Movies Similar to The Metropolitan Opera: The Merry Widow

Where the Lark Sings(1936)

Country girl Margit sits for the artist Sándor, from Budapest. She is fascinated and charmed by him, and agrees to accompany him to the capital, so he can complete the painting there. Disillusionment sets in, however, when Sándor wins a prize with the finished portrait and loses interest in her. Margit recognizes that her true happiness lies at home, with Pista, her faithful lover.

Gypsy Princess(1971)

Kálmán Imre's beloved operetta comes to the screen in this comedy of music, marriage and class set in Budapest and Vienna before the outbreak of the First World War, recorded at the Budapest Opera in 1963.

The Desert Song(1929)

French General Birabeau has been sent to Morocco to root out and destroy the Riffs, a band of Arab rebels, who threaten the safety of the French outpost in the Moroccan desert. Their dashing, daredevil leader is the mysterious "Red Shadow". Margot Bonvalet, a lovely, sassy French girl, is soon to be married at the fort to Birabeau's right-hand man, Captain Fontaine. Birabeau's son Pierre, in reality the Red Shadow, loves Margot, but pretends to be a milksop to preserve his secret identity. Margot tells Pierre that she secretly yearns to be swept into the arms of some bold, dashing sheik, perhaps even the Red Shadow himself. Pierre, as the Red Shadow, kidnaps Margot and declares his love for her.

Song of the West(1930)

Captain Stanton, who because of a misunderstanding over a woman with Major Davolo, has been cited for a court martial. As a scout, he is sent to escort a wagon train which is under military escort. It turns out that this escort is his own former regiment. When he meet Davolo, there is another fight and between Stanton and Davolo in which Davolo is killed.

Giuditta(2003)

Austrian composer Franz Léhar's opera Giuditta receives a unique interpretation by the Seefestspiele Mörbisch in this stage production, which stars Natalia Ushakova and Mehrzad Montazeri as the principal leads. The Morbisch Festival Orchestra accompanies the production, while the Chorus and Ballet of the Seefestpiele Mörbisch lend added support.

Женихи и Ножи(1964)

Natalka Poltavka(1936)

This film is the first adaptation of an operetta written by Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko. It follows the trials and tribulations of Natalka and Peter (Petro). The sweethearts planned to get married; however, Natalka's father does not approve of the marriage because Petro was not affluent enough to keep Natalka in the manner he thought that she should be kept. Petro goes off to earn the required fortune.

Bride of the Regiment(1930)

As they are leaving the church following their wedding, Count Adrian Beltrami and Countess Anna-Marie are told that the Austrians are marching on the town to quell an Italian uprising. The bride and relatives induce the count to flee to his castle, but Tangy, a silhouette cutter, brings word from the revolutionary committee asking him to return; the count goes, asking Tangy to pose as the count and protect Anna-Marie.

Orpheus in the Underworld(1974)

This musical comedy based on an opera by Jacques Offenbach incorporates a twist on the classic Greek myth: Orpheus, a music teacher at a girls’ school in the ancient Greek city of Thebes, actually does not miss his wife Eurydice that much – until the gods and Offenbach himself pressure him to retrieve her from Hades.

Mlynářka z Granady(1975)

Where Is This Lady?(1932)

A British musical film directed by Victor Hanbury and Ladislao Vajda

La Vie parisienne(2022)

La Vie parisienne (Parisian life) is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, composed by Jacques Offenbach in 1866, with a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. This work was Offenbach's first full-length piece to portray contemporary Parisian life, unlike his earlier period pieces and mythological subjects. It became one of Offenbach's most popular operettas.

The Bat(1979)

Eisenstein gets in trouble for shooting a grouse. He is told that he must go to prison for his crime. However, his friend has invited him to an aristocratic ball. Eisenstein, despite being married, wants to go to the ball to meet women. Eisenstein lies to his wife. He tells her that he is going to prison but actually he goes to the ball. His story arises the suspicion of his wife. His wife devises a plot to catch her womanizing husband.

Wie einst im Mai(1961)

1838: Fritz Jüterbog and Ottilie von Henkeshofen love each other, but the difference in status is too great for Ottilie's parents to give their consent to a marriage. And so, Fritz sets off for America and returns from there 20 years later as a made man to ask for Ottilie's hand in marriage again. In the meantime, however, Ottilie - believing that Fritz had long since forgotten her - is married in a manner befitting her status, but very unhappily. Fritz, who is highly successful as an entrepreneur, is elevated to hereditary nobility because of his great services to the fatherland. It is too late for a union with Ottilie, but despite the years that pass, the two cannot forget their love. 75 years later, Fritz and Ottilie have died in the meantime, their grandchildren Fred and Tilla meet and fall in love.

Babes in Toyland(1954)

Based on the classic Broadway operetta by Victor Herbert and Glen MacDonough, this live television special became an annual Christmas tradition with rotating cast members.

Babes in Toyland(1955)

A young girl becomes lost in a department store during the Christmas shopping rush. The frightened child is comforted by a department store Santa Claus who tells her a tale of storybook characters brought to life - of Tommy Tucker's love for the lovely Jane Piper and the cold-hearted villainy of evil Silas Barnaby. Through the girl's dreams, the viewer is transported to Toyland. Based on the classic Broadway operetta by Victor Herbert and Glen MacDonough, this was its second live television special production, with some new cast members and some returning.

The Gypsy Baron(1975)

In the Temesvar Province, a landowner returned from exile marries a gypsy girl who is revealed to be the daughter of a Turkish Pasha and the rightful owner of a hidden treasure. Next to "Die Fledermaus", DER ZIGEUNERBARON is Johann Strauss’s most popular operetta. The libretto gave Strauss the chance to revel in such contrasting musical forms as the Csárdás and the Viennese waltz. The style of the lied forms and ensembles is so original and finely balanced that the "Gypsy Baron" can truly be called a comic opera. Among the leading names of the stellar cast in this exuberant 1975 film of the operetta are Wolfgang Brendel, Ivan Rebroff, Janet Perry, Ellen Shade, Martha Mödl and, in the role that launched his career, Siegfried Jerusalem as Sándor Barinkay.

Die Fledermaus(1990)

After the Viennese premiere, the Fledermaus (the bat) conquered the world. It is one of the few operettas that are regularly performed at the major opera houses such as the Metropolitan Opera, the Scala Milan, the Vienna State Opera and the Royal Opera House Convent Garden in London. John Cox directed this lavishly equipped production by Julia Trevelyan Oman initially in London in 1977. On New Year's Eve 1990, this staging offered the luxurious ambiance for the farewell to Joan Sutherland from her London audience. The singer had admired them since her first great success at this prestigious opera house in the fifties. The rushing feast in the second act reached its climax with its stormy cheered performance and the commitment of her friends and colleagues Luciano Pavarotti and Marilyn Horne, with whom she often stood together on the stage.

Melodie bílého klavíru(1978)

Under the Roofs of Montmartre(1975)

A story of three struggling artists: a painter, a poet, and a composer, living in a bohemian Montmartre district of Paris. They help a poor flower girl, Violette, to find shelter, when she is thrown out by her landlord.