Beware of Pity

This was Stefan Zweig's one and only novel, who was a great psychologist and in this novel approached the realms of Dostoievsky's keen insight into the complexities of the human mind and dealing with it with a very delicate touch. The film has succeeded in embracing the terrible predicament of the officer, who sees no way out when a suicidal cripple has given him her unconditional love which he can't answer. It's a universally worrying situation for everyone involved, including her entire family, her doctor and his wife and his own regimental fellow officers, and the real title of the novel is "The Heart's Unrest", driving the unreleased passion of the heart to the brinks of hysteria and desperation, like also in his short story "Verwirrung der Gefühle" ("The Confusion of Feelings"). Lilli Palmer dominates the film giving one of her best performances of extreme charm and sensitivity, Cedric Hardwicke is perfect as the troubled doctor who is also stuck in the dilemma of not being able to deliver the truth, he is in a similar situation himself stuck for life as married to a blind wife (Gladys Cooper, always excellent), playing a vital part in the drama, while Albert Lieven is just as helpless in his role as he should be. It is beautifully filmed, Cecil Beaton having created the exquisite costumes, the environment is like the beauteous dream of a fairy tale but real, and reality is all too palpable as the first world war breaks out - Archduke Franz Ferdinand has a small part in the film. On the whole, it's a film well worth seeing for its challenging task of realizing a very worrying and troublesome story of a predicament that could happen to anyone.

It's interesting to compare this Stefan Zweig film with the other one of almost the same year, Max Ophuls' "Letter from an Unknown Woman", on one of his short stories. In that film very much is altered, the writer in the story is a pianist in the film, and the events of the story are much less tragic and poignant than in the film. In "Beware of Pity" very little is altered, it sticks to the book with carefulness, and still Max Ophuls' film is so much more interesting and gripping. Curiously enough, just by making so great changes to the story, he makes Stefan Zweig more alive and convincing, than the almost pedantic "Beware of Pity" being more true to the letter.

Albert Lieven is efficient here as the Austrian officer "Marek" who meets the glamorous "Baroness Edith" (Lilli Palmer) at a lavish dance. Asking her for a waltz, he soon discovers that she has been paralysed. The two chat and remain in touch over the coming months where she falls well and truly in love. Thing is, he doesn't quite reciprocate and when she accidentally discovers this, she runs away, distressed and alone, and her thoughts turn to suicide. The title is quite apt here - it illustrates the dangers of, however innocently, leading someone on with gestures of affection and kindness when they don't have the necessary reality filters to appreciate the distinction between fondness and amour. It's set just before the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, so has many of the opulent settings of the Hapsburg court as a backdrop - the costumes and settings all look grand. There is also an interesting sub-plot with dedicated doctor "Kondor" (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) and his blind wife "Klara" (a lovely, nuanced effort from Gladys Cooper) with the latter proving a vital conduit for the young man to realise just what his relationship with "Edith" really means... It's rather wordy this, and there are maybe just too many characters that rather diffuse the narrative a little too much - but if you enjoy historical melodrama with a fine period score from Nicholas Brodsky then you ought to enjoy this rather superior drama with a conscience.

A young soldier comes to see Lt. Marek about a girl he knows who has been injured in a bomb blast, and he's not sure how to handle her. The story then moves into flashback mode, as Marek tells the soldier his own tale.

Lilli Palmer is the beautiful young baroness, who has been injured in a fall from her beloved horse, and can not walk - this, a young Marek finds out, when he asks her to dance at a party, and she can not even stand up unaided. Feeling sorry for her, he befriends her and soon she begins to fall for him, a feeling which he does not totally reciprocate. Not wanting to hurt her pride, as her love for him is the only thing keeping her hopeful that she may one day walk again, he agrees to marry her. But then she finds out that he is doing everything only through pity, and Marek finds out that she has heard - and in his race to save her from killing herself, he also realises that he truly is in love with her after all! But - will he make it in time to tell her this?..

Not for everyone because it is sad but the acting is superb. The message is from a time where love had a different meaning. It makes you think. It makes you uncomfortable and the photography is perfection.

I hope you have the opportunity of viewing this wonderful and challenging film. Bravo.

The beautiful Lilli Palmer stars with Albert Lieven and Sir Cedric Hardwicke in "Beware of Pity" from 1946, based on a novel by Stefan Zweig.

Someone suggested that this film would have been better had it been done by Warner Brothers and starred Paul Henried and Bette Davis. It's an interesting and correct thought. They would have brought warmth to the characterizations which seem lacking here.

An older soldier, Anton Marek (Lieven) tells a younger one a story from his own youth. One night at a party, he asks a Baroness (Palmer) to dance, before realizing that she is unable to walk due to paralysis.

Embarrassed and feeling sorry for her, he attempts to make it up to her by visiting from time to time, not realizing that she is falling in love with him.

Afraid of hurting her feelings, he does not discourage her, nevertheless, her assumptions trouble him because she is so fragile and overprotected by her family.

The message here is mixed and for some reason, the movie doesn't draw one in, though the story is sad. On the one hand, this man is being asked to attach himself to someone he doesn't love, with a belief that in the future love will grow. And on the other hand, he should rip off the band-aid early on.

Gladys Cooper has a supporting role as the attending doctor's blind wife, and she gives a good performance.

Lilli Palmer is radiant if by today's standards a little over the top. Sir Cedric Hardwicke is excellent as the woman's doctor.

It's a shame this film wasn't in color as the scenery looked as if it would have been beautiful.