Beware of Pity

A young soldier comes to see Lt. Marek about a girl he knows who has been injured in a bomb blast, and he's not sure how to handle her. The story then moves into flashback mode, as Marek tells the soldier his own tale.

Lilli Palmer is the beautiful young baroness, who has been injured in a fall from her beloved horse, and can not walk - this, a young Marek finds out, when he asks her to dance at a party, and she can not even stand up unaided. Feeling sorry for her, he befriends her and soon she begins to fall for him, a feeling which he does not totally reciprocate. Not wanting to hurt her pride, as her love for him is the only thing keeping her hopeful that she may one day walk again, he agrees to marry her. But then she finds out that he is doing everything only through pity, and Marek finds out that she has heard - and in his race to save her from killing herself, he also realises that he truly is in love with her after all! But - will he make it in time to tell her this?..

A young soldier comes to see Lt. Marek about a girl he knows who has been injured in a bomb blast, and he's not sure how to handle her. The story then moves into flashback mode, as Marek tells the soldier his own tale.

Lilli Palmer is the beautiful young baroness, who has been injured in a fall from her beloved horse, and can not walk - this, a young Marek finds out, when he asks her to dance at a party, and she can not even stand up unaided. Feeling sorry for her, he befriends her and soon she begins to fall for him, a feeling which he does not totally reciprocate. Not wanting to hurt her pride, as her love for him is the only thing keeping her hopeful that she may one day walk again, he agrees to marry her. But then she finds out that he is doing everything only through pity, and Marek finds out that she has heard - and in his race to save her from killing herself, he also realises that he truly is in love with her afterall.

The beautiful Lilli Palmer stars with Albert Lieven and Sir Cedric Hardwicke in "Beware of Pity" from 1946, based on a novel by Stefan Zweig.

Someone suggested that this film would have been better had it been done by Warner Brothers and starred Paul Henried and Bette Davis. It's an interesting and correct thought. They would have brought warmth to the characterizations which seem lacking here.

An older soldier, Anton Marek (Lieven) tells a younger one a story from his own youth. One night at a party, he asks a Baroness (Palmer) to dance, before realizing that she is unable to walk due to paralysis.

Embarrassed and feeling sorry for her, he attempts to make it up to her by visiting from time to time, not realizing that she is falling in love with him.

Afraid of hurting her feelings, he does not discourage her, nevertheless, her assumptions trouble him because she is so fragile and overprotected by her family.

The message here is mixed and for some reason, the movie doesn't draw one in, though the story is sad. On the one hand, this man is being asked to attach himself to someone he doesn't love, with a belief that in the future love will grow. And on the other hand, he should rip off the band-aid early on.

Gladys Cooper has a supporting role as the attending doctor's blind wife, and she gives a good performance.

Lilli Palmer is radiant if by today's standards a little over the top. Sir Cedric Hardwicke is excellent as the woman's doctor.

It's a shame this film wasn't in color as the scenery looked as if it would have been beautiful.

Many great novels do not adapt easily to the cinema, and it was with a certain hesitancy that I watched this version of Stefan Zweig's ' Beware of Pity. ' It does not totally succeed, and the lead actor Albert Lieven did not seem quite right for the soldier who succumbs to pity towards a woman played by Lilli Palmer who has lost her ability to walk. I am not sure who in 1946 could have taken on such a complex and exacting role, but he does his best. Lilli Palmer by contrast is superb as the woman who tries to gain his love, but realises that she is asking too much and that pity towards her is intolerable. The direction is somewhat pedestrian but the supporting cast makes up for it, and Gladys Cooper ( a great actor who should be more remembered than she is ) is extraordinary as a blind woman who tries to convince the soldier there is a difference between compassion than pity. The film is set just before the First World War in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and it is the fatal shot at Sarajevo that precipitates the saddening climax. To reveal more would be unfair, and for those who have not read Stefan Zwieg this is a good introduction. I recommend finding this rare film.

I read this novel after listening to Wes Anderson refer to it as one of the inspirations for his movie The Grand Budapest Hotel. I was blown away by the story, and Zweig. I figured no one, not even today could hope to capture the emotional dissonance of such a great story by Zweig but then I found this 1946 film somehow and I think it did a very good job at portraying the characters and their management of the storyline. The screenplay was simple and alike movies of the day the emphasis was on the expression of the actors. Lilly was fabulous and justly pitiful. It's a very simple story that is tragic and the movie captured it well. I'm so glad I found it.