The Lady in Question

Andre Morestan is delighted to get called up for jury service, determined to take the job seriously he is very upset when he is merely put on the reserve list. However one of the other jurors falls ill and Andre grasps the opportunity with gusto and honour, the case is a tricky one, a pretty woman named Natalie Roguin is accused of murdering her partner. Andre asks some probing questions and manages to sway the outcome to earn Natalie an acquittal, this in spite of the other jurors not being totally convinced as regards Natalie's reputation. taking things further, Andre gives Natalie a job at his bicycle shop. Andre's son, Pierre is quite taken with Natalie, and this coupled with the nagging doubt over her innocence from other quarters puts a major strain on the Morestan household.

This is a remake of the French film Gibouille, it's an interesting piece that never quite gets out of first gear. Rita Hayworth looks lovely and plays off well with Glen Ford's Pierre, whilst Brian Aherne is very entertaining as Andre, but one never gets any sense of feeling with the characters. In a film that purports to be a comedy drama, you find that the picture is caught between both genres, the comedy is sporadically interesting but the drama then comes across as staid. I personally haven't seen the French original but i wouldn't be at all surprised if Gibouille is a bit more daring and close to the knuckle with its execution?. This is a decent picture and one that certainly has a watch-ability factor for cast and outcome of story, it just really should have been so much more one feels. 5.2/10

Having seen (and commented on for IMDb) the more recent movie by the same title with Gene Wilder, I wanted to watch the 1940 movie to see if there was any resemblance between the two. There was none. Although I am less qualified to evaluate this movie, considering it was made eight years before I was born, I must say it seemed to me that this court-room mystery could not make up its mind whether it wanted to be a comedy or a serious drama. There were alternating comedic and serious touches which I believe detracted from the overall enjoyment of the film. However, the story was enjoyable for a one-time viewing. Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford were familiar to me. Brian Aherne was unfamiliar to me in name, but I believe I recognized him from other movies. He reminded me a little of blustering William Powell in "Life with Father," a movie I cannot stand. It seemed to me the wife could have seen through the father's stories a lot sooner, the silliness of the daughter was overdone, and the scenes with Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth could have been more revealing as to their true feelings for each other. The pairing of the daughter with the fat boy was predictable. And I don't know that the real truth about Rita Hayworth's character really made all that much difference in the end. But these are just my opinions, and I'm glad to say I was able to view the film this once.

Greatly enjoyed this film which is full of drama and plenty of laughs along with a great cast of new stars who would become very famous and successful on the Silver Screen in Hollywood for many years. Charles Vidor produced this film and that is living proof this is a great 1940 extra special film. Brian Aheme, (Andre Moestan) is a bicycle shop owner who desperately wants to become a juror in a court case and gets himself deeply involved with the trial of Natalie Roguin played by Rita Hayworth and Andre Moestan feels great compassion for Natalie and manages to sway the jury into setting her free. Andre gives her a job in his bicycle shop and lets her live with his family above the shop. Glenn Ford plays the role as Pierre Moestan, the son of Andre and he falls madly in love with Natalie. Evelyn Keyes, (Francois Morestan) gave a great supporting role as the daughter of Andre Moestan who wants to get married in the worst way and is simply boy crazy about all men and full of the devil. It is great seeing such great super stars so very young and just starting out in their Hollywood careers. Enjoy this film. I must also mention that Evelyn Keys had just given a great performance in "Gone With The Wind", 1939 and played a great role in this film and went on to become a great Pin Up Girl for our Fighting Troops during World War II.

This film has a fine cast, including the first of half a dozen pairings of Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford. It is only Ford's seventh film, but Hayward had made more than 30 films since 1934. This is a good look at the young Ford before he became the more mature character most movie fans will remember him as. Other members of the supporting cast do very well too. Curt Bois is very good as Henri Lurette, and Irene Rich is especially good in the role of Michele Morestan.

But "The Lady in Question" is a Brian Aherne showcase all the way. His Andre Morestan is a character, in a true sense of the word - comical at times, caring at other times, and conflicted often enough. Who couldn't help liking him or wanting him for a friend? Aherne's particular persona in putting flair into scenes is shown at its best here. It's the stuff that provided much laughter in one of the funniest comedies of all time, "Merrily We Live" of 1938. And, that he used for much laughter in "The Great Garrick" of 1937, and in "Hired Wife" of 1940 and other films. This is one actor one would have liked to see in more comedies.

When this film was made, Aherne was one of the top box office draws, especially in comedy. He was an all around actor and good in drama and mysteries. But I think he excelled in comedy. Yet he only made 14 comedies of his 70 credits, which included mostly TV series roles in his last decade. By the mid-1960s he was through with acting and retired permanently at age 65

This story is set in Paris. Morestan and his wife own a bicycle and music shop and live above it. He is thrilled to be called for jury duty selection, after waiting nearly 30 years. The humor is apparent when he is contrasted to most people who try to avoid jury duty. Well, he holds out and eventually persuades his fellow jurors to enter a not guilty verdict in a murder or suicide case. But then, when he feels sorry for and invites the acquitted poor girl, Natalie Roguin, to stay in their home and work in their store, the humor ramps up. Suspicion, jealousy, envy, distrust, false impressions, romance and more with Andre's wife, son and daughter, her suitor, and Mr. Lurette, a fellow juror.

The film has a slight blanket of intrigue over whether or not Natalie was guilty of a crime after all. And it has a very nice twist for an ending. Here are a few favorite lines from the film.

Andre Morestan, "What makes everyone think that a trial is a picnic?"

Michele Morestan, "I don't want you to go to trials. If your father wants to associate with criminals, let him; but not you." Andre Morestan, "Tell your mother that a juror associates with the police, not with criminals."

Andre Morestan, "I've told my wife so many lies, I don't think I could ever tell her the truth now."

Interesting that Columbia teamed GLENN FORD and RITA HAYWORTH six years before GILDA made them such a hot romantic combination, in a rather tepid courtroom tale that's an uneven mix of comedy and drama and barely allowed the sparks to fly between Ford and Hayworth.

Actually, it's BRIAN AHERNE who gets top billing as the Parisian shop owner who sits in on a murder trial and finds himself falling for "the lady in question". Aherne plays the man as a naively foolish individual who looks forward with childish glee to jury duty--and then manages to convince the others that Rita is not guilty of murder.

EVELYN KEYES plays his equally flighty daughter and IRENE RICH is his sensible wife. GLENN FORD is his attractive and reasonably sensible son.

It soon becomes apparent that all of the courtroom scenes are going to be played for comedy rather than drama. LLOYD CORRIGAN and GEORGE COULOURIS play opposing lawyers with comic skill and CURT BOIS does an amusing job as a fellow juror who takes an instant dislike to Aherne when he's accidentally splashed with water and then becomes his amusing adversary for the rest of the story.

But the spotlight is mainly on BRIAN AHERNE and he easily walks off with the film as the bumbling shop owner who begins to think that perhaps he shouldn't have talked the other jurors into freeing Rita, after she has an affair with his son whom he finds has stolen some money in order to leave with her. Aherne had a flair for comedy that is really given the spotlight here.

There's a clever plot twist at the end in which Aherne realizes how wrong he's been about everything.

RITA HAYWORTH shows promise in a rather uninteresting role that doesn't allow her to do more than look like a decorative leading lady and GLENN FORD is clearly not yet the movie star he would become. Both have relatively minor roles compared to Aherne.

Summing up: Interesting oddity is strange mixture of comedy and drama.