Robert Meets Jane

After several thugs beat Dan Milner (Robert Mitchum) with claims that he owes a gambling debt, Milner is offered an opportunity - go to a ritzy resort in Mexico, all expenses paid, and stay for one year. En route, he meets Lenore Brent (Jane Russell), a wealthy woman who is also going to the resort. When he arrives, he meets various characters, including hunting-mad actor Mark Cardigan (Vincent Price), FBI Agent Bill Lusk (Tim Holt), and the threatening Thompson (Charles McGraw). But what is becoming clear is that Dan is in danger.  Our film this week is His Kind of Woman (1951).

Any discussion of this film has to start with the fact that it is weird. It's classed as a film noir in many publications, but it is more than that - it's got a little marital melodrama, elements of the traditional gangster film, and a lot of comedy.  This by no means is to intimate that it is a bad film - there is pleasure in weirdness, and there certainly is in His Kind of Woman.

 

The audience is often in the same situation as Dan Milner - going on an unknown ride, with precious little information to guide us.  We know from the start that Nick Ferraro (Raymond Burr) is up to something, and that Dan's appearance is part of the factor, but we aren't sure of what, which adds to the suspenseful aspects of the film.  There is supposed to be a resemblance between Dan and Ferraro, but the camerawork also makes it seem that Mr. Mitchum is much taller than Mr. Burr (there was actually only a 1 inch difference in their heights), so we finally see the two together, the similarities are slim at best. 

Mr. Burr was the THIRD person cast in the role of Ferraro, a character loosely based on Lucky Luciano (TCM article).  Lee Van Cleef had shot his scenes when Howard Hughes informed his second director, Richard Fleischer (more on that later) that he didn't like Van Cleef.  So Fleischer re-filmed all the scenes with Robert J. Wilke, only to have Mr. Burr walk in one day to tell Fleischer that Mr. Hughes had ordered Mr. Burr to the set to again re-film the Ferraro scenes (Movies!TV). Mr. Burr is convincingly menacing as Ferraro - even in stillness, he has an air of danger around him. It's been said that, in one of the intense fight scenes, he accidentally knocked out Robert Mitchum (AFI catalog). We felt he was a real asset to the film, but three different filmings does seem a bit excess. 

Robert Mitchum was Howard Hughes only choice for the role, and he's excellent as a man way out of his depth.  In the extended ending, he is truly fearful - something you don't often see from a hero.  Also, he has an excellent rapport with his fellow actors, especially with Jane Russell (who became his long-time friend with this film) and Vincent Price (who called Mr. Mitchum "an extraordinary actor" who was "heaven to work with").  

Jane Russell brings just the right amount of street smarts to the character of Lenore, who is really Liz Brady, a former singer trying hard to find a rich husband.  She and Mr. Mitchum bounce off of one another beautifully; she's also smart and gutsy.  When the final showdown begins, she's all set to storm the gates with Mr. Price's ragtag army.  She brings a sweetness to Liz that is refreshing - yes, she's planning to marry Mr. Price for his money, but the audience never feels that she is completely mercenary. 

 

Some other supporting parts worth mentioning are Jim Backus as a professional gambler who is using his skills to railroad a newlywed into his bed - watch for the Casablanca-inspired scene with Leslye Banning (Jennie Stone), who was, in fact, Jane Russell's sister-in-law.  Ms. Banning and Mr. Russell were divorced in the 1950s; she remarried and had a total of 10 children - 3 with Mr. Russell and 7 with her second husband Keith Rogers, to whom she is still married). Marjorie Reynolds (Helen Cardigan) as Cardigan's estranged wife and Tim Holt have far too little screen time, in our estimation, but both (especially Ms. Reynolds) make the best with what they have.

