292 Unfaithfully Yours

[justeleblanc]

Joren, think of Unfaithfully as the other half of a Sullivan coin. In Sullivan, basically his conclusion is that we need comedy to escape the realism of our lives, and that the world needs Sullivan's comic imagination . In Unfaithfully, the comedy IS the realism, and it's our imagination that's the bad guy, to some extent at least.

But at times, Sullivan gets too heavy-handed and serious and loses it's comic direction. Unfaithfully never does that. I'll argue that it's darkest moments are really the funniest. Maybe I'm just sick but the deviousness of Harrison is just so over-the-top, it's great. At times, like how you can say The Birds is a romantic comedy that walks into a horror film, you can say that Unfaithfully Yours is a Sturges film that walks into a thriller -- then walks back into a Sturges film.

Eh, do what you will with my comments. Hopefully it will make you appreciate it more.

[devlinnn]

I also think Sturges overplayed his hand a little during the climax - tripping over the phone and falling through chairs 90 times became a little monotonous.

It can be, but like all the great films of comedy, and especially moments of slapstick, an audience is required for scenes to work properly. Directors, and especially editors, made the films to play well for a large audience. I've seen the film with both large and small crowds, and on my own a number of times, and it is alarming how different this scene in particular plays out.

[jorencain]

Thanks - I will surely be watching this one again soon. I think now that I've seen it and know what to expect, I can enjoy it a little more.

[lubitsch]

I just watched this for the first time and have mixed feelings about it. It's very odd for a film to start as a comedy, become as serious as this one does, and then move into an extended slapstick climax, leading to an overly sappy ending.

Just finished a run through all Preston Sturges films. Hadn't seen one of him which was by far my most embarassing gap in my classic film knowledge, but they simply never run on German TV.
UNFAITHFULLY YOURS strikes me as the best and the quote above misses the point I think. First the film sets up the situation with the jealousy plot establishing a narcisstic main character who treats his wife with kindness but doesn't devote much attention to her. In fact he can't even imagine that his wife could love another man than him and he merely throws dozens of clothes on her without real affection (flowery love declarations aside). Then it moves into three parodies of standard scenes and sequences with the character merely acting out his narcisstic drive and imagining that all will happen as he likes it, reveling in his hate or self pity. Then follows the contact with reality which he has confront for the first time without his grand conductor poses and this ends up in a disaster, first alone then together with Linda Darnell who completely refuses to live up to his expectations.
And the end is not sappy because it's highlighted with exactly the same Wagner music which was used for the second selfpity-forgiveness flashback. Harrison hasn't learned anything and just falls back in his usual behaviour.
Therefore I think it's a greatly structured but quite dark comedy. Loved the slapstick scene of Harrison, it's marvellously built and could be used in film classes with its classic structure and rhythm.

[jorencain]

I watched this again recently, and I'm with you. The first time around I missed the point a little bit, and this time I was able to laugh more at how seriously he takes himself, particularly in his murder fantasies.

Another part of the problem the first time was that I was watching it with my wife, who hated it. Half of my attention was focused on her, and I was watching her get overly annoyed (mostly during the all of the pratfalls in the "real" murder attempt). I just have to watch movies alone from now on.

[Highway 61]

I just have to watch movies alone from now on.

This is the case for me too. Everyone of my friends and family know me as a big movie fan, so I feel enormous pressure to show them something they like if they want to watch a film. It can make even the best films a nightmare to endure if they aren't greeted well.

[jorencain]

Yeah. There's nothing worse than that uncomfortable vibe in the air while you watch a movie that you thought someone would like, and then you realize they are just waiting (impatiently) for it to end. Well, I guess there ARE worse things, but it still sucks.

[Scharphedin2]

I have seen all of Sturges' comedies of the forties several times, except Unfaithfully Yours, which I just viewed recently. In general, I just find all of his films to be so much fun -- real pure cinematic comedy. However, If I had to rate the films at this moment in time, I would probably put Unfaithfully Yours near the top. Sturges really pushed things one step further in this film. It has everything that is wonderful about the earlier films, but he took a more complex and sophisticated approach to the telling of his story, and served the pleasures of the earlier films in somewhat more measured doses. And yet, he still lets the audience have its cake in the scene of the "real" murder attempt, which is undiluted Sturges.

Concerning the pleasure of watching films alone or in an audience. I think every film fan knows that whether one is a film fan oneself or not, just about the worst kind of person you can view a film with is a film fan. My experience is that if going out to a theatre to see a film (or in the "home theatre" for that matter), then either go and enjoy the movie with other people, or, go alone as a film fan, and sit in the crowded auditorium and enjoy watching the film as a film fan in a theatre with other people, with all that this can truly add to the experience of the film.

A brief illustration:

Two years ago, I invited the staff at the company where I work to come and see: "... the spectacular new Leonardo DiCaprio picture (The Aviator)". Thirty-one out of Forty-five people accepted the invitation. It was a real popcorn affair, and I believe that everyone truly enjoyed the film (me more than anyone, not just because the film was enjoyable, but because every single employee who accepted the invitation was a woman -- all of them less than 30 years of age).

Last year, I decided to repeat the experience, and I invited the staff to see: "...the latest spectacular film with Collin Farrell, and by the way, directed by the great Terrence Malick, bla., bla., bla"). Fifteen people accepted, two thirds were guys, a couple fell asleep during the film, and there was a respectful silence as we filed out of the theatre.

[Highway 61]

I feel for you man, but you should have known better with a Malick film.

