Marriage Circle, The

1197. THE MARRIAGE CIRCLE 0924-USA).WITH FLORENCE VIDOR, MONTE BLUE, CREIGHTON HALE, MARIE PREVOST, ADOLPHE MENJOU, ESTHER RALSTON. DIRECTED BY ERNST LUBITSCH. THIS DELIGHTFUL COMEDY Of MARITAL MANNERS WAS BOTH A COMMERCIAL AND CRITICAL SMASH WHEN FIRST RELEASED, AND OVER (HE YEARS IT HAS NOT LOST ONE BIT Of ITS CHARM. THE SCENARIO UNFOLDS IN VIENNA, DESCRIBED IN THE TITLES AS A “CITY Of LAUGHTER AND ROMANCE.” DAPPER AS ALWAYS, ADOLPHE MENJOU IS CAST AS PROf. JOSEF SLOCK, A WEALTHY GENTLEMAN WHO’S EAGER TO TERMINATE HIS MARRIAGE TO HIS WIFE MIZZI (MARIE PREVOST). SHE FLIRTS WITH A STRANGER IN A CABÑAND HE TURNS OUT TO BE DR. FRANZ BRAUN (MONLE BLUE), THE HUSBAND Of HER BEST FRIEND CHARLOTTE (FLORENCE VIDOR), WHO HAS RECENTLY MOVED TO TOWN. AT THE SAME TIN CHARLOTTE IS COVETED BY HER HUSBAND’S BUSINESS ASSOCIATE, (CREIGHTON HALE). SO BEGINS THIS TALE Of DREAMS AND DESIRE, VANITY AND ILLUSION: BENEATH THEIR OUTWARD RESPECTABILITY, THESE CHARACTERS ARE JUST AS WEAK, FRIVOLOUS, EGOCENTRIC AND HUMAN-AS THE REST Of US. THE MARRIAGE CIRCLE IS DIRECTOR ERNST LUBITSCH’S FIRST AMERICAN COMEDY, AS WELL AS ONE Of (LIE KEY FILMS IN HIS ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER. II SPAWNED THE LONG LINE Of WITTY, SOPHISTICATED YET SUBTLE COMEDIES THAT MADE THIS FILMMAKER ONE Of THE ALL-TIME KINGS Of HOLLYWOOD SATIRE. SILENT FILM WITH MUSIC SCORE, CORRECT PROJECTION SPEED. 114 MINUTES. ÒSILENT COMEDIESÓ