cute scenes from The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) with claudette colbert & miriam hopkins

The princess and her husband’s mistress bid a very fond goodbye.

Lieutenant Niki of the Austrian royal guard has a new girlfriend, Franzi. He’s crazy about her and is smiling at her while on duty in the street. King Adolf and his daughter Princess Anna from the neighboring kingdom of Flausenthurm drive by, and Anna intercepts a wink meant for Franzi. She falls for Niki, marries him (he has no choice in the matter), and whisks him off to Flausenthurm. Franzi follows and enjoys a brief affair with Niki before Anna finds out. Franzi, much more experienced in the ways of the world (“Jazz up your lingerie!”), gives Anna lessons on how to win the affections of her husband.

The brunette is, of course, Claudette Colbert, who, though married twice (and never even lived with her first husband), eventually shacked up with a young woman in 1970, who she met on a film set in 1961 and who cared for Colbert until her death. Colbert left the bulk of her estate to the gal, Helen O’Hagan, who was a Saks Fitth Ave. buyer and she’s still alive today.