[foggy eyes]

Yes, this is a wonderful film, and possibly the first time that Sturges's adoration of Lubitsch's comedy finds its way into his aesthetic. Unfaithfully Yours has an air of effortless sophistication that anchors the blacker than black humour and occasionally wild tonal shifts (just love that grossly extended Tati-esque slapstick sequence). Darnell is great here. If I remember rightly, Fox were non-plussed by Sturges's insistence on casting her opposite Harrison, and the critical reception of her performance was lukewarm at best. However, Sturges exploits her apparent abstraction, achieving a similar effect as Preminger with Tierney in Laura or Whirlpool. Darnell's inherent vagueness becomes utterly convincing as she is subtly manipulated as a mere pawn in Harrison's fantasies. Perfect casting. And the creeping, unbroken zoom towards Harrison's eye knocks me out every time. This is a little tenuous, but I wonder whether Hitchcock was thinking about this one when tackling the recitals in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)? Fond of the film, but a little of Sturges's acerbic wit wouldn't have gone amiss there.

Unfortunately, my bank manager won't let me see the Criterion, but I can vouch for Second Sight's glowing transfer on the R2.

[foggy eyes]

Yes, she is great in Fallen Angel (wondering why I decided to use Tierney as an example now...). I'm certain that Darnell was not duly celebrated for Unfaithfully Yours, although I'm not sure how other good performances fared with the critical consensus (My Darling Clementine, A Letter to Three Wives, and so on). It's a little distressing how some female stars are overlooked as nuanced performers (even Dietrich springs to mind). So, receipt of due: not quite. And, of course, I wholeheartedly agree that she was a fabulous actor!

[HerrSchreck]

I caught this today, and while it certainly didn't stink-- it was a good film with some wonderful moments-- I truly believe this film pales beside the vitality of his earlier work. I found some of the slapstick at the end fall completely flat, I thought the prolonged dolly-in to Harrison's eyeball repetitively time-consuming and unnecessary after the first (maybe second) fantasy. I thought it compositionally unbalanced in terms of narrative, and in terms of genre juggling-- what saves it of course is the savagely charismatic performance by Harrison, and of course and as usual, the sparklingly unpredictable charm of Sturges' dialogue, which even in the drollest of moments is busting with life. Many great laughs and all-to-true-moments of classically self-sustained male ego-anguish. Men sure do know the deal with manufactured jealousy.

But a lopsided, half-successful end product in my view that I'd never want to watch more than once. The audience reactions, mixed reviews and tentative placing in Sturges catalog doesn't surprise me.

[macaca]

did anyone else find a problem with the audio?
the "S's" on a lot of the words, for instance, sounded distorted.

[kaujot]

I caught this today, and while it certainly didn't stink-- it was a good film with some wonderful moments-- I truly believe this film pales beside the vitality of his earlier work. I found some of the slapstick at the end fall completely flat, I thought the prolonged dolly-in to Harrison's eyeball repetitively time-consuming and unnecessary after the first (maybe second) fantasy. I thought it compositionally unbalanced in terms of narrative, and in terms of genre juggling-- what saves it of course is the savagely charismatic performance by Harrison, and of course and as usual, the sparklingly unpredictable charm of Sturges' dialogue, which even in the drollest of moments is busting with life. Many great laughs and all-to-true-moments of classically self-sustained male ego-anguish. Men sure do know the deal with manufactured jealousy.

But a lopsided, half-successful end product in my view that I'd never want to watch more than once. The audience reactions, mixed reviews and tentative placing in Sturges catalog doesn't surprise me.

I agree with you about the problems the film suffers from. But what works in the film (Harrison's performance, the dialogue) truly works for me, and I watch the film once, maybe twice a year. Though a big part of the films appeal, too, is that it was my first Sturges.

Recommendations, Shreck, of other Sturges? I've seen the films that Criterion's released, but I've not seen any beyond that.

[justeleblanc]

FWIW I'm a big fan of Palm Beach Story and Miracle at Morgan's Creek. Both are incredibly well written.

[Haggai]

Those two, plus Hail the Conquering Hero, are the first Sturges films I would recommend beyond the Criterions.

[kaujot]

Many thanks.

[starmanof51]

FWIW I'm a big fan of Palm Beach Story and Miracle at Morgan's Creek. Both are incredibly well written.

Precisely what I would say.

[Adam]

et moi

[HerrSchreck]

I'd love to whip some obscurity out of my vest but the mans directorial canon is pretty small and I can't say anyting else but ditto. The Sturges Collection pretty much wraps it all up & nails it all down (except for Morgans Creek of course).

[kaujot]

I'd love to whip some obscurity out of my vest but the mans directorial canon is pretty small and I can't say anyting else but ditto. The Sturges Collection pretty much wraps it all up & nails it all down.

Ah, I completely forgot about that Sturges collection! 3 days 'til next paycheck.

[HerrSchreck]

I mentioned in an edit above something I forgot about the box set-- Morgans CReek is not included, so that's a seperate buy..

[puxzkkx]

I just saw Unfaithfully Yours and while it was very funny and pretty bravura formally (! - those track/zooms during the concert) am I the only one who was bothered by its implication that a man who plots seriously - seriously - to murder his wife can be

Spoiler

redeemed simply by discovering he was wrong about her infidelity

?

Obviously it is a black comedy, but I don't feel like it is self-critical enough when it comes to the ending.

[lubitsch]

Obviously it is a black comedy, but I don't feel like it is self-critical enough when it comes to the ending.

Where do you see any redemption? Harrison is the same lunatic as before and likely to go off on the next occasion, while we know nothing about Darnell and her fidelity.

[puxzkkx]

You get a kiss, you get a surging score, you get some sweet nothings from Harrison and you basically get proof that Darnell is/was faithful - the final scene is played as romantic as can be.