Illusions perdues

A mild romantic comedy that's atypical of Lubitsch. Merle Oberon looks gorgeous. Her clothes are sensational. Melvyn Douglas is not credible as her crass insurance-executive husband. This is the man who taught Garbo to laugh in the same director's "Ninotcha" and was generally suave and somewhat iconoclastic. As the movie proceeds, he settles into a trick-playing husband not quite consistent with the man who've first met.

Burgess Meredith is sort of wasted as the annoying pianist Oberon meets in a psychiatrist's waiting room. (Alan Mowbry is hilariously dry as the analyst. And in some ways, this is a comment on psychoanalysis.) The Meredith character is the most interest. It is a very convincing study in absolute narcissism. He may be accomplished, indeed; but whether he is or not, he is his own greatest fan and protector.

There are swipes at modern art as well as those at analysis. In some ways, it's a little retrograde.

But it's beautifully shot and the design is fabulous. This is the New York City we'd all love to live in. And Oberon looks ravishing. Her performance is convincingly comic, too, though she is so match for Eve Arden in an all too small role.

It does not give me pleasure in rating an Ernst Lubitsch film relatively low or giving a somewhat mixed to indifferent review on it. Actually love Lubitsch, who had a very distinctive style coined "the Lubitsch touch" (very much like Alfred Hitchcock being called often "The Master of Suspense" for good reason), and he made some great films. Not just the likes of 'Trouble in Paradise', but also his early films in German are well worth checking out.

'That Uncertain Feeling' is certainly watchable for namely the production values and the cast, but it was hard to be not disappointed. One shouldn't expect every film of his to be 'Trouble in Paradise' or 'The Shop Around the Corner', but other films of Lubitsch had much smarter storytelling, more likeable characters and far wittier scripting. As sadly 'That Uncertain Feeling' is a near-failure on those departments in my view, and again this is not being said with pleasure but actually deep regret.

Cannot fault the production values, which are very elegant all round. Lubitsch's direction does have clever moments and where his signature style shines, even though there were so many directors at the time that did romantic comedies at the time. 'That Uncertain Feeling' starts off very well, very witty and sophisticated as one kind of expects from a film directed by Lubitsch.

All three leads do good jobs in their problematic roles. While Oberon beguiles and Meredith bringing much zany zest, the most consistent performance came from debonair and not over-compensating Douglas.

However, the story for 'That Uncertain Feeling' is very slight structurally, is just as slight in execution and feels bland when it comes to the substance (not there). The slighter and sillier the story got, the script also runs out of steam just as badly and the wit and sophistication are replaced beggaring belief over-silliness and a trying too hard feel.

Didn't ever care enough for any of the characters, for all of Meredith's efforts the character himself in writing does irritate greatly. None of the supporting cast really stand out, even the usually sparkling Eeve Arden here with practically nothing to do. Lubitsch's direction generally can be flabby and doesn't seem engaged enough, the early portions feel like Lubitsch but the rest is like watching a different and far sillier and more contrived and inferior film.

Summarising, not bad but a long way from being one of the Lubitsch essentials. 5/10

It has some clever dialogue, but the plot you can see coming at you from a mile away, as it is a take on "the grass is greener". Plus there is only one really likable main character - Melvyn Douglas as Larry Baker.

After six years of marriage socialite Jill Baker is feeling quite bored. She is convinced by her equally bored Park Avenue socialite friends that she must simply go see Dr. Venguard, a psychoanalyst. Between Dr. Venguard, Jill's friends, and a complete narcissist she meets in Venguard's waiting room - Burgess Meredith as Sebastian, a pianist, she becomes convinced her marriage is on the rocks. This is all news to Larry who, although he does seem to eat and sleep the insurance business, is trying to build a better life for himself and his wife.

Before Larry knows what has happened, he is out and Jill wants to divorce him and marry the extremely tiresome Sebastian, whom she is convinced is a genius. He tells her so every day! Eve Arden as a legal secretary steals the show when she is asked about what is going on and her opinion. She says she sees it every day. Women taken care of in high style with no worries and nothing to think about but how unhappy they think that they are.

I wish I could make this review more inspiring, but the film itself is pleasant but uninspiring. No new ground is covered here, and the parts of it are greater than the whole. I can give kudos to Melvyn Douglas as the husband who thinks he is more clever at getting his wife back than he is, and to Burgess Meredith as somebody who thinks a great deal of himself as a musical genius but seems to have no visible means of support. Merle Oberon is lovely here and seems to have "that uncertain feeling" every step of the way. Events more than her own will seem to be propelling her forward in every instance.

A few great memorable lines, what could be heavy melodrama turned into a very light romantic comedy Lubitsch style, and probably worth your time if you run across it, but nothing to deliberately seek out.

Just a quick observation: It is my impression that the reason TUF is such a neglected gem appears to be the unwillingness of audiences, both in 1941 and to this day, to accept Lubitsch's melding of his own European style with the then-popular American 'screwball comedy' genre. I don't think either the ordinary American audiences who liked their comedy broader, or the European audiences - along with intellectual sophisticates in the US - ever understood, and certainly never accepted, this hybrid.

I think that's a shame, because I like the film, and find it both witty and hilarious, and abundantly blessed with the sort of intelligence and polish which makes Lubitsch films a sheer delight.

There's a lot of talent here: Merle Oberon, Melvyn Douglas, Burgess Meredith, Ernst Lubitsch. Where the talent was lacking was in the script. It just isn't very clever. Everyone tries their best - it was a potentially great role for Meredith - but they can only do so much with a dull script. So, while there are occasional funny moments here, the movie as a whole is pretty much a dud.

More's the shame, since, as I said, there was so much talent here.