The Guardsman

The Guardsman is now one of my 10 favorite films. Thanks to Turner Classic Movies audiences can continue to see the brilliant performances of Lunt and Fontanne in this hilarious play made into a film. The performances of the support cast are excellent, especially that of Roland Young.

The Guardsman does what a good comedy should do. It should make us laugh, give us insights into the human condition, and keep us wondering what will happen next to characters that we care about.

I laughed out loud and watched the unpredictable plot move through scenes of witty, fast paced dialog that led to an ending that lived up to everything that preceded it. If you carefully watch Fontanne in the ending, you will be certain of the meaning of her character's smile.

Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne are married to each other and have a successful stage career. However, whilst the public sees them perform successfully on stage, they are constantly goading each other in their private life, so much so that the trust placed in their marriage vows is being tested and threatened. No more so than when a mysterious Russian turns up and starts sending flowers to Fontanne. Who could he possibly be?

This film is funny. It has a different storyline and you are never quite sure whether or not Lynn Fontanne knows what she is doing. Even her knowing glance to camera at the film's end leaves you in two minds.

Would you recognize your partner if they donned a disguise? Every time I've ever put a fake moustache on, I've always been rumbled.

Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne won Oscar nominations for their roles as bickering theater stars in this sly film. In their only starring film together, Lunt and Fontanne are superb. He masquerades as a Russian count and woos her to see if she is a faithful wife. Maybe show knows and maybe she does not. It's all part of the game. Fontanne (who was 44) coos and smiles as the Actress, while Lunt (39) plays the dolt who never knows if his wife his faithful. Great fun. Stylish. But maybe a tad stagy. Lunt lost the Oscar to a tie between Wallace Beery and Fredric March, while Fontanne lost to Helen Hayes (Marie Dressler was also nominated). Zasu Pitts is fun as the dim maid; Herman Bing is good as the creditor. Roland Young shines as the friend and Maude Eburne is super as "mama." Terrific acting and "chemistry" between the biggest theater stars of the early 20th century: Lunt and Fontanne. Both had done a few silent films, this one starring vehicle, and a a guest appearance in "Stage Door Canteen" in 1943. What a pity. They were greats stars and terrific actors. And "The Guardsman" is a must for any film buff.

Although Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne did do several television plays that have been recorded for posterity, The Guardsman represents the only sound filmed record we have of them at the height of their fame as America's leading thespian couple.

Years ago I read a joint biography of the Lunts and the two of them felt quite strongly that live performance was the only true test of acting ability. They also felt it was important to bring theater out to the hinterlands. Rather than be on a sound stage in Hollywood, the Lunts made many road show tours of their Broadway hits and other plays in a tremendous amount of small theaters. The problem for posterity is that those who remember seeing the Lunts on stage are getting older and fewer.

No doubt they took The Guardsman on the road after its 248 performance Broadway run in 1924-25. Given their aversion to film, it's a wonder that Irving Thalberg got them at all for a film.

This work has a play within a play, in fact the inner play in this is Maxwell Anderson's The Private Lives Of Elizabeth And Essex. It opens with the Lunts doing the final scene from that work and to tumultuous applause as the curtain closes, we find these two bickering incessantly as Alfred is almost insanely jealous of every attention his wife receives from admirers. What to do?

So poor Alfred hatches a cockeyed scheme where with heavy makeup and costume he makes himself out to be a Russian Cossack guardsman who is quite willing to ignore marital conventions for the pleasures that Lynn can offer him. And he puts on a big campaign to win Lynn away from himself.

Ferenc Molnar's play was remade by MGM ten years later in The Chocolate Soldier which was the operetta within the play as Nelson Eddy and Rise Stevens played the roles the Lunts originated. The prose of Maxwell Anderson is replaced by the songs of Oscar Strauss from his operetta The Chocolate Soldier. But Molnar's The Guardsman plot remains the same.

The play was a tour de force for the Lunts and I don't think it was an accident that the Academy gave its only recognition of this film with Oscar nominations for Alfred and Lynne as Best Actor and Best Actress. It really is quite the personal vehicle.

By the way Herman Bing has a small role as a creditor who is trying to get a bill paid from Alfred. In the end he really deflates the pretentious Lunt and you have to see how he does it.

One of the other items there is a filmed record of is a Hallmark Hall of Fame production Yankee From Olympus that the Lunts did live for television in the Sixties. It's very good and I did do a user comment on it.

But for a chance to see the Lunts at their height, The Guardsman is the one and only vehicle for that.

Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne are legendary among Broadway actors and this married couple were among the most respected stage actors of their day. Despite this, this power couple only made one sound film together (as well as a brief cameo in "Stage Door Canteen") and Hollywood was excited about their pairing--and both were nominated for an Oscar for their performances in the movie. Despite this, however, they didn't seem to want the Hollywood life and returned to Broadway.

When the film begins, the pair* are just completing yet another very successful performance. However, despite their smiles and the opinion of their fans that they are the perfect couple, the pair fight incessantly...and even do so with smiles on their faces as they take their bows! Soon you learn that he is very jealous of his wife and suspects she's cheating. And, to prove it, he creates a fake identity and begins sending his wife flowers and letters. But because he thinks he's the world's greatest actor, he even arranged to meet her in disguise. What happens next? See the film.

I think "The Guardsman" is a great example of a film that was overhyped simply because of the actors in it. Lunt and Fontanne was legendary...so folks thought it was brilliant. When seen today, the brilliant is difficult to see and the plot seems utterly unworkable as a film. After all, what wife would not recognize her own husband in disguise making love to her?! I think folks back in 1931 were able to suspend disbelief...I sure wasn't. In fact, I was bored and my score of 5 is pretty generous.

For a better film with a somewhat similar plot, try Leslie Howard and Bette Davis in "It's Love I'm After". It's not a work of genius but takes similar material and does more with it. Overall, "The Guardsman" is very talky, has a ridiculous plot and, dare I say it, a bit of overacting. And, occasionally, the great stage actors (particularly Lunt) have a tendency to talk over other actors as they deliver their lines.

*Lunt and Fontanne are not given names in the script...a strange thing and I cannot think of another film like this.