Despite having a couple fine actors in the leading roles (Loretta Young and Charles Boyer), "Caravan" is a pretty limp movie. It's very poorly written, with characters who are caricatures...and ridiculous stereotypes. Back in 1934, it obviously played much better than it does today and the idea of happy, singing, thieving and child-like 'Gypsies' is one that is problematic since it's anything but politically correct. Today, folks are using the more appropriate term 'Romani' or 'Roma' and these people aren't so often described in such pejorative terms. After all, WWII and the slaughter of the Romani does tend to put a new light on things!
When the film begins, Countess Wilma (Loretta Young) arrives back in Hungary to assume control of the family fortune and estate. However, when the will is read, she learns that she MUST be married to inherit....and her uncle assumes she'll just marry his son, the indolent playboy, Lt. Tokay (Phillips Holmes). But she has no interest in the guy and instead impulsively marries one of the Gypsies on her property, Latzi (Charles Boyer). Now, not marrying the cousin...perhaps this makes sense because he's a jerk. But to just marry some stranger like Latzi...that seemed bizarre to say the least.
Later, while Countess Wilma is celebrating her marriage, she's dressed as one of the Romani. The Lieutenant sees her...and thinks she's one of these people...and he begins trying to woo her. After all, he lives for pleasure and is a jerk-face...and he STILL plans on marrying the cousin when he meets her! Soon, however, things are a bit of a mess, as the woman who really loves Latzi, Timka, now is falling for the Lieutenant as well! And soon everybody seems to be in love with several folks...all the while, there is lots of singing. Some of the singing is catchy...some just seemed tedious. A few less musical numbers might have made the film a bit easier to like.
The film has several problems, however, and singing isn't the main one. The biggest is the writing. To call this movie fluff is pretty accurate....silly, inconsequential fluff. And, since characters seem unreal and goofy, it's also hard to take seriously or care about very much. I like the actors, just not this treacle they were forced into making. Politically incorrect or not, it's just a dopey movie.
