La fille de l'ambassadeur

THE AMBASSADOR'S DAUGHTER is a generally well made film with a great cast. The story and direction though are uninspired and workman-like and robs the story of any vitality. In more capable hands, this film would have been a charmer but the producers were clearly aiming for average. It just doesn't sparkle as it should be and because the pacing or tone, which should have been lightning fast and sharp for this kind of story, is lackadaisical, this big studio production feels and looks exactly like an episode of THREE'S COMPANY. One that takes place in Paris.

The great thing about this movie is Myrna Loy. Whenever she's on screen the movie comes alive. Loy, who starred in the great THIN MAN movies, has a knack for delivering light and funny dialogue and her timing here is perfect. She easily eclipses the whole cast, which includes Olivia De Havilland, John Forsythe, Adolphe Menjou, Tommy Noonan! Thank god Myrna was in this film or else it would have been totally forgettable. Well, the location shooting was also great.

All in all, I enjoyed watching THE AMBASSADOR'S DAUGHTER for what it was but it could have been much better, a classic in fact. Now it's just average.

This was a very entertaining film from 1956 with some great veteran actors who have had great roles in their careers and this is a rather silly film which seems to go on and on. However, this is a comedy concerning an American Ambassador's Daughter named Joan Fisk, (Olivia De Havilland) who live in France and meets up with a soldier named Danny, (John Forsythe) and Joan is modeling various dresses for an American Red Cross Benefit and Danny becomes very attracted to Joan. Joan does not tell Danny she is the daughter of an American Ambassador and pretends to be a French girl who is a professional model. There are wonderful actors in this film, namely, Myrna Loy, (Mrs. Cartwright); Adolphe Menou, (Sen. Jonathan Cartwright) and Tommy Noonan, (Cpl. Al O'Connor all gave outstanding supporting roles. If you like old time comedy films, this is the film for you.

(1956) The Ambassador's Daughter DRAMA/ ROMANCE

Co-produced, written and directed by Norman Krasna with the set up that has daughter, Joan Fisk (Olivia De Havilland) of a wealthy dignitary making a bet with the general, Andrew Harvey (Minor Watson) and the senator, Jonathan Cartwright (Adolphe Menjou) assumptions on a sergeant (Bill Forsythe) who is on leave, with of course, a predictable ending. Although, I had already knew what the end result was going to be, the real question was what is it going to do to sustain my interest on the center. And as far I know it just doesn't do anything since it contains a lot of cliche jibberish! It does hold some interesting references about what army men used to do during their shore leave, but that is probably it! And as much as I love seeing two- time Oscar winner Olivia De Havilland act on films- this film doesn't really challenge her performance enough, which is like any other actress that can do !

The screenplay is quite derivative and obviously inspired by "Roman Holiday" ; but what is really glowing is Olivia De Havilland's love for France ; the great actress spent years and years in Paris and the country had become her second homeland where she died in 2020,a centenarian..

This trite story is full of joie de vivre : it opens with the old march from the Sun King's reign "Auprès De Ma Blonde " (which is sung by boy scouts on the Eiffel Tower afterwards) , the dialog is full of French lines , the songs include Maurice chevalier's "Valentine "and De Havilland and her co-star Forsythe dance to Charles Trénet 's "l'âme des poètes" ;there's even a night at the opera where they attend "the Swan lake" ballet with danseuse-étoile Claude Bessy .And the young GI loses his wallet in the "blue Pigalle "(ooh la la!)

And they wanted to deprive the enlisted men of the gai paris ? Of les Folies Bergères and Le Lido ? Of the Parisian models the GIs compare to caviar .

It goes without saying that it's not Miss de Havilland 's best and not even among her best ,but she was a wonderful guide for the Americans of yore ( nowadays, they come to Europa en masse ,but in the fifties ,for most of them it was only a dream to see Paris ),in the times before the General de Gaulle withdrew his country from NATO .

The ending is totally implausible ,but call it Olivia's Parisian holiday ;after all the great movies she made with Curtiz, Huston, Fleming (of course!) ,Leisen ,Wyler ,et al ,she did deserve it.

Olivia de Havilland spent most of her post-Oscar years in serious dramas, so it's nice to see her looking so radiantly lovely in a technicolor comedy, enjoying herself in a comedy for a change. Paris is the setting and the color photography is excellent. The slight story concerns de Havilland seeking to prove to her father (Edward Arnold) and a senator and his wife (Adolphe Menjou, Myrna Loy) that American servicemen aren't all wolves and to prove it has a harmless fling with a young G.I. (John Forsythe). Unfortunately, as in all Norman Krasna comedies, plot complications develop before she winds up in Forsythe's arms for an amusing final scene. The cast sparkles with some fine work by de Havilland, Myrna Loy, Adolphe Menjou, Edward Arnold and--in one of his funniest roles--Tom Noonan. Only bad piece of casting is John Forsythe--who looks wooden and uncomfortable throughout with no comic flair whatsoever. Despite this, de Havilland manages to give a spirited performance that won the Belgian Prix Femina for Best Actress in a comedy in '56. Slight but amusing and very watchable.