In his last Hollywood film, Preston Sturges crafts a powerfully rendered mix of slapstick, screwball, and melodrama in his darkest comedy ever. Rex Harrison plays Alfred de Carter, the effete and blasé classical conductor returning to New York on the eve of a great performance. Awaiting his return are his beautiful wife Daphne, her coy sister, and her brother-in-law Auguste. Alfred had asked Auguste to look after Daphne during his absence, and when August alerts Alfred that he had Daphne watched by a detective and attempts to deliver the report, the seeds of doubt are planted in an otherwise blissfully romantic marriage The superb Alfred slowly comes undone as he unwillingly lets the idea of Daphne's possible infidelity contaminate his every thought. Sirk elicits uproarious performances from the dry and evocative cast as the film leads to a masterfully complex climax: Alfred fantasizing variously gruesome, magnanimous, and gallant actions he might take, while simultaneously conducting the symphony orchestra to an enraptured audience. When Alfred attempts to act on his fantasy, reality becomes stranger than fiction, and his devious plans are derailed in a series of hysterical physical gags and unsuspected misunderstandings.
The film was remade in 1984 with Dudley Moore and Nastassja Kinski.
DVD Features:
Region 1
Note: This release is a new restored High-Definition digital transfer.
Keep Case
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
Dolby Digital Mono- English
Additional Release Material:
Audio Commentary: James Harvey, Diane Jacobs, Brian Henderson - Sturges Scholars
Trailers: Original Theatrical Trailer
Video Interview:
1. Sandy Sturges - Wife of Director Preston Sturges
Video Introduction:
1. Terry Jones - Director/Writer
Text/Photo Galleries:
Essay By Novelist Jonathan Lethem
Photo Galleries: Rare Production Correspondence And Stills
Director of Photography
Victor Milner: American Director Of Photography
Production Designer
Lyle Wheeler: Art Director
Production Designer
Joseph C. Wright:
Review 1:
"Impeccable 1948 Hollywood swan song from Preston Sturges..."
Source: Uncut
p.138 07/01/2004
Review 2:
"[T]here are some wildly energetic and imaginative sequences which show Sturges at his bravura best."
Source: Sight and Sound
p.79 08/01/2004
Review 3:
"[R]ich....[With] lovely bits from select members of Struges' rep company."
Source: Premiere
p.126 09/01/2005
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