I've saved the best for last - Vincent Price is amazingly funny as the actor who takes on the villains. Mr. Price looks like he is enjoying himself in the part, and it brings some much needed relief at the end of the film when the sadism level reaches it's peak.  Howard Hughes was particularly enamored with the character of Mark Cardigan, and insisted that it be substantially expanded. Watching Mr. Price spout Shakespeare (and for those who have watched the commentary by film historian and academic Vivian Sobchack, they is NOT all from Hamlet. Mark quotes Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest) and throw his cape around is immensely funny. At the same time, you have to admire his bravery, as well as his intelligence - watch him figure out exactly where an attacker is hiding.

It would take more space than we have here to go into detail on the varied and sundry changes made to this film - Eddie Muller's intro and outro for the film's presentation on Noir Alley will give you a really good overview. The short version is that director John Farrow refused to make the emendations that Howard Hughes wanted - the expansion of Vincent Price's scenes, and a long ending that involved beating and torturing Mitchum's Dan Milner (it's amazing that this film got through the PCA!). So, Hughes brought in Richard Fleischer and told him he would only release The Narrow Margin IF Mr. Fleischer subbed as director for the scenes he wanted. By the time the film ended, Mr. Mitchum had been on the production for one year, having shot some of the extremely intense scenes many times with different actors.  He finally lost it one day, and destroyed much of the set when he was shooting a fairly violent episode yet again.

The New York Times review by H.H.T. (Howard Thompson) was abysmal, calling it "one of the worst Hollywood pictures in years".  It lost money upon release, primarily because Hughes spent so much money in reshooting that the budget was overly inflated.  In recent years, it has been viewed more positively, with Senses of Cinema say it is one of  "classics of narrative perversity" and TimeOut saying that in spite of its oddness it is "an unforgettable delight".

If only to see Vincent Price, we heartily recommend of viewing of this peculiar film.  We'll leave you with the trailer:

Vincent's House is Haunted

Millionaire Frederick Loren (Vincent Price) is having a haunted house part for his wife, Annabelle (Carol Ohmart). He has invited five strangers to the House on Haunted Hill (1959), with the understanding that he will pay them each $10,000 for spending a night. Once the doors are locked at midnight, they cannot leave until 8am. The "guests" - pilot Lance Schroeder (Richard Long), psychiatrist Dr. David Trent (Alan Marshal), office worker Nora Manning (Carol Craig), columnist Ruth Bridges (Julie Mitchum), and the house's actual owner Watson Pritchard (Elisha Cook) all need the money. But can they survive the night?

If you like short, campy movies with special effects so low budget that you can see the wires, this is the film for you. The inimitable William Castle directed and produced the production which goes, as always, for the shock value. A believer in promotion, Mr. Castle felt it "should be an integral part of the entire movie going experience." (Showmanship: The Cinema of William Castle by Joe Jordan). He would design gimmicks for his films, like vibrating motors attached to some seats for the thriller, The Tingler (1959) or voting on the main character's fate in Mr. Sardonicus (1961). The House on Haunted Hill, too, had its gimmick, which we'll discuss later on.

Without Vincent Price, this movie would be nothing. He gives it cache - he plays the role with his tongue firmly implanted into his cheek. As a result, the audience can sit back and enjoy the proceedings, understanding that taking ANY of it seriously would be a drastic mistake. Mr. Price had just lost a role in a Western film - he was judged too tall to play opposite the new star, Alan Ladd. Mr. Castle offered Mr. Price the lead in The House on Haunted Hill, which was in development. In exchange, Mr. Castle gave him a piece of the movie, which ended up netting Mr. Price a new painting for his extensive collection, and a new career as the king of the horror film (The Price of Fear: The Film Career of Vincent Price, In His Own Words by Joel Eisner).

