Maurice Chevalier might have been the star, but Halliwell gives the lion’s share of the credit to the director:

‘It is a Rouben Mamoulian film, which means delicate experiments in sound and vision performed with unerring theatrical sense, and in this case the satisfaction of seeing Lubitsch outwitted at his very own game.’

Halliwell felt that words couldn’t do the film justice:

‘I have clearly failed to give an impression on the printed page of effects which can be produced only on celluloid, where image and sound track are perfectly blended.’

This sophisticated comedy perfectly illustrates what Halliwell used to refer to as a ‘lightness of touch’, and is certainly of its time, being…

‘…delightfully encased in a period when wit and precision and subtlety counted for something.’

LH describes the plot of this witty and sparkling musical comedy in a nutshell:

‘It is of course Cinderella in reverse.  Charlie Ruggles as the impecunious Vicomte de Vareze is the fairy godmother who whisks our poor hero into the ball, where he is fêted by all; his own skill with a needle proves to have the same effect as the stroke of midnight, for it reveals the truth about him and he is banished; but true love naturally finds a way.’