The Fan

Truncating the title and adding a little addendum of his own to the story director Otto Preminger offer's up a well polished version of Oscar Wilde's, Lady Windermere's Fan. A devastating Victorian satire in its day Preminger updates the opening to post war London with two of the now doddering principals drawn once again together over the fan re-kindling memories of when it first played such an important role in their lives.

At an auction selling objects from bombed buildings Lady Erlynne (Madeline Carroll) attempts to reclaim a fan given her decades earlier. The auctioneer is reluctant to part with it on her say so unless she can find a witness. She goes and looks up "cad from the past" Lord Darlington (George Sanders) to vouch for her and after an initial re-buff the two recall the bell époque together and how his deviousness almost ended a marriage while her sacrifice saved it.

Preminger seamlessly injects the war as a catalyst to springboard the play as well as add a sly touch that reveals itself comically at the end. With his ability to speak film language as well as anyone The Fan flows with long takes and fine performances by the principals Carroll, Jean Crain, Richard Greene and George Sanders who seemed born to play Wilde characters.

The Fan is one well crafted work that Preminger elevates by eschewing the easy task of filming a classic stage satire and adding a stark but unobtrusive contemporary sub plot that not only advances the storyline but in the true spirit of Wilde pays homage to his timeless words.

Save for the casting of Jeanne Crain who was too white bread and too American to be a proper English lady, this version of Lady Windermere's Fan this is a decent enough production. It could also have used the lighter touch of Ernest Lubitsch instead of Otto Preminger.

Simply entitled The Fan Oscar Wilde's plot is told in flashback by two of the surviving principals of the story. Madeleine Carroll as the adventuress Mrs. Erlynne and the cynical Lord Darlington played by the always cynical George Sanders. Both have survived into the post World War II era in their dotage and it takes a while for Sanders to realize who is this old woman pursuing him.

In her younger days Mrs. Erlynne was quite the adventuress looking to break into London society by whatever means. Through a little clever maneuvering she's got Richard Greene as Lord Windermere running interference for her in her object to get to Hugh Dempster and his title. Of course Jeanne Crain thinks the man she thought was as in love with her as she with him is now two timing him. All their little manoeuvrings are recorded with appropriate comments by Sanders who is Wilde himself.

But Carroll has her reasons for saving Crain from making a fool of herself at the cost of Carroll's own plans for advancement.

Watching this I thought Gene Tierney might have carried it off and she was the original choice for the title role. The one who could have done it best was Vivien Leigh. I can't believe Darryl Zanuck didn't try to get her back in America for the role.

Greene is properly dashing as the Victorian Lord, but Sanders was a man born to serve up Oscar Wilde's lines with relish. Sad that the lead was weak or this might have been a classic film.

Oscar Wilde's comedy of manners, perhaps the wittiest play ever written, is all but wrecked at the hands of a second-rate cast. Sanders is, as one would expect, casually, indolently brilliant in the role of Lord Darlington, but the rest of the cast makes the entire procedure a waste of time. Jean Crain attempts a stage accent in alternate sentences and the other members of the cast seem to believe this is a melodrama and not a comedy; indeed, the entire production has bookends that reduce it to tragedy -- doubtless the Hays office insisted. Preminger's direction seems to lie mostly in making sure that there are plenty of servants about and even the music seems banal. Stick with the visually perfect silent farce as directed by Lubitsch or even the 2004 screen version with Helen Hunt as Mrs. Erlynne; or try reading the play for the pleasure of the words. But skip this version.

I HAVE TO seriously differ with the same review of this gem of a film. Agreed that George Sanders is wonderful (as usual) and that the bookends of the film are not necessary though rather charming, but the film is a jewel, all the performances are very good and MADELEINE CARROLL in her last film ever is totally wonderful and EXQUISITE.. Jeanne Crain does a credible job playing a British aristocrat, accent and all and Martita Hunt as always steals every scene she is in. The sets and costumes are stunning, and it is a pity it was not filmed in color. Otto Preminger is a strange choice as a director for this vehicle but he is always fascinating, even his misfires and this certainly is NOT one of them.A must see believe me.....

Oscar Wilde shines through all the way with his remarkable wit and knowledge of human nature, here especially about women. Dorothy Parker adding to it makes it a double treat. Here you find Oscar Wilde amazingly updated to after the second world war with its rationing and bombed ruins of London, adding an extra spice of melancholy and sadness to the glittering wit and intrigue of fin de siècle refinement. All the actors are outstanding, Otto Preminger bringing out the best of them all, not only George Sanders and Madeleine Carroll in double performances as both young and old; but also Jeanne Crain and Richard Greene are exactly adapted to their involuntary parts of having to feign their demeanour and treading uncertainly on a precarious path of extreme human delicacy. You are led to believe the worst of Madeleine Carroll at first, and indeed she is a fallen lady, but she has learned something of it and conveys the wisdom of her experience in a wondrous way according to the best of Oscar Wilde's sharp human studies. This is a film for wits to relish, and Otto Preminger surprises once again with delivering something entirely new even to his own experience.