Vincent Price was very much a Renaissance man. He began his acting career in London with The Mercury Players, after having worked as a teacher and studied fine arts. By 1936, he was working on Broadway, playing Prince Albert to Helen Hayes' Victoria Regina. He would appear in 11 Broadway productions, including the Mercury Theatre production of  Heartbreak House, starring Orson Welles (1938),  Angel Street (1944), and Richard III, playing the Duke of Buckingham to Jose Ferrer's Richard (1953). He'd moved to Hollywood by 1938, with a co-starring role with Constance Bennett in Service de Luxe.  While he played good guys on some occasions, it seems he was destined to specialize in villains or weaklings, like Nicholas Van Ryn in Dragonwyck (1946) and Shelby Carpenter in Laura (1944). He moved easily from film to radio to television (where he appeared as one of my favorite villains in "The Foxes and Hounds" episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E). A highly regarded art collector, Mr. Price donated works from his collection to form the basis for The Vincent Price Art Museum, so that students at East Los Angeles College would have access to a teaching collection. He also wrote several books on gourmet cooking with his second wife, Mary Grant.  His final on-screen film role was in Edward Scissorhands (1990), but he contributed his vocal talents to a number of films, and even to the music video Thriller. Mr. Price died of emphysema in 1993 at the age of 82.

I was unimpressed with Carol Ohmart when I saw her in The Scarlet Hour; the group opinion was not any different. She's an expressionless actress, who thinks making a moue with her mouth is the epitome of fine acting. It's not. In 1955, James Bacon called her a "female Brando" for her "savage realism" (Chicago Daily Herald, 3 July 1955).  One wonders how much Paramount paid him for that compliment. 

Carol Craig gets to scream a lot during the film. The one character who is truly terrified by what is going on, Nora has the brains of a pea. She goes wandering off behind curtains and into empty rooms. Why someone that frightened would be wandering this revolting house alone is beyond us.

Though she doesn't have a lot to do (except for some Lady Macbeth hand cleaning), Julie Mitchum is worth noting as Robert Mitchum's sister.  We also enjoyed Richard Long as the "hero" of the piece. He's effectively stalwart, with not a lot of screen time. And let's not forget Elisha Cook, who keeps warning the audience about the dangers of the house and the ghosts. He's a puzzling character, who remains a question even as the film ends.

The exterior of the house is a Frank Lloyd Wright home - Ennis House, in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles (The house was also used as Spike and Drusilla's residence in Buffy, the Vampire Slayer). (Los Angeles Conservancy) The inside is studio created - it's an upscale albeit rather dirty haunted house, though you might find a head in your luggage.

Always the showman, William Castle devised a special gimmick for this film. Called "Emergo," it involved a glow-in-the dark skeleton appearing over the audience's head at a pivotal point in the movie (TCM article). According to Joel Eisner, the first time he tried this trick was at a private screening for major producers. The skeleton was operated from a fishing reel in the projectionist's group, which worked at first. Unfortunately, the line snapped, and fell on the assembled producers.  Mr. Castle had to redesign the skeleton, so that, if it fell in a real theatre, it was light enough to not hurt any audience members!.

The New York Times review  by Howard Thompson, called the film "a stale spook concoction. " However, in a review of a 1999 remake, Lawrence Van Gelder said the new film was "a sorry reincarnation of the 1950s William Castle horror film". That rendition starred Geoffrey Rush in the Vincent Price part (AFI catalog). Today, Mr. Price's version is considered a cult classic.

We'll leave you with a trailer: 

Charlton Talks to God

The Ten Commandments (1956) was featured as this month's Fathom Events screening for TCM Presents, celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the film's release.  Starring Charlton Heston as Moses, the film also features its director, Cecil B. DeMille, the narrative voice of the movie.  At the time of its release, The Ten Commandments was the most expensive film ever produced (costing over $13 million), as well as being DeMille's most successful film.  It was also DeMille's final film. He would die three years later, at the age of 77. 

This screening showed the film as it was originally released, with an overture, end music and introduction by the director (as well as a 10 minute intermission.  With a running time of 220 minutes, that break was welcome) In his introduction, DeMille informs us that, as much of Moses' early life is not discussed in The Holy Scriptures (as the titles call The Bible), the film goes to the works of Josephus and Philo to fill in the missing period.  (You can see that introduction just below).   The film is reverent in its treatment of the story, and DeMille really wants the audience to understand that care that was taken in creating an accurate telling of the story of Moses.

