Yesterday's film (Dream Wife, 1953) paired Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr and reminded me of this one, which also featured the pair. The Earl of Rhyall (Grant) and his wife the Countess (Kerr) are having trouble keeping up the family estate, so they begin offering tours of it for a fee. Charles Delacro (Mitchum) an American millionaire is one who takes the tour and finds more than just history in the house when he becomes smitten with the Countess. The Earl, in danger of losing his wife, invites Delacro down to the estate to stay with them, and also invites Hattie Durant (Simmons), a quirky American heiress of their acquaintance to join them in hopes of making his wife jealous. It's all very civilized, even when it comes to pistols at dawn.
This film was based on a successful play by Hugo Williams and Margaret Vyner and fared well in England but bombed in the US. It's got a certain sophisticated charm to it and farcical elements that are fun to watch.
It's available on DVD and can be occasionally seen on TV. It's also available to watch in full on YouTube. The scene above, uploaded by oakjackson is a brilliant piece of choreography and kind of sums up the circumstance.
Obscurity factor: 4 (available on DVD, in the public consciousness because of occasional TV screenings)
TCM has programmed a series of films this month on the portrayal of people from the nations of the middle-east, and last night they featured this film. It's certainly interesting in its skewed portrayal of middle-eastern royalty, but that's not what I found fascinating about it. Unlike many films of its kind it features a very strong career woman, Pricilla Effington (Kerr) who works for the state department. She's in a relationship with ad man Clem Reade (Grant) who objects to her career taking her away from her future duties as a wife. After a big blow-up they break off their engagement and, on the rebound, Clem proposes marriage to Tarji, a beautiful young middle-eastern princess of his acquaintance who "has been trained with 5000 years of tradition" to serve her man's every whim.
Of course the expected culture clash ensues, but what's remarkable about the film is how Kerr's character fares by comparison. In other films of the era she would have "discovered" that sublimating her own desires and ambitions to her husband's wishes was the most fulfilling path she could pursue. Not so in this film. Effie's skills as a diplomat actually save the day and she triumphs at the end, not having to compromise that part of herself for a relationship. It's not a brilliant film (the reception of it convinced Cary Grant to retire from films for two years), but it is uncharacteristic of the era and a nice foreshadowing of the woman's movement to come. Look for Walter Pidgeon as an official that works with Kerr at the State Department.
This film is available on DVD, and though obscure has been screened on TV, thanks to TCM. The trailer for it is above, uploaded to YouTube by skipjacktuner.
Obscurity factor: 6 (not well known, available on DVD)
Something evil is happening in the French countryside and Deborah Kerr is going to find out what it is...even if it kills her! Her husband (David Niven) has been acting very strangely ever since they got to the family estate, and his cousins Odile (Sharon Tate) and Christian (David Hemmings) aren't helping by killing birds with bows and arrows and luring Deborah off parapets. This film from 1966 is most notable for its providing the first significant role for Sharon Tate, and it's well known by her fans. But it has some good qualities in its own right as well. The plot, though byzantine in its presentation is really rather simple, and very dramatically presented. It's full of good, old fashioned suspense, and some great thrills. The cast is stellar, also including Donald Pleasence and the black and white cinematography by Erwin Hiller is extremely beautiful. Look for some wonderful, overwrought scenes of David Niven horse whipping Sharon Tate.
Like yesterday's film, there's some confusion about the release of this on DVD. Amazon says you can pre-order it, but there's no release date published. It also says it will be a print-on-demand title. It's not currently available on YouTube, but is occasionally on TCM. It's worth seeing, if only for the beautiful Sharon Tate. Above is the trailer, posted by SolarCoasterX. The marketing of it was awfully salacious, and there are salacious moments in the film, but it has some dignity as well.
Obscurity factor: 7 (well known to Sharon Tate fans, unavailable on DVD, occasionally on TCM)
