Film Version
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer wished to make a filmed version of The Chocolate Soldier in 1940, but they were refused permission (or at least permission at a reasonable price) by Shaw. Instead, Louis B. Mayer bought the rights to Straus's music, and used the plot from Ferenc Molnár's play Testőr (also known as Playing With Fire and Where Ignorance is Bliss, and ultimately adapted by Philip Moeller as The Guardsman with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne) as the plot of a 1941 film, The Chocolate Soldier, starring Nelson Eddy and Risë Stevens, incorporating music from other works as well.
The plot of the 1941 film concerns the jealousy of a pair of Viennese singers, Maria and Karl Lang. To test her loyalty, Karl masquerades as a Russian guardsman and tries to seduce Maria. Complications ensue.
The film includes the following non-Straus selections:
- "Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix" from Camille Saint-Saëns's Samson and Delilah
- "Evening Star" from Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser
- "Song of the Flea" by Modest Mussorgsky
- "While My Lady Sleeps" by Bronisław Kaper
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