Charlton Heston is perfect in the role of Moses - and it's hard to envision anyone else in the part (When DeMille did it as a silent film, in 1923, the part of Moses was played by Theodore Roberts, an actor who appeared in 23 films for DeMille, but did not transition to talkies).  According to the  AFI Catalog notes some sources claim that William Boyd ("Hopalong" Cassidy) had been DeMille's first choice for the part, though DeMille's autobiography stated otherwise.  It's been said that Heston's resemblance to the Michaelangelo Moses was the impetus for his selection.  You can judge for yourself from the images below.
Charlton Heston had already worked with DeMille - in the circus epic, The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), for which DeMille won the Best Picture Oscar (beating High Noon and The Quiet Man).  The Ten Commandments really pushed Heston into the star category, a status that Ben Hur would solidify when he won the Best Actor Oscar three years later.  Heston's magnificent speaking voice gives the character of Moses great power (though, it should be noted that the Moses of the Bible was not a good speaker, and asked God to allow his brother Aaron to do the speaking for him) and served him well in his lengthy and varied career.  Though best knows as the star of epics like this one, he worked in science fiction (Soylent Green, Planet of the Apes),  westerns (The Big Country), comedies (Wayne's World) and even Shakespeare (Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Antony and Cleopatra - the latter of which he adapted for the screen and directed).  In the 1980's, Heston segued into episodic television, as the star of the Dynasty spinoff, The Colbys (which briefly co-starred Barbara Stanwyck).  He was married to his wife, Lydia Clark for 44 years; they had two children, Fraser and Holly.  (Fraser made his screen debut (and only on screen appearance) in The Ten Commandments, age 3 months, as the baby Moses.  Fraser was cast en utero, several months before the sequences were scheduled to be shot.)  When Charlton Heston discovered in 2002 that he was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, he retired.  He died in 2008.

With an unbelievably large and impressive cast: Yul Brynner as Rameses II, Yvonne De Carlo as Moses' wife, Sephora, Debra Paget as Lilia, John Derek as Joshua, Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Sethi, Nina Foch as Bithiah, Martha Scott as Yochabel, Judith Anderson as Memnet, it is hard to pick just a few to discuss.  We particularly enjoyed Vincent Price as the oily and lecherous Baka, The Master Builder.  He made a fine contrast to Edward G. Robinson as his equally lecherous, but far more sinister successor, Dathan.

Anne Baxter, as Nefretiri, however, was a huge disappointment.  Baxter can be a powerful actress, but uncontrolled, she can overact to the rafters.  This was one of the latter performances.   In one scene, where she is supposedly seducing Moses, she turns AWAY from him, eyes wide and smoldering, and instead tries to seduce the camera.  Interestingly, she was not DeMille's first choice for the part - he had in fact considered Audrey Hepburn, but decided her bust was too small for the wardrobe he envisioned for Nefretiri.  This Huffington Post article has some further tidbits of information.

According to this TCM article, Yul Brynner got the part of Ramses between acts of The King and I, and Yvonne de Carlo was hired based on her appearance Sombero.  DeMille was screening it to see Nina Foch; he ended up casting both women based on the 1953 film.

The special effects in the film are of varying quality.  Let's not forget, this is the pre-Industrial Light and Magic era, so special effects look clunky to modern eyes.  Of course, the most famous (and best) effect in the film is the parting of the Red Sea, a complicated process that involved lots of water, reversing of a filmed flood, and a great deal of post processing.  This article provides more detail on the processes used.  Less successful is the use of animation for the burning bush, and for the writing of the tablets of the 10 commandments.  It unfortunately looks animated - and bad animation at that.  DeMille should have talked to Walt Disney before he tried it!

