Rated "the sexiest musical in the thirties", The Merry Widow could well be the sexiest musical ever. Jeannette MacDonald, sensual and majestic as a Persian cat, is the wealthiest widow in the kingdom of Marschovia. On a visit to Paris, she attracts a flurry of gold-diggers. To prevent her fortune from passing to foreign hands, the king sends a romantic envoy to court her. He chooses Captain Donilo, whose cavalier attitude to women is not limited to his rapport with Maxim's "girls, girls, girls". Osé but not blasé, this elegant adaptation of Franz Lehar's operetta out-classed von Stroheim's silent in opulence, culminating in the grandest of grand balls.