La Dame au manteau d'hermine

Ernst Lubitsch's style permeates this unjustly forgotten movie, from a different age of cinema. Oddly enough, any old film noir (or just crime-oriented) feature from its age is revered on a pedestal today, while this wonderful 20th Century-Fox big-budget effort stirs little interest.

It is a remake of a 1927 silent film of the same title, a Corinne Griffith star vehicle from First National Pictures, the distributor that later became part of Warner Brothers. It's a lost film, perhaps because a silent movie of an operetta was hopelessly dated even then. Lubitsch includes fantasy and satire here, with the play-acting performances of stars Grable and Fairbanks delightful in that they make fun of the antiquated Period Costume Film cliches, while simultaneously creating warm and empathetic characters. The elements of satire have given way in modern cinema to vulgarity, as evidenced in the work of Mel Brooks (who remade Lubtisch's hit "To Be Or Not to Be") or my favorite director Ken Russell, yet Lubitsch is able to maintain the high ground even in the silliest of scenes, perhaps aided by the censorship of his day.

The Technicolor photography (by Leon Shamroy) remains stunning and just what any film buff should admire. A couple of oddities struck me as I finally saw this movie, so many decades after release, first the foot-fetish theme that instantly suggests Luis Bunuel, who was working in Hollywood during this period. And by some odd coincidence, the starting point for the movie's fantasy element is the stunning portrait of Gable as a 17th Century ancestor of her main character, which comes to life occasionally. Fairbanks' infatuation with the lady in the portrait is the same starting point as Preminger's greatest movie, "Laura", and Otto ended up completing "Ermine" after Lubitsch's sudden death at the age of 55.

Betty Grable is "That Lady in Ermine" in this 1948 musical, also starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Cesar Romero, Reginald Gardner, and Walter Abel.

Frankly, it's hard for me to believe that Lubitsch directed this. And in fact, he died eight days into production and the film was finished by Otto Preminger. The story is taken from a 1922 musical, and originally Lubitsch wanted Jeanette MacDonald for the role; Zanuck wanted Gene Tierney; finally Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer were announced, but it didn't happen.

Grable has a dual role here, as Angelina in 1861 and her ancestor Francesca, from 1561, whose portrait hangs in the great hall. Angelina has just been married to Count Mario, who, as soon as they get into her quarters, is called to action against Hungarian invaders. The Hungarians also invaded 300 years ago, and Francesca was able to save the castle. Can her ancestor do it again, in spite of feeling attracted to the handsome colonel (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.)? The film takes us into the past and back into the present, and it's a lush, gorgeous production. Grable's gowns are exquisite, and she looks gorgeous. Someone here noted she was past her prime (at the ripe old age of 31) and a little plump. She sure didn't look it to me, she looks fantastic. The color in the film is eye-popping as well.

There is really no music to speak of, except for a couple of songs that are continually repeated. There are some funny bits, and it's a fine cast. The ancestors step out of their portraits and come to life, and at one point, Fairbanks is dubbed and sings gloriously in an operatic tenor voice. Fairbanks is wonderful; Grable is perhaps a little too vanilla for the role, but she gives the role a youthful energy. Other than Tierney, the other stars, who were legit sopranos, were a bit older. The story, what there was of it, really needed the lightness Grable gave it.

See it for incredible color and costumes and a fine cast. The music and the story aren't of much consequence - it's nice postwar fluff.

If you have the opportunity to catch this one on TV (It's in American Movie Classic's library, I believe, and doesn't appear to be available on video.) and you're a fan of Ernst Lubitsch, don't expect much evidence of his famous "Touch." Herr Lubitsch died before completing very much of this production and the directing reigns were turned over to Otto Preminger. Apparently the studio felt that an artist whose ancestral origins shared to some degree those of Mr. Lubitsch was the proper person to complete this project. My own impression of the final results makes the passing of the talented Mr. Lubitsch a great misfortune for all concerned. As I watched it on a TV broadcast several years ago I stared in amazement at what seemed an extraordinarily clumsy and heavy-handed attempt to tell what is, essentially, a fairy story for adults. There are definitely elements to enjoy and Betty Grable is, as always, appealingly lovely in Technicolor and has a lively and natural presence as an actress. But Mr. Preminger's reputation, without later critically praised films, such as "Anatomy of a Murder," was not greatly enhanced by the final cut of this film.