An interesting historical note concern's DeMille's efforts at publicity for the film, including the "donation" of Ten Commandment stone plaques to  government buildings across the United States (this NPR report discusses the civil liberties issues involved in the display of these religious items on government facilities).  The repercussions of this publicity stunt continued for over 50 years.

I'll leave you with the trailer for this film.  All caveats aside, it's an impressive film that got a well-deserved big screen showing.  Perhaps one day, it will be shown in double feature with DeMille's 1923 silent version of the story (it would be a VERY long double feature!)

Gene's Portrait is Painted

Is there a better mystery than Laura (1944)? We don't think so, and this week we revisited a film that everyone in our group had seen before (though a few had some memory gaps).  Narrated by Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), Laura tells the story of Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney), a successful advertising executive whom it seemed was loved by everyone - except the murderer who shot her in the face with a rifle full of buckshot.  Detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) is assigned to investigate a case that is full of suspects - Lydecker, Laura's fiance Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price), the woman who loves Shelby and Laura's aunt, Ann Treadwell (Judith Anderson).  Even maid Bessie Clary (Dorothy Adams) is a suspect.  All profess to adore Laura, but someone pulled the trigger, and McPherson is having a problem as he tries to figure out who -   having read her diaries and seen her portrait (the color version is below), McPherson too has joined the many who love Laura.  As Waldo quips: "You'd better watch out, McPherson, or you'll finish up in a psychiatric ward. I doubt they've ever had a patient who fell in love with a corpse."

Let's begin with the litany of well-deserved praise heaped upon this film:  it won the Oscar for Best B&W Cinematography in 1944; was nominated for Best Screenplay, Best Art Direction-Interior Design, Best Director (Otto Preminger) and Best Supporting Actor (Clifton Web).  In 1999, it was selected for the National Film Registry.  Since then, it has been named number 4 in  AFI's 10 Top 10 in Mystery, number 7 in  AFI's Top 25 Film Scores (if you've never heard the score of Laura you can listen to a version of it), and #74 in AFI's 100 Years 100 Thrills.  The film was extremely well received (you can see excerpts of some of the contemporary reviews within these TCM articles).  And Laura's theme was so popular that 20th Century Fox hired the magnificent Johnny Mercer to provide lyrics to the music the following year (want to hear the lovely words? Here is the incomparable Frank Sinatra singing the song in 1957).

For many of us who grew up watching Vincent Price as the Prince of the horror film, seeing him as the love interest is a new experience.  Price is an actor who makes everything (even those odd horror pieces he did in the 1960s) seem elegant.  His Shelby is equally elegant, but not in the least a nice person. Shelby is unambitious, greedy, self-absorbed, and innately selfish.  He uses everyone; though he professes to love Laura, he is merely using her the same way he uses Ann.  Ann, however, says she and Shelby are the same, and she (unlike Laura) can afford him. Judith Anderson conveys that aspect of Ann beautifully - she is similar to Shelby in many ways, primarily in their greed and in their total disregard for others.  But Anderson gives Ann a strength of character that Price removes from Shelby.  A marriage between the two characters will be interesting;  surely Shelby will again try to stray, but Ann will make certain that his leash is short - no longer than the checkbook in her hand.

