Quell'incerto sentimento

Loved "That Uncertain Feeling" (1941)! Here, a superb, substantive, yet oft-times simultaneously silly, screenplay (adapted from the stage) meets first-rate actors. (The beautiful Merle Oberon is at her comedic best.) What makes this a must-see film is the palpable pathos swirling just beneath it all. In lesser hands (actors and writers all) this might've fallen into the snidely melodramatic or the mildly comedic.

By the by, who says the feeling man is dead? The reviews give credence to the fact that-- whether in their teens, twenties, or, like me, in their fifties-- men enjoy romantic comedies as much as women. I suspect that any polls showing otherwise are eschew for the very reason that too many films today use a "straw man," where the male lead isn't much more than duplicitous, a nitwit, a heel (or all three). In "That Uncertain Feeling," a certain maturity and balance rules the writers. Sure, men AND women's flaws come to the fore, but as (or more)importantly, both sexes' attributes are on show, too, to boot. If the writer creates, equally, humorously offensive male and female characters, then it actually mirrors the real world while not playing partisan sexual politics. Do that and movie theatres will be swarming with women AND men, maybe like in days of old...like those when I, too, was young.

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.

Merle Oberon and Melvyn Douglas deal with "That Uncertain Feeling," a 1941 Ernst Lubitsch film based on a Sardou play. It's actually a remake of a silent Lubitsch, "Kiss Me Again." The film also stars Burgess Meredith and Eve Arden.

Jill Baker (Oberon) is married to a successful businessman, Larry Baker (Douglas), but after six years, the bloom is off the rose. She goes to a psychiatrist, where, in the waiting room, she meets an opinionated pianist, Alexander Sebastian (Meredith), who introduces her to the world of art and music. She becomes fascinated with the world of culture and with him. Before you know it, Oberon and Douglas are divorcing, and Oberon and Meredith become engaged.

The best scene occurs in the divorce attorney's office, when the secretary, Sally (Eve Arden) is asked to take a letter. In reality, she's supposed to witness Larry slapping Jill to help them get their divorce.

There are some nice things in this film, including the bright performances of the leads, particularly the beautiful Oberon, whose presence shone in many a film.

All in all, a disappointing Lubitsch, but Oberon's charm is quite special and always worth seeing.

Luke warm comedy of manners. The storyline's done with style, but needed verve gives way to too much talk. The results are more sophistication than set-ups, more occasional chuckles than laughs.

Larry (Douglas) is a married insurance executive. Trouble is he's neglecting wife Jill (Oberon) who's having hiccup bouts, probably because his main communication is poking her playfully in the stomach. So she takes up with squirrelly Sebastian (Meredith) who's an egotistical man of the arts. Now Larry's unhappy with the results, but what's he to do.

Oberon and Douglas both low-key their parts. Add that to a talky script and we get some good lines and situations, but mild results overall. Looks like Meredith's sour artiste was intended to supply needed verve. However, his character is too obnoxious to generate much comedy. Too bad, as other reviewers point out, that Eve Arden's comedic potential goes untapped. Some caustic exchanges between her and Meredith would have livened things up. However, two comedic set-ups do stand out: the office scene where divorce plans keep misfiring, plus the climax where Larry pretends to have a girl in his bedroom to make Jill jealous. In fact, that last scene has the vivacious earmarks of a better total comedy than what we have otherwise.

Anyway, it's New York sophistication done Lubitsch style, even if second rank.

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