Renowned as a silent-film pioneer and the man who refined Hollywood comedy with such masterpieces as Trouble in Paradise, The Shop Around the Corner, and To Be or Not to Be, Ernst Lubitsch also had another claim to fame: he helped invent the modern movie musical. With the advent of sound, and with audiences clamoring for “talkies,” Lubitsch combined his love of European operettas and his mastery of cinema to develop this entirely new genre. These elegant, bawdy films, made before strict enforcement of the moralizing Production Code, feature some of the greatest stars of early Hollywood (Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Claudette Colbert, Miriam Hopkins), as well as that elusive style of comedy that would thereafter be known as “the Lubitsch touch.”

The Love Parade – Ernst Lubitsch’s first full talkie was also Hollywood’s first movie musical to integrate songs with narrative. Additionally, The Love Parade made stars out of toast-of-Paris Maurice Chevalier and girl-from-Philly Jeanette MacDonald, cast as a womanizing military attaché and the man-hungry queen of “Sylvania,” respectively. With its naughty innuendo and satiric romance, The Love Parade opened the door for a decade of witty screen battles of the sexes.

Monte Carlo – Jeanette MacDonald’s independent-minded countess leaves her foppish prince fiancé at the altar, and whisks herself away to the Riviera. There, she strikes the fancy of the sly Count Rudolph (theater veteran Jack Buchanan), who poses as a hairdresser to get into her boudoir. Ernst Lubitsch’s follow-up to The Love Parade shows even more musical invention, and presents MacDonald at her haughtily sexy best.

The Smiling Lieutenant – Maurice Chevalier’s randy Viennese lieutenant is enamored of Claudette Colbert’s freethinking, all-girl-orchestra-leading cutie. Yet complications ensue when the sexually repressed princess (newcomer Miriam Hopkins) of the fictional kingdom of Flausenthurm sets her sights on him. Ernst Lubitsch’s The Smiling Lieutenant is a delightful showcase for its rising female stars, who are never more charming than when Colbert tunefully instructs Hopkins, “Jazz Up Your Lingerie.”

One Hour with You – Ernst Lubitsch reunites Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald, this time as a seemingly blissful couple whose marriage hits the skids when her flirtatious school chum comes on to her husband a bit too strong. Necking in the park at nighttime, husbands and wives having casual dalliances, and a butler telling his master, “I did so want to see you in tights!”: Lubitsch’s final pre-Code musical is one of his sauciest escapades.

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Video Quality

The Lubitsch Musicals set comes to Blu-Ray through the Eclipse line with new digital AVC encoded 1080p presentations in their original aspect ratios. The Love Parade and One Hour with You have each been given 4K restorations courtesy of Universal Pictures, while The Smiling Lieutenant received a 2K restoration courtesy of The Criterion Collection. Monte Carlo is the only title not listed with restoration notes, but it has been cleaned up at some point. The Love Parade and Monte Carlo share space on the first disc, while The Smiling Lieutenant and One Hour with You share the second disc. Given that we are dealing with films nearing 100 years old, the transfers we have here are quite incredible.

The lovely black-and-white photography shimmers in high definition with the rich natural film grain intact. Black levels are pretty deep with no unexpected occurrence of black crush or compression artifacts, but the grain can become quite thick in some sequences. There is a surprising amount of detail present with nice textures on the costumes and within the production design, especially with many high society locales throughout these stories. The new transfers show off a great amount of depth and enhanced detail within each film’s composition. One Hour with You seems to be the most impressive of the four, with The Love Parade just behind it. Monte Carlo appears to have the greatest number of lingering specks, but it is far from a disappointment. The contrast is well defined, and the transfers only experience a minor amount of flicker and stray hairs on the print. This set has been long-requested by fans, and the Criterion Collection has ensured that the wait has been more than worth it.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray set comes with remastered LPCM 1.0 audio tracks for each of these films that hold up every bit as well as one could hope for films from the early talkie era. These tracks have decent fidelity but present a minor amount of faint hissing throughout most of the presentation that likely dates back to the source elements. This is inherent to most films of this time and not a huge distraction. As the title of the set indicates, these are musicals, and the sonorous notes come through with a pleasant quality, even if they might not be as full-bodied as future musicals. Dialogue and background noises are represented in harmony with all competing elements. The team at the Criterion Collection has done its best to provide the most stable tracks possible for these classics. Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included for the feature films.

Special Features

The Criterion Blu-Ray of Lubitsch Musicals includes a substantial booklet featuring the essay “Continental Melody” by author and film critic Michael Koresky, in which he delves into the career of Ernst Lubitsch, individual thematic breakdowns of many of the films, and much more that is very illuminating. There are no on-disc special features.

Final Thoughts

Lubitsch Musicals is an exquisite set that gathers some foundational films together to highlight the groundbreaking talents of an iconic filmmaker. Each feature is bursting with personality that exemplifies the best facets of the genre. Since these were made before the Production Code, there is a maturity here that sets these apart from the strict morality of the Golden Age. Obviously, there are some elements that have not aged particularly well, but this does not distract from everything that works well here. The Eclipse line continues to be a standout feature of this beloved label. The Criterion Collection has released a Blu-Ray set that features the films with a lovely A/V presentation. Essential

Eclipse Series 8: Lubitsch Musicals will be available to purchase on Blu-Ray on February 17, 2026.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: The Criterion Collection has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.