And then there is Waldo.  Fox had a number of actors under consideration for this plum role.  Laird Cregar was their first choice, but producer Preminger felt he was too obviously a villain.  George Sanders, John Sutton, and Monty Woolley were also considered for the part, which was allegedly patterned after the critic Alexander Woollcott.  But Preminger wanted Clifton Webb.  Webb had appeared in a few silent films in the 1920s, but this was his first talkie - he had spent his career on Broadway.  He appeared in a total of 23 Broadway plays, most of them musicals.  In fact, if you ever visit the Music Box Theatre in New York City, there is a picture of him in the lobby from The Little Show (1929-1930).  Preminger wanted an actor who was relatively unknown and approached Webb, who ultimately consented.  His Waldo is brilliant, selfish, opinionated, vain - and delightful.  It's hard to dislike Waldo, though one would neither want to be the victim of his tongue (or his "goose quill dipped in venom") nor of his affections.  He is obsessed with Laura, trying toThe scene in which Waldo and Laura first meet - as he lunches at his favorite restaurant - was modeled after the Algonquin Hotel, where Alexander Woollcott had dined (as part of the famed Round Table). And the portrait was actually a photograph of Tierney with oil paint strategically touching it up. Just these two points suggest why the film was nominated for an art direction/interior design Oscar. away anyone to whom she might be attracted.  Yet, in some senses, would he have been a better choice for Laura had he been less obsessive?  Only Waldo appears to understands her drive for a career.

Jennifer Jones was the first person signed for the role of Laura Hunt, but she backed out at the last minute (this AFI article goes into some detail on the casting history of the film).  Also considered were Hedy Lamarr and Eva Gabor.  But Preminger wanted Gene Tierney, and she is luminous as Laura.  Tierney came into the film having suffered a huge personal tragedy - her daughter Daria was born in 1943 with massive physical problems - developmentally disabled, deaf, and sight-impaired.  Tierney was bereft, but things would get worse.  Several years later, a fan approached her, informing her that when Tierney was appearing at a USO show during her pregnancy, the woman broke quarantine to meet Tierney, transmitting the disease to the unborn child.  (The story was fictionalized by Agatha Christie in The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side.  For more on rubella and birth defects and Gene Tierney, see this New Yorker article.)  Tierney's husband, Oleg Cassini suggested in his autobiography that Laura's ethereal quality reflected Tierney's grief. 

Dana Andrews also had competition for the role of Mark McPherson - both John Hodiak and George Raft were considered. Andrews was relatively new at Fox - he'd already co-starred with Gene Tierney in Belle Starr (1941), and had appeared in a number of war films for the studio (Wing and a Prayer, The Purple Heart, The North Star), but this was new territory for him.  His work was noticed - this New York Times review is especially impressed with his performance, as is director Martin Scorsese, who singles him out in one of the TCM articles mentioned above.  

Originally,  Rouben Mamoulian was to direct the film, but Otto Preminger took on the task after Mamoulian's first dailies proved to be unsatisfactory.  According to Vincent Price, Preminger felt that Mamoulian had one small issue with the film: "Rouben only knows nice people,  I understand the characters in Laura. They're all heels, just like my friends."  And, indeed they are heels.  One of the beauties of the film is that every character is flawed.  We talked at some length about what happened "after" the film - would Laura actually end up with Mark, or was he yet another one of her "lean strong bod[ies]" who Waldo complained was her criteria for love.  Would Mark understand her need to work? Would Laura leave a successful career to be a housewife, and live on a policeman's salary?  It's clear that she is someone who likes the finer things in life - she has happily given herself over to Waldo tutelage; his view of their relationship is frightening:

"She was quick to seize upon anything that would improve her mind or her appearance. Laura had innate breeding, but she deferred to my judgment and taste. I selected a more attractive hairdress for her. I taught her what clothes were more becoming to her. Through me, she met everyone: The famous and the infamous. Her youth and beauty, her poise and charm of manner captivated them all. She had warmth, vitality. She had authentic magnetism. Wherever we went, she stood out. Men admired her; women envied her. She became as famous as Waldo Lydecker's walking stick and his white carnation."

We know she has populated her apartment with his gifts, so his appraisal of her does give one pause.

The scene in which Waldo and Laura first meet - as he lunches at his favorite restaurant - was modeled after the Algonquin Hotel, where Alexander Woollcott had dined (as part of the famed Round Table).  And the portrait of Laura was actually a photograph of Tierney with oil paint strategically  touching it up.  Just these two points suggest why the film was nominated for an art direction/interior design Oscar. 

