Adorable
Cast & Crew
Wilhelm Dieterle
Janet Gaynor
Henry Garat
C. Aubrey Smith
Herbert Mundin
Blanche Friderici
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Marie Christine, or Mitzi, princess of a mythical European kingdom, attends a servants' ball and pretends to be a manicurist in order to experience life as a common girl for a change. She meets Karl Conradi, a lieutenant posing as a delicatessen owner, and the two fall in love. Mitzi returns to the palace where Prime Minister von Heynitz, appalled at her picaresque behavior of the night before, informs her that the Prince of Pontevedro will arrive soon and her betrothal to the prince will be announced. Later, Mitzi sees Karl being scolded by a superior officer, and she demands that Heynitz give her control of the regiment and promote him. Not realizing that the "delicatessen man" and the officer are one in the same, von Heynitz sends his attendant Pipac to discover the identity of the delicatessen owner. Mitzi goes to Karl's apartment and then hides as Heynitz arrives to ask Karl to visit Princess Marie Christine and charm her out of her infatuation with the delicatessen owner. Mitzi begs Karl to stay with her and expresses jealousy over his meeting with the princess. She follows him to the palace and demands that he leave with her or say goodbye forever. Mitzi leaves and then reappears as Princess Marie Christine. Karl recognizes her, but realizing the reason he has been promoted, tells her that he cannot love the manicurist anymore as she is a princess and he, only a lowly lieutenant. Pipac arrives and informs Heynitz that the delicatessen owner and Karl are one in the same. Heynitz then tells Karl to induce Mitzi's animosity. She commands him to dance with her that evening, but he does so only perfunctorily and states that he does not love her anymore. At a ceremony, the Prince of Pontevedro is announced but doesn't appear, and Karl finds him in his suite studying the remains of a two-thousand-year-old Egyptian mummy. The socially inept prince asks Karl to dance with Mitzi as he does not know how. Karl happily complies, and Mitzi shows that her whole dance card has been reserved for him. Mitzi's brother Michael, the king, who is only a small child, shows up and embraces his sister, whom he has not seen for many months due to Heynitz's interdiction. Michael then fires Heynitz from the post of prime minister and congratulates the prince, who admits that he cannot marry Mitzi. Michael then greets Karl and makes him a prince. In a sleigh, the happy couple embrace as Mitzi places a crown on Karl's head.
Director
Wilhelm Dieterle
Cast
Janet Gaynor
Henry Garat
C. Aubrey Smith
Herbert Mundin
Blanche Friderici
Hans Von Twardowski
James Marcus
Sterling Holloway
Crew
Joseph Aiken
R. W. Bischoff
Eddie Collins
Louis De Francesco
Ray Flynn
Werner Richard Heymann
Rita Kaufman
Sammy Lee
Joe Macdonald
George Marion Jr.
George Marion Jr.
Luis Molina
Irene Morra
John Seitz
Richard Smith
Jane Storm
Richard A. Whiting
Gordon Wiles
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The plot summary was based on a screen continuity in the Twentieth Century-Fox Produced Scripts Collection at the UCLA Theater Arts Library. The German film on which this was based was directed by Hanns Schwartz and starred Willy Fritsch and Kathe von Nagy. Ufa produced a French version, entitled Princesse, a vos ordres, also in 1931, which was directed by Schwartz and Max de Vaucorbeil, and starred Lilian Harvey and Henri Garat. The working title of Adorable was Princess at Your Orders. This was Henri Garat's first American film. Motion Picture Herald noted that Garat "is of the [Maurice] Chevalier type. He has a romantic personality that clicked with the preview audience and, given the proper build-up, May become a new sensation." According to Film Daily, production was delayed because of the industry-wide halt in production early in March 1933.
