The Chocolate Soldier

Opera star Rise Stevens makes her big-screen debut opposite Nelson Eddy in this rollicking adaptation of Ferenc Molnar's The Guardsman set to The Chocolate Soldier's glorious score. Hungary's most popular musical comedy team, Karl Lang (Eddy) and Maria Lanyi (Stevens) are married to the stage as well as to each other. But after six months of wedded bliss, Karl convinces himself that his flirtatious wife is planning to leave him. Deciding to put Maria's loyalty to the test, he woos her in the guise of a Russian guardsman, unaware she's seen through his act and is pretending to fall for his charms just to teach him a lesson. Able to attain the rights to The Chocolate Soldier's music but not the George Bernard Shaw play on which it was based, M-G-M grafted the operetta's songs onto the Molnar play, creating a sparkling musical comedy that received three Oscar nominations: Best B&W Cinematography, Best Sound Recording and Best Musical Scoring.