This version of Laura was broadcast on Lux Radio Theatre on 5 February 1945, with Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Vincent Price and Otto Kruger (as Waldo), and then again on 1 February 1954, with Gene Tierney, Victor Mature, Joe Kearns and Carleton Young.  It's also been remade twice:  first as a one-hour telecast on 19 October 1955, on The 20th Century-Fox Hour, starring Dana Wynter, George Sanders and Robert Stack. Then, on 24 January 1968, a new adaptation by Truman Capote was aired, starring George Sanders, Robert Stack and Lee Bouvier.  George Sanders as Waldo was an especially delicious casting idea.

We'll leave you with the trailer from Laura.   Next time, we'll be viewing another film about a strong woman faced with the choice of career vs. home.

Queen Tallulah the Semi-Great

The sexual appetites of Catherine the Great are the subject of A Royal Scandal (1945), starring Tallulah Bankhead as Catherine.  The action opens as Catherine has had a spat with her most recent favorite.  Enter Alexei Chernoff  (William Eythe), who sneaks into the palace to warn Catherine of a plot against her.  Catherine however, is far more interested in Alexei than any plot.  Alexai becomes the new favorite, much to the annoyance of Chancellor Nicolai Iiyitch (Charles Coburn), who was hoping that the French ambassador Marquis de Fleury (Vincent Price) could fill the vacant position, and thus create a closer relationship with France.  But once Catherine sees Alexai, she does everything but lick her lips.  She wants him, and his engagement to her ladies' maid Countess Anna Jaschikoff (Anne Baxter) is no barrier to  the Queen lust. 

A Royal Scandal is remake of the silent film Forbidden Paradise (1924), which Lubitsch did direct, and in which Poli Negri played Catherine and Adolphe Menjou played the Chancellor.  Though this version is a farce, the dialog is a bit stilted.  There are some really funny lines, and some quite humorous performances, but all in all, A Royal Scandal leaves a lot to be desired.  Produced by Ernst Lubitsch, directed by Otto Preminger, the film feels like neither is involved.  Lubitsch had intended to direct A Royal Scandal, but he became ill, and Preminger stepped in.  (Interestingly, when Lubitsch died in 1948, Preminger again took over the direction and  completed That Lady in Ermine.  For that film however, Lubitsch received sole director credit.)  Another problem is that A Royal Scandal takes place entirely indoors, giving it a stagey and claustrophobic feel.

 

On the plus side is the presence of Charles Coburn, who steals the movie.  He gets the best lines and his character is the both the most likeable and the most intelligent.  The Chancellor knows his Queen, and for the most part, knows how to handle her.  You can watch the twinkle in Coburn's eye, and waits for him to return when he is not on screen.  We also get a brief time with Vincent Price.  Always a delight, we wished he had more screen time.  The same cannot be said for William Eythe. His Alexei is dull.  What Catherine sees in him is beyond our ken.  Sure, he is attractive enough, but really, listening to him is torture.  One roll in the hay should have been enough for her.  

While Tallulah Bankhead is certainly right for the role of Catherine, one wonders what Greta Garbo would have been like in the part.  It seems Lubitsch actually wanted Greta Garbo, however when he took over, Preminger decided to stick with Bankhead, who had already been signed. Some of the casting issues are described in this TCM article.  We also learned from Robert Osborne's introduction that Alexei was meant for Tyrone Power, but Power turned it down.  Charles Boyer was also considered.  Both actors are far too intelligent to play the buffoon Alexei, but a more dynamic actor would have a least made us understand Catherine's desire to keep him around.  Anne Baxter is totally miscast here.  She tries hard, but hasn't much to work with.  And in scenes with Bankhead, Baxter is blown out of the water.

For a look at the contemporary opinion on the film, we direct you to this  New York Times Overview and link to a review.  They weren't keen on it either.
Before we say goodbye, here are some clips from the film, with Bankhead, Baxter, Price, and Eythe, and the film's magnificent costuming by Rene Hubert: