one movie a year during the war. She entertained German troops on the Eastern Front during the war.

The film was shot at Warner Brothers studios with some archival footage of Monte Carlo, Monaco, and the Cote d'Azur. The naval battle scenes are some of the first such wartime action put on films. While no doubt impressive for 1932, they show how crude early filming techniques were.

The plot of this film is most interesting and quite unusual. It has a very interesting and un-Hollywoodish ending. This film will be of most interest to movie buffs and aficionados. General modern audiences may find it too slow and even boring.

... as this was Warner Brother's first and last attempt to replicate the oomph of Garbo with Dagover. The first problem is that the impersonation is too obvious and overdone. The second problem is that Dagover is 45 at this point, and the film is playing Dagover's character up to be in her 20s, because she and her husband, played by Walter Huston, keep going on and on about how she is half her husband's age. In fact Huston was only four years older than she.

The "woman from Monte Carlo", Lottie, is married to French naval captain Corlaix (Walter Huston). She is lonely because she hasn't been married that long and her husband is always at sea. To complicate matters, one of her husband's officers, Warren William as Lieutenant d'Ortelles, is in love with her, although neither has done anything about the attraction. Cmdr. Brambourg (John Wray), second in command to Corlaix, seems to think that because he and Lottie were in the same room one time at Monte Carlo that they are old lovers. She sets him straight. He does not appreciate it.

So the trouble starts when the ship carrying these officers docks, but they are ordered to stay on board. Instead the wives and friends of the crew are brought onboard, including Lottie. War is declared that night - I assume WWI - and all of the visitors have to go back to shore early. When Lottie becomes distraught because she may not see her husband again for years, Lieutenant d'Ortelles takes her to his cabin to calm her down. In the meantime, all of the other civilians have left and the ship has set sail for the open sea. In the words of Chester Riley - "What a revoltin' development this is!"

The captain has no idea of his officer's crush on his wife, there is no way to explain her presence in his cabin, and how will they get her back to shore without being discovered! Then an enemy ship appears and causes even more complications.

So this script is not that bad. It does seem that matters are stretched out, too much dialogue for too little plot. Plus I just don't believe these officers are French! It's not that I expect them to sound like Inspector Clouseau, because that would just be too cheesy. But John Wray sounds like a New York gangster - he often played one - and Walter Huston sounds too folksy to be a Frenchman. Warren William is smooth as always, but he just seems to be in a role that could have been played by any anonymous actor. Not nearly up to his great talent.

In summary it's pretty much a take it or leave it proposition.

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.

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.