Max Ophuls had seen the Reichstag Fire as the writing on the wall and even as his first 'Viennese' masterpiece 'Liebelei' was released he and his family were on their way to France. The Vienna that he revisited fifteen years later was reconstructed at Universal studios for this loose adaptation by Howard Koch of Stefan Zweig's 'Brief einer Unbekannten'. Zweig, another exile from Hitler, had taken his own life in South America six years earlier.
Maestro Ophuls has the good fortune here to have fellow émigré Franz Planer behind the camera who had shot 'Liebelei' whilst also benefiting from art direction by the superlative Alexander Golitzen. The leading male character has been changed from novelist, perhaps a reflection of Zweig himself, to concert pianist, which affords Daniele Amfitheatrof the chance to write a lush score and to interpolate Liszt's 'Consolation'.
The leading players are Joan Fontaine and Louis Jourdan, both on loan from David O. Selznick. The character of Lisa who suffers so much for a man who is unworthy of her, is one that is traditionally despised by feminists but is nonetheless a demanding role and under Ophul's meticulous direction the luminous Miss Fontaine's journey from hope to disillusion is heartrending. The obvious choice for Lothario Stefan was Charles Boyer but he was not quite young enough so it fell to twenty-seven year old Louis Jourdan who is an able substitute. Although not quite yet the finished article as an actor Monsieur Jourdan convinces as one who is full of self-loathing and all too aware of his deficiences as both man and musician. It was to be expected that Monsieur Boyer would one day work with Herr Ophuls and of course he was to excel as General de...in Ophuls' masterpiece from 1953.
We are thankfully spared the usual mishmash of accents here and the ill-fated Mady Christians impresses as Lisa's mother. Art Smith, like Miss Christians soon to be blacklisted, is excellent as Stefan's faithful manservant. He is American but that doesn't really matter as his character is a mute!
There are those who claim that this is in many ways an American film but I beg to differ. Although we should be eternally grateful to the enlightened John Houseman and Howard Koch for granting Herr Ophuls the chance to make the film, it was shamefully ignored upon its release by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and it is purely the impeccable taste, visual style and genius of 'auteur' Max Ophuls which enabled the film to transcend the confines and infernal compromises of the Hollywood system and to emerge as quintessentially European. He made three 'American' films but this ain't one of them!
Maestro Ophuls has the good fortune here to have fellow émigré Franz Planer behind the camera who had shot 'Liebelei' whilst also benefiting from art direction by the superlative Alexander Golitzen. The leading male character has been changed from novelist, perhaps a reflection of Zweig himself, to concert pianist, which affords Daniele Amfitheatrof the chance to write a lush score and to interpolate Liszt's 'Consolation'.
The leading players are Joan Fontaine and Louis Jourdan, both on loan from David O. Selznick. The character of Lisa who suffers so much for a man who is unworthy of her, is one that is traditionally despised by feminists but is nonetheless a demanding role and under Ophul's meticulous direction the luminous Miss Fontaine's journey from hope to disillusion is heartrending. The obvious choice for Lothario Stefan was Charles Boyer but he was not quite young enough so it fell to twenty-seven year old Louis Jourdan who is an able substitute. Although not quite yet the finished article as an actor Monsieur Jourdan convinces as one who is full of self-loathing and all too aware of his deficiences as both man and musician. It was to be expected that Monsieur Boyer would one day work with Herr Ophuls and of course he was to excel as General de...in Ophuls' masterpiece from 1953.
We are thankfully spared the usual mishmash of accents here and the ill-fated Mady Christians impresses as Lisa's mother. Art Smith, like Miss Christians soon to be blacklisted, is excellent as Stefan's faithful manservant. He is American but that doesn't really matter as his character is a mute!
There are those who claim that this is in many ways an American film but I beg to differ. Although we should be eternally grateful to the enlightened John Houseman and Howard Koch for granting Herr Ophuls the chance to make the film, it was shamefully ignored upon its release by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and it is purely the impeccable taste, visual style and genius of 'auteur' Max Ophuls which enabled the film to transcend the confines and infernal compromises of the Hollywood system and to emerge as quintessentially European. He made three 'American' films but this ain't one of them!