by Allan Fish
(USA 1948 105m) DVD1/2
Be vulgar, by all means
p/d/w Preston Sturges ph Victor Milner ed Robert Frich md Alfred Newman m Giaocchino Rossini, Richard Wagner, P.I.Tchaikovsky art Lyle Wheeler, Joseph C.Wright cos Bonnie Cashin
Rex Harrison (Sir Alfred de Carter), Linda Darnell (Daphne de Carter), Rudy Vallee (August Henshier), Barbara Lawrence (Barbara Henshier), Lionel Stander (Hugo Standoff), Kurt Kreuger (Anthony), Edgar Kennedy (Det.Sweeney), Al Bridge (house detective), Julius Tannen (tailor), Torben Meyer (Dr Schultz), Robert Greig, Isabel Jewell,
Of all his comic masterpieces, none has been so worthy of rediscovery as this black romantic comedy. Sturges’ last major film was also his most highbrow, a film that, though enjoyable for all, contained subtleties surrounding the choice of music that only connoisseurs could appreciate. It’s like a box of After Eight mints, dark on the outside, velvety smooth on the inside and leaving you craving for more. Just a pity that Sturges wasn’t allowed to ever give us seconds.
Sir Alfred de Carter is a famous British composer (modelled on Thomas Beecham, Carter’s liver pills being the name for Beecham’s pills in the US) who has married a young American, Daphne, whose younger sister is wife to a rich but dull financier. When de Carter asks his brother in law to keep an eye on his wife while he’s away, he doesn’t realise how seriously he would undertake the task and is told that he believes Daphne is having an affair. One night, while conducting a concert, he imagines three different ways of dealing with the situation; murder, surrender and Russian roulette.
There are many things that mark out Yours as a work of genius – the casting, the use of the library music, the script undertones – but the greatest for me is that it accurately separates reality from fantasy. In his daydreams at the concert everything goes to plan, not a thing goes wrong and the timing is perfection. In reality, when he comes home, he’s inept, a bungler, a total incompetent. His wife and his assistant return to find the room in the sort of mess normally associated with a visit from Laurel and Hardy. Much of the credit must go to the star because it is undoubtedly Rex Harrison’s finest hour. Forget My Fair Lady (which was just a capturing on film of a greater stage performance) and even Blithe Spirit, he shows a gift for not just witty repartee and suave manners but for physical pratfall farce. The sequence where he attempts to get the recording machine to work so he can murder his wife is a chaotic ballet of disaster worthy of W.C.Fields at his peak. All this is not to say that Harrison doesn’t have great lines, he does, but one expects that of both he and Sturges. Kudos also to the rest of the cast (the always wooden Darnell aside), with Lawrence on the nose as the wisecracking sister in law and Vallee as her “square from Delaware” husband (“give me the simple viewpoint” states Vallee, “you’ve got it, boy. You don’t have to yearn for it…” retorts Lawrence). But it’s the cameos that yield the most pleasure, with delicious turns from Sturges’ favourite Al Bridge and, in one of his last roles, Laurel and Hardy and the Marx Brothers’ old sparring partner Edgar Kennedy as the private detective with a passion for classical music (“nobody handles Handel like you handle Handel” he tells Harrison).
As one would expect from Sturges there are many truly great sequences, with particularly fond recollections of the rehearsal of the orgasmic Semiramide overture which represents the film’s darker heartbeat (harpist polishing her nails, Harrison smoking a fag, and the call to the cymbal crasher taken as the tagline). Not to mention his chastising his wife for saying she played Russian roulette as a girl with her father, “that was Russian bank. Russian roulette is a rather different amusement which I could only wish your father had played continuously before he had you.” And if a love of Rossini to match my own is a plus, it’s by no means a prerequisite. As Harrison says “there’s nothing serious about music. It should be enjoyed with a sandwich in one hand and a bucket of beer in the other and as many pretty girls around as possible.” Who can say no to that?
How Unfaithfully Yours made the Top 100:
Allan Fish No. 17
Roderick Heath No. 19
Bill Riley No. 26
Bobby Jopson No. 30
Peter M. No. 46
Dennis Polifroni No. 52
Allan, the music in the film seems inseparable from the plot, so perfectly does the music match the tone of the episode. Unlike Sturges’s other great comedies of the 1940s, this one doesn’t seem to spontaneously evolve as we watch it, but seems quite calculated. That air of calculation and the theme-and-variations plot keep me from putting this at the very top of the Sturges heap. but it’s still a wonderful film. Sturges has said that he thought the film was not successful with audiences because it didn’t deliver any real payoff. I think he was right in a way because his other comedies tend to speed to a finale that brings everything to a more or less satisfying conclusion. But this one just ends with the realization by Harrison that the whole movie was unnecessary, and that makes it go a bit flat toward the end.
