There's something about this film...
And if I were Orson Welles I'd say it was a lot down to the production design, dummy! - by Alexander Golitzen. His recreation of 'About 1900' (love that title) Vienna is vital to the way this film works, not just in that interesting courtyard / apartment block design - its mysterious angles and connections - but especially in the film's key sequence - where Louis Jourdan does finally notice Joan Fontaine and takes her for a night on the town - a town of horse and carriage, sophisticated suppers, a panorama 'train', pretzels being served from baskets on long poles and dances when the band has gone...
And I was thinking... censorship made these romantic scenes better. You can't just jump into bed, you have to do something instead, something that lingers way after everyone else has gone to sleep...
My Q, with her sense of logic and moral decency, seems to miss the point - "You can't leave your life, your son, your husband for this.. this womanizer!" No, of course, in those terms. But. It's amour fou. There ain't nuthin' you can do about it, baby.
And that beautiful anguish at the end - the silent manservant Art Smith -- of course he remembered her...
It's a film that makes you write reviews (well, jottings) full of ellipses...
On camera: Franz Planer. Score: Daniele Amfitheatrof. Cast: Mady Christians, Marcel Journet, Carol Yorke, Howard Freeman., Erskine Sanford.
An Independent Rampart production released through Universal. From a story by Stefan Zweig, adapted by Howard Koch. I take it that's her husband he goes off to fight the final duel with - it's not clear (maybe I need a better print - you would have thought it would have rated a Criterion or Masters of Cinema restoration).
For me, it gets better as I get older.
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