I just watched this film on YouTube; it's there for free in version with very good image quality. It was a box office flop, and has a poor reputation among classic film devotees. But if you enjoy musicals, you might want to give it a chance.

I mildly enjoyed it. Fairbanks Jr. Is excellent, giving a spirtited performance with the right touch of believable emotion and light tungue in cheek playfulness. The sets are opulant. Fredrick Holander's music is lovely, though the song lyrics (by Leo Robin?) are mediocre and banal. There are occasional playfully funny moments.

On the down side, the film overall lacks the charm, subtle sexiness, and light touch that Lubitch would have given it, if he had directed the entire thing, and his capabilities were not greatly diminished by very poor health. Grable is OK in the role, but far from the ideal actress-singer for it. I've read that Fox head Zanick wanted to broaden her appeal and put her in more high class roles, so she made three classy pictures and all of them, including this one flopped. (One of them is excellent, and I highly recommend it, "The Shocking Miss Pilgrim".)

That Lady in Ermine seems to have two endings; and I felt let down by the second one. It should have ended when the Fairbanks character rides away, bidding the Grable character a regretful goodby. But then there's a entirely unnecessary scene, which seems tacked on.

I enjoyed this film far more than anything had led me to anticipate; from reading other comments here, I suspect it benefits enormously from being seen on a full-size screen in the cinema, in the company of a cheerful and enthusiastic audience. I was lucky enough to have that experience, borne up on ripples of laughter from all around, and had an immensely good time with this undemanding comedy.

For it is as a comedy that it shines, if it shines anywhere at all. The music is nothing special -- in fact, I hadn't realised it *was* a musical, and was very surprised when the assembled ancestors burst into half-spoken lyric -- but I do have to admit that the half-threat, half-promise of 'Oh, what I'll do...' has proved far more catchy than it ever seemed at the time, as it's still going round and round in my head!

The plot, such as it is, largely pivots around the past history of the eponymous Francesca, a sixteenth-century portrait sporting a distinctly anachronistic hairstyle and fur-coat. Her idea on the sanctity of marriage don't quite jibe with those of her distant descendant, the Countess Angelina, and one can almost hear the storyline creaking at the seams under the strain of the Production Code in order to ensure that the heroine arrives unsullied in her much-delayed marriage-bed with the right man...

The romance is scarcely earth-shattering, and in fact the first few scenes, played pretty well straight, verge on the tedious. But where script and film really come to life is in the battle of the sexes that follows. The impudence of Douglas Fairbanks Jr's courtship of Betty Grable's married Angelina is equalled only by Betty-Grable-as-Francesca's pursuit of him in turn, culminating in complete role-reversal in the hilarious fantasy sequence where she -- literally -- sweeps him off his feet. This is probably the comic climax of the plot, although the consequences of the Colonel's understandable confusion are worked out with a deft touch in the remaining two 'acts' of the operetta-structure, and the spectacle of Fairbanks' blissful, bemused awakening is more or less worth the price of admission on its own.

Grable is entirely convincing in establishing her two contrasting characters, wisely gets almost all the (limited) singing opportunities, and shares the honours where the swathes of quotable dialogue in the various verbal duels are concerned. But in the field of unspoken reaction she is really outclassed by her male supporting leads; Fairbanks in particular is an absolute treat in a number of wordless sequences whose set-up and humour is worthy of the silent screen.

This film is too uneven in style to be a classic, varying from sparkling repartee to hackneyed tedium. But at its best it is quite honestly very funny indeed, and brought a round of spontaneous applause and laughter across the auditorium at the end as the lights went up. Out of tune with its times, it may have failed to draw contemporary audiences -- but, on this showing, really didn't deserve to be disowned by both Grable and Preminger, the (uncredited) director. This is no masterpiece, but a thoroughly entertaining minor work, and I for one found myself grinning in remembrance all the way home.