Skandal bei Hofe

"A Royal Scandal" from 1945 smacks of its original director, Ernst Lubitsch, and not much of the director who took over for him when he became ill, Otto Preminger. Since Lubitsch had rehearsed the actors and prepared the script, I assume they retained much of what Lubitsch had in mind for this film. At any rate, it's a wonderfully funny film.

Tallulah Bankhead plays Catherine the Great, who was notorious for taking lovers and elevating them to great heights while they were in favor. They did all right when they fell out of favor, too, because apparently she pensioned them off and they lived quite handsomely. In this film, she takes a fancy to the Countess Anna's (Anne Baxter) fiancée, Alexei Chernoff (William Eythe), so much so that she puts off a Marquis from France (Vincent Price). The Countess Anna is devastated, and Alexei is thrilled as he becomes in charge of the palace guards. Meanwhile, Chancellor Nikolai (Charles Coburn) has to tolerate him.

Some of this film is laugh out loud funny, particularly the scene where Catherine, fearing she has lost Alexei, collapses on the floor and Alexei tries to pick her up. Hilarious. Tallulah's line delivery is great, and she and Coburn have wonderful chemistry as they spar. Anne Baxter was only 22 when she made this film, and she's lovely. The handsome Eythe was a type that 20th Century Fox loved, but for a variety of reasons, he never hit stardom. Darryl Zanuck, who was so furious with Tyrone Power for marrying Annabella that he quashed her career and gave Power a bad film, Daytime Wife, as punishment, pushed Eythe into a marriage to quell rumors about him, but it didn't help, and Zanuck lost interest in him. (I mention Power because supposedly he refused to do this movie - it seems unlikely, because he wasn't back from the war when this film was made; also, Zanuck would never have put him in a film where he wasn't the main star.) Eythe was a charming actor, but to my mind, anyway, not really star material.

Bankhead's costumes and jewelry are to die for. Very good movie, and, as others have pointed out, a real buried treasure.

NO film with Charles Coburn can really miss, and A ROYAL SCANDAL has so much more going for it on top of Coburn and top billed Tallulah, you want it to be as delicious a Lubitsch confection as it promises to be. It is for at least the first ten minutes while the pacing remains frantically break-neck (and some necks are nearly broken). Even when it inevitably slows down, it remains lightly enjoyable for most of its 94 minutes, but Otto Preminger was decidedly the wrong director to shepherd the Lubitsch project to fruition, and too much of the blithe banter, even in the hands of such reliable clowns as Sig Ruman just misses the mark as Tallulah alternately rages at and romps with alternating 'favorites' while senior minister Coburn protects her and her country (and keeps French Ambassador Vincent Price frustratingly off screen waiting his turn with the Empress).

Coburn's scenes all sparkle with his amused knowing looks and quite conspiring, and "Guard of the East Gate" Misha Auer makes his few scenes comic gems, but neither handsome William Eythe (a Tyrone Power hopeful who never quite caught on - bad roles hurting more than rumors about his private life) nor the raging Tallulah (taking a slight wrong turn into costume farce after a dazzling contemporary outing for Hitchcock in LIFEBOAT) are given enough substance or variety in their frustrated - intended to be comic - dance of seduction to deliver either the hilarity or the sexual tension intended. With the exception of PORGY AND BESS, did a Preminger film *ever* understand the comic aspect of sex? His closest approach to subversive comedy may be in inexplicably showing COBURN more fond of Anne Baxter (William Eythe's on screen fiancé) than Eythe appears to be - but it would be easy to miss her entirely in an underwritten role but for Coburn's concern.

Other than the polished LIFEBOAT, the great Tallulah's dozen or so movies (Bette Davis kept getting to make Bankhead's greatest stage roles in film - from DARK VICTORY to the LITTLE FOXES) show up so seldom these days, and so few of them preserve the comic touch which Bankhead was known for on stage (her Broadway revival of Noel Coward's PRIVATE LIVES is still the longest running production of that great comedy and her Sabina in Thorton Wilder's THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH is justly renowned) that no one should miss a chance to see A ROYAL SCANDAL, but the great misfortune the film originally suffered of opening the day before President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died (can you think of a WORSE time for a farce/comedy to open?!) was not the only reason the film is not ranked among Lubitsch's masterpieces.

Still, a Lubitsch near miss is as good as many another film maker's milestone. 'Well worth a look - and if it adds to our enjoyment to think of Ann Baxter's later role in ALL ABOUT EVE as a love letter from Tallulah to Bette, well, it isn't such a bad idea either.

If you're looking for an example of a movie that really throws everything at you, "A Royal Scandal" is it. The movie focuses on Catherine the Great's romance with a young officer amid all manner of intrigue in 1700s Russia. Of course, since the movie is Ernst Lubitsch's brainchild, there's lots of comedy and the occasional violation of social propriety. Lubitsch fell ill, so Otto Preminger took over the task of directing, but the movie is no less enjoyable.

Scholars of Russia will probably object to the comical tone, as well as the screwy transliterations and the repeated mispronunciation of Alexei Chernoff's name. But if one accepts the movie as simply an excuse for Talullah Bankhead to overact to the fullest extent, then there's a great time to be had watching it. I recommend it.

It took A ROYAL SCANDAL for me to realize that Tallulah Bankhead must have been wonderful on Broadway in THE LITTLE FOXES. Here, under Otto Preminger's direction, she gives a wonderfully restrained (for her) performance as Russia's Catherine the Great, shamelessly flaunting her loneliness in front of a man betrothed to another (ANNE BAXTER) but deciding that he looks fabulous in a white uniform (WILLIAM EYTHE).

Bankhead and Eythe are reason enough to watch this one. For once, he had a role that showed he had talent that should have been nurtured into full fledged stardom, but never was. He bears a strong resemblance to Tyrone Power and handles his role with authority and ease.

Bankhead seems on the verge of doing her Diva act at any given moment, but restricts herself to a few "Shut up!" remarks or slyly commenting on the fact that she'd like to do a lot for the peasants. She never misses an opportunity to give any slightly risqué line a clearer meaning, just from the way she glances or moves. It's a wonderfully entertaining performance.

CHARLES COBURN, ANNE BAXTER, SIG RUMAN and others do their parts in fine form, but VINCENT PRICE is wasted in the role of the French ambassador who ends up becoming the new apple of Bankhead's eye. Baxter is particularly good at demonstrating that she could show flashes of temperament beneath the sweetness and charm.

Best of all, the dialog is full of innocently delivered one-liners that make it one of the most enjoyable farces I've seen in years. And WILLIAM EYTHE shows that he had a talent for farce that should have landed him more such roles.

Well worth watching for the performances alone.

This is a dazzling comedy, filled to the brim with witty dialogue. In fact, you should question the sense of humor of anyone who says otherwise. Bankhead is delicious as the queen, alternately petulant, absentminded and seductive. The character actors are a great deal of fun, and the scenes are so cleverly acted, it bears repeated viewing just to laugh again at how fun it must have been for all the actors. Vincent Price is uproariously over the top as the French ambassador, although he's only in a few scenes. Charles Coburn keeps things moving along with his brilliant deadpan humor, and a very young Anne Baxter is astonishingly beautiful, with a very peculiar yet appealing manner of speaking.