Der Leutnant Ihrer Majestät: Too many medals, not enough plot?

If you are looking for a masterpiece of silent cinema that will change your life, look elsewhere. Honestly, Der Leutnant Ihrer Majestät is for the folks who have already watched everything else and just want to see how they styled hair in 1929. If you hate slow movies where the biggest drama is a misunderstood glance at a ball, you’ll probably want to skip this one. 😴

I found myself staring at Georg Alexander quite a bit. He has this way of standing that makes his chest look like it's made of wood. It’s that very specific military posture you see in these old European films where you wonder if the actor could even sit down in those pants.

The plot is... well, it's thin. It’s basically about a lieutenant and his loyalty and some girl, but it feels like the movie is more interested in the sparkle of the medals than the people wearing them.

There is a scene about twenty minutes in where they are in a dining hall. I swear, the guy in the background is eating his soup like it’s the most interesting thing that’s ever happened to him. I couldn't stop watching him instead of the main characters. 🥣

Lilian Ellis is charming enough, I guess. She has these wide eyes that do a lot of the heavy lifting since, you know, it’s a silent film and they can't exactly talk it out. But sometimes her expressions feel like she's trying to remember if she left the stove on back at the studio.

The lighting is actually pretty decent for a random flick from the late twenties. There’s a shot by a window where the dust motes are actually visible, and it feels weirdly real for a second. It reminded me of some of the outdoor stuff in Miracle of the Wolves, even though that’s a totally different kind of movie.

I noticed the titles cards were a bit flowery. Ladislaus Vajda wrote this, and you can tell he really liked the idea of high-society drama. Sometimes the text stays on screen way too long, like the editors thought we were all slow readers.

It’s funny how these movies treat military life. It’s all polished boots and honor. It lacks the grit of something like Beau Geste, which at least feels like people are sweating. Here, everyone looks like they were just pulled out of a gift box.

There is one part where a character gets angry and slams a glove onto a table. It made no sound, obviously, but the actor did it with such viciousness that it actually startled me. That was probably the most emotion I felt during the whole thing.

The costumes are definitely the star. The embroidery on the dresses is insane. You can tell someone spent weeks on those, and then they just get blurry in the background of a shot. It seems like a waste, but I guess that’s showbiz in 1929. 👗

Is it a bad movie? No. Is it a movie you’ll remember next week? Also no. It’s like a nice piece of wallpaper that you don't really notice after ten minutes.

I think the pacing gets a bit wonky in the middle. It feels like they had about forty minutes of story and had to stretch it out to a full feature. There are a lot of shots of people walking into rooms, looking around, and then walking back out. It’s basically The Sims: 1920s Military Edition.

If you’re into the history of the era, you’ll probably find some of the social etiquette stuff interesting. Like how they bow. Everyone is constantly bowing to each other. It’s a miracle they didn't all have back problems.

I wish there was more of Mary Kid. She has a face that the camera actually likes, but the movie keeps pushing her to the side for more shots of the lieutenant looking stoic. Stoicism is boring after the fifth close-up, guys.

Anyway, it’s a decent watch if you’re folding laundry or something. You don’t need to pay 100% attention to get what’s going on. It’s pretty, it’s quiet, and it’s very, very old. 🎬