“Much of the credit must go to the star because it is undoubtedly Rex Harrison’s finest hour. Forget MY FAIR LADY (which was just a capturing on film of a greater stage performance) and even BLITHE SPIRIT, he shows a gift for not just witty repartee and suave manners but for physical pratfall farce. The sequence where he attempts to get the recording machine to work so he can murder his wife is a chaotic ballet of disaster worthy of W.C.Fields at his peak. All this is not to say that Harrison doesn’t have great lines, he does, but one expects that of both he and Sturges.”
On both points I feel Allan is absolutely correct and this is no bash to either Sturges or Harrison. Yes, both have made great films in the past (although this is not the best Sturges, it is, at the very least, one of the best) and both, particularly Harrison (Sam said to me last night in a email chat: “anyone with a strong knowledge of film KNOWS this is Harrison’s best performance”), are giving it their all. But, what totally makes UNFAITHFULLY great IS Sturges’ willingness to allow physical comedy take the stage for much of the time and push his one-of-a-kind dialoque to the rear of the room for a good portion of the film. Frankly, there is no other Sturges film like it and I feel the films helps balance an over-all view of the director from being labeled only a great “word” man. It’s also refreshing to see Sturges have fun. I’ve always felt there is a looseness to this film that isn’t bogged down by the “importance” of a major message. In most of his earlier work prior to UNFAITHFULLY, one has tendency to feel that there is a deeper meaning to what is presented on screen (certainly HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO and SULLIVANS TRAVELS have bigger fish to fry other than inducing uproarious laughter), and here it’s almost like a really cool and much needed drink of water after a long crawl through a desert that the director, I believe, just needed and decided to have fun and see where his outrageous plottings go. To reference and compair the hijinx to that of Fields at his best, and the collected works of Laurel and Hardy, seem dead on to me, but with a whole lot more sophistication and brains.
For me, the telling scene that clues the audience in on what is going to be unleashed is the moment DeCarter has the heated argument with the Private Eye in his dressing room. Like a musical number boiling to a creshendo, the argument starts off respectable, heats up to insulting exchanges, then screaming and, with the toss of a lit match after lighting a cigarette, into a full blown fire as flames course up the drapes and, eventually, set the entire room on fire. It’s this moment in the film that I see the key to Sturges’ embrace of the slapstick form that he so consciously eluded for the better part of his career, but does effortlessly in his one big attempt to honor the kind of humor he obviously admired for some time.
UNFAITHFULLY YOURS is a great, great film comedy from one of the supreme masters of the form and it proved he would go out with a bang of the cymbals rather than the whimper of those bemoaning the death of his “word” plays.
This film, I’d think, was a must for this, or any other assessment of the greats of comedy on film.
Not Sturges’ best film by a longshot, but Harrison’s best performance, not that the latter point is any revelation. It’s like saying that The Great Gatsby is Fitzgerald’s best novel. Duh. Nice review.
Wait, what am I missing here? I thought it was Tender Is the Night…
This a supreme comedy from one of America’s greatest comedic directors. Although it didn’t make my list, that’s no knock on it. I only allowed myself to vote for 3 from any director….I chose Sullivan’s Travels, The Lady Eve and The Miracle at Morgan’s Creek. This one is probably next in line for me, slightly ahead of The Palm Beach Story perhaps. Very close. Yes Harrison is at his best here and gives a brilliant turn. This film is devilishly clever from start to finish. You’re right though, probably deserves more credit as far as Sturges goes. This one is probably not talked of as much as the others.
Same with me Jon. This should have made my list too, but I was resistant to loading my ballot with Sturges films. But in hindsight I erred. Harrison is magnificent. After my first viewing I pretty much had the same opinion as R.D. But with subsequent viewings I have warmed up considerably. Love the classical music employment of course and commend Allan on another superlative capsule review!
But it’s another that’s been up twice before. Shame someone else didn’t come forward.
I’ve seen this one only once and wasn’t much impressed. Perhaps I should give it another shot. As a classically trained musician, I wasn’t put off by the musical angle, so that’s not it. Maybe it was just too clever for me.
Yes, there are probably four or five Sturges films I would rank ahead of this one (The Lady Eve, Palm Beach Story, Christmas in July, and Sullivan’s Travels for sure), but I think that speaks more to the legendary director’s ridiculous run in the 40s. I still see no problem with this one making the list as well, since as everyone has already pointed out, Harrison really shines. Thinking about it now, I can’t tell you how many times I have used the phrase “Nobody handles Handel…” and had people stare at me blankly without a clue as to what I am talking about.
Really enjoyed the review, Allan.