Que Sabe Você do Amor?

In "That Uncertain Feeling", good performances by the three lead actors give some life to a rather simplistic story. It is a mildly amusing movie, but there isn't enough to the plot or the script to make it any more than that.

Melvyn Douglas and Merle Oberon play a married couple who seem to be reasonably content, but a chance meeting between the wife and an eccentric pianist (Burgess Meredith) suddenly threatens their whole marriage. Rather than choosing direct confrontation, the husband tries to use psychology to turn the situation in his favor, leading to some comic situations that only partially come off.

The three leads are all pretty good, especially Meredith, who has the liveliest role. And Ernst Lubitsch directs with his usual dapper style. But there isn't really much of a story, and the behavior of the characters, while generally humorous, is too often completely implausible. So the movie is really never more than mildly entertaining.

This will probably only be of particular interest to those who are fans of the director or one of the stars.

Suffering from hiccups and insomnia, beautiful Manhattan socialite Merle Oberon (as Jill) feels neglected by successful insurance peddling husband Melvyn Douglas (as Larry Baker). While seeing psychoanalyst Alan Mowbray (as Vengard), Ms. Oberon meets fellow patient Burgess Meredith (as Alexander Sebastian), a troubled pianist. As Oberon and Mr. Meredith grow closer, Mr. Douglas tries "reverse psychology" to win back his wife. Meanwhile, secretary Eve Arden (as Sally Aikens) may move in on Douglas.

This lesser Ernst Lubitsch offering was a re-make of the director's silent "Kiss Me Again" (1925), which made the critically polled "Film Daily" and "Motion Picture" magazine's annual year's best lists. Unfortunately, the original is presently a "lost" film. "That Uncertain Feeling" was a letdown after "Ninotchka" (1939) and "The Shop Around the Corner" (1940). But, it's definitely not awful. Douglas is in good form, particularly during the last act. Oberon wears some sexy outfits, especially during the early running.

****** That Uncertain Feeling (4/17/41) Ernst Lubitsch ~ Merle Oberon, Melvyn Douglas, Burgess Meredith, Eve Arden

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.

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.

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.