Unfaithfully Yours (1948)
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Synopsis: In his last Hollywood film, Preston Sturges crafts a powerfully rendered mix of slapstick, screwball, and melodrama in his darkest comedy ever. Rex Harrison plays Alfred de Carter, the effete and blasé classical conductor returning to New York on the eve of a great performance. Awaiting his... In his last Hollywood film, Preston Sturges crafts a powerfully rendered mix of slapstick, screwball, and melodrama in his darkest comedy ever. Rex Harrison plays Alfred de Carter, the effete and blasé classical conductor returning to New York on the eve of a great performance. Awaiting his return are his beautiful wife Daphne, her coy sister, and her brother-in-law Auguste. Alfred had asked Auguste to look after Daphne during his absence, and when August alerts Alfred that he had Daphne watched by a detective and attempts to deliver the report, the seeds of doubt are planted in an otherwise blissfully romantic marriage The superb Alfred slowly comes undone as he unwillingly lets the idea of Daphne's possible infidelity contaminate his every thought. Sirk elicits uproarious performances from the dry and evocative cast as the film leads to a masterfully complex climax: Alfred fantasizing variously gruesome, magnanimous, and gallant actions he might take, while simultaneously conducting the symphony orchestra to an enraptured audience. When Alfred attempts to act on his fantasy, reality becomes stranger than fiction, and his devious plans are derailed in a series of hysterical physical gags and unsuspected misunderstandings. [More]
Genre: Comedies
Starring: Rex Harrison, Linda Darnell, Kurt Kreuger, Barbara Lawrence, Rudy Vallee
Screenwriter: Preston Sturges
Producer: Preston Sturges
Composer: Gioacchino Rossini, Richard Wagner, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
DVD Info
Release:
Jul 12, 2005
DVD Features:
- Notes: This release is a new restored High-Definition digital transfer.
- Region 1
- Keep Case
- Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
- Dolby Digital Mono- English
Additional Release Material:
- Audio Commentary - 1. James Harvey, Diane Jacobs, Brian Henderson - Sturges Scholars
- Video Introduction - 1. Terry Jones - Director/Writer
- Video Interview - 1. Sandy Sturges - Wife of Director Preston Sturges
- Original Theatrical Trailer
Text/Photo Galleries:
- Essay By Novelist Jonathan Lethem
- Gallery - 1. Rare Production Correspondence And Stills
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Reviews
No director ever matched Preston Sturges's way of blending low slapstick and literate dialogue comedy.
It is too bad that Preston Sturges is not compelled by law to turn out at least one movie -- maybe two -- a year. For nobody makes films as he does.
Not much liked at the time, but a small masterpiece just the same in its skilful blending of moods, genuinely moving and quite beautifully played by Harrison and Darnell.
one of Preston Sturges' best films, and perhaps his most undersung.
It's a brilliantly accomplished work offering a mixture of bitter comedy and outright despair.
Unfaithfully Yours (1948) is a wonderful, brilliant and stylish comedy by Preston Sturges - it was the last of his Hollywood films.


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