The King and the Chorus Girl is a 1937 romantic comedy film directed by Mervyn LeRoy.
Alfred VII (Fernand Gravet) is a young king, who has relatively recently been forced to abdicate from an unspecified country. Alfred is whiling away his days in Paris, with a court of two people, spending every day drunk because there's nothing better to do.
Because there's nothing better to do, one night Alfred goes to the Folies Bergere. He catches the eye of a particularly fetching woman in the chorus, Dorothy Ellis (Joan Blondell). Alfred invites Dorothy to his apartment, but when she arrives, he is fast asleep. A mortally offended Dorothy goes home. However, the two courtiers left to Alfred are desperate to find something to distract him from brandy. They reach out to Dorothy, and urge her to show some interest in Alfred, if only to shake him out of his alcoholic stupor.
A pre-stardom Jane Wyman appears as Babette, another of the chorus girls. The screenplay was co-written by Norman Krasna and Groucho Marx. It was the only screeplay of Groucho's career.
Tropes:
- The Alcoholic: It's played for laughs, but—at the beginning of the film Count Humbert and Duchess Anna are worried, because Alfred doesn't take any nutrients other than brandy. Alfred wakes up, asks what month it is, and is surprised to find out that it's April, because he apparently spent February and March drunk. In fact, Anna and Humbert only push Alfred towards Dorothy in the first place because they're desperate to find anything for him to do besides sitting around the suite drinking.
- Bait-and-Switch: The opening has a doctor taking Alfred's pulse, as Count Humbert and Duchess Anna wait expectantly. It plays like a deathbed scene, until the doctor walks away and says "In my whole life, I've never seen anybody so drunk!"
- Blunt "Yes": When Alfred first tries to kiss Dorothy, and she pushes him away angrily, because this is a 1937 movie.Alfred: Do you think me capable of anything as boorish and crude as that?
Dorothy: Yes, Your Majesty.
Alfred: Well, maybe you're right. - Eiffel Tower Effect: What else would be outside Alfred's window, to show the audience that the story takes place in Paris?
- Gilligan Cut: Dorothy, who is in no mood to cater to royalty, says that if Alfred wants to see her he can call on her at her apartment. An affronted Count Humbert says "A Burger" (the Burgers being Alfred's royal dynasty) "call for an Ellils? Never." Cue Alfred's limo, pulling up at Dorothy's apartment building.
- I Need to Go Iron My Dog: Done on someone else's behalf. Dorothy comes to King Alfred's penthouse, only to leave in a snit when she's told that he's sleeping. When Alfred finally wakes from his alcoholic stupor the next day and asks what happened to Dorothy, Huumbert tells him that "her dog was sick."
- Lingerie Scene: Joan Blondell couldn't be as skimpily clad as she could a few years prior in the Pre-Code Era, but she's still wearing only a slip for a scene where Alfred climbs up her balcony into her room.
- Married at Sea: The ending sees Dorothy on an ocean liner headed back for America, only to discover that not only is Alfred on board the boat, they are the only two passengers, as Alfred chartered the whole ship for himself. The ship's captain proceeds to marry Alfred and Dorothy, and the film ends.
- No Guy Wants to Be Chased: The doctor attending Alfred wonders how any man could be bored when so many women are pursuing him. Cout Humbert makes an allusion to a fox hunt, and says that while chasing the fox might be entertaining, it wouldn't be so fun to be the fox and be chased.
- Sexy Backless Outfit: Dorothy is just one of an entire chorus wearing sexy backless dresses, in the opening scene where Alfred takes notice of her.
- Smart People Play Chess: And so do rich, fancy people, which is why Humbert and Anna are seen playing chess in one of the only moments that they aren't running around looking after Albert.
- Table Space: A gag has Dorothy dining in Alfred's penthouse, with the two of them at opposite ends of a very long table. To make matters worse, there's a big floral arrangement in the middle and they each have to lean sideways to see each other's face. Cut to Dorothy and Alfred sitting together at a much smaller, more intimate table.
- Uptown Girl: The premise of the whole third act. Dorothy realizes that she has fallen in love with Alfred, but he is a (deposed) king and she is a chorus girl, and the men of Alfred's family always marry nobility. So Dorothy decides she has to take action to make Alfred fall out of love with her.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Rather than make up some kind of Ruritania name, Alfred's country remains nameless. All we learn is that it was about 1000 square miles (so, small!) and had two million people.
