edwagreen
A ridiculous film, at most, with a symphony director, Rex Harrison, led to believe that his wife, Linda Darnell, has been unfaithful film. Most of the film is devoted to Harrison leading the symphony while concocting possible ideas in his mind to deal with the situation.Rudy Vallee is totally wasted here as his brother-in-law, a millionaire who misunderstood when Harrison told him to keep an eye on his wife while he is away in England.Vallee hires a private detective who has pictures of Darnell leaving Harrison's secretary's room.After imagining what he is going to do, Harrison storms out of a performance and goes home and each of his plans is again shown.The picture is a foolish one; far beneath that of Harrison, Darnell and others.The picture is made more foolish by the way Harrison wrecks his apartment during his plans to create mayhem.This is utterly ridiculous and annoying.
gratwicker
This film brings us Rex Harrison already foreshadowing Professor Higgins. He tries out the arrogant, picayune, verbally acute role and is absolutely successful. The seed is planted and we, who know what is to come twenty years hence, rub our hands gleefully in anticipation of Higgins. But Linda Darnell is no Eliza. Instead, she is a loving, docile, trusting wife, already dressed as though she will be meeting the Queen and looking beautiful and so very desirable.The dialog crackles and moves fast. Only Rex Harrison and perhaps Cary Grant could have have delivered with the wit and brio that Sturges deserved.There are two extended slapstick scenes that should have been cut shorter.Edgar Kennedy as a Private Eye has a couple of great scenes when he turns out to be a classical music devotee and is knowledgeably enthusiastic about Harrison's conducting.A digression: Harrison tosses a couple of tickets to the Philharmonic concert, they are orchestra tickets a few rows from the front row. Price $3.80, designated as "Patron"' seats.
kenjha
A conductor suspects his wife of cheating and dreams up elaborate plots to exact revenge. This was the last hurrah for Sturges, the greatest comedy writer/director of the 1940s. While not as polished as such early masterpieces as "The Lady Eve" and "Sullivan's Travels," it is quite amusing. Harrison is well cast as the flustered conductor, although he tends to deliver his lines so rapidly at times that subtitles would have been helpful. Darnell looks gorgeous as his wife, and Vallee is funny as his brother-in-law. The scenes with the recording machine are hilarious. Rossini's "Semiramide" Overture gets quite a workout, played three times in its entirety.
slothropgr
I'm not sure how anyone--Sturges or Zanuck especially--could figure that audiences would go for this picture. Here we have a protagonist (one certainly can't call him a hero) who is duplicitous, arch, and neurotic to the point of psychosis, played by an actor who hammers each of these characteristics home like a railroad spike. It's one thing to fantasize about murdering one's wife (without a shred of proof), it's quite another to then go about trying to do it in real life (with no more proof). Sturges seemed to think that making Harrison utterly incompetent and slapsticky in the attempt would make it funny. Whether he ever intended that the audience forgive or even tolerate this would-be murderer isn't clear. One passionate declaration after he's failed just isn't enough. And casting the inexpressibly beautiful Linda Darnell in one of her very few completely sympathetic roles doesn't help. She could play both sides of the fidelity coin better than anyone, but he doesn't give her the chance. Her fidelity is so overplayed at times that I was quite prepared for at least a little undercutting. But it never came. I wonder if a year later, his career in ruins because of this picture, Sturges saw "Kind Hearts and Coronets" and figured out where he went wrong.
AD
