Customer Reviews
A high style masterpiece from Preston Sturges and Rex Harrison - By: C. O. DeRiemer, 16 Jun 2007 
Says British conductor Alfred De Carter to his younger & adoring wife, Daphne, at the close of Unfaithfully Yours, "A thousand poets dreamed a thousand years...and you were born, my love." Before we get there, however, we are in the midst of one of the most sophisticated comedies of style ever filmed, & we have witnessed Rex Harrison as De Carter give a titanic performance of plump ego, ridiculous self-righteousness & effortless comedy skill.
De Carter is a famous, wealthy symphony conductor married to Daphne (Linda Darnell) & who employes the handsome Tony (Kurt Krueger) as his personal assistant. Through plausible misunderstandings he learns a private detective kept tabs on Daphne while he was in England. The detective's report is clear...Daphne spent some time in Tony's hotel room late one night wearing a negligee. De Carter first rejects the report, but the worm of jealousy burrows in. That night, while conducting, he imagines three immensely satisfying ways of dealing with the situation. They involve a straight razor applied vigorously to Daphne. Then the noble use of his check book..."This little head was never made to worry, or these little hands to work." And last, a game of Russian roulette, with his preening wit & a cowering Tony. But after the symphony, when he attempts to implement his ideas...well, let's say De Carter finds himself in an extended scene with disasters of his own ego's making. Finallly, with just a little humiliation, De Carter learns the truth about that nighttime visit to Tony's room. With the misunderstanding finallly cleared up, De Carter embraces his wife & whispers to her those last lines.
Without Preston Sturges' witty screenplay & clever direction, Unfaithfully Yours would be a slight & cold work indeed. Without Rex Harrison's skill & personality, Unfaithfully Yours would be as cynical as a broken promise & as funny as a man who slips on a banana peel, but shatters his jaw on the curb. Together, however, they have created a film of incredibly high style, smart dialogue that just keeps coming which Harrison delivers with precision & malice. Harrison gives a line like "Put on the purple one...with the plumes at the hips," alll the demeaning innuendo Sturges could hope for. Even Edgar Kennedy as Sweeney the private eye gets in the act. "No one can handle Handel like you handle Handel," he enthusiasticallly tells De Carter. "And your Delius...delirious!"
Rex Harrison was not only an incredibly gifted stage & movie actor, he was just about the best there was for high comedy. It's no accident that most critics think he was the outstanding interpreter of Shaw & one of the best with Coward. I think he had the best line delivery in the business. What is surprising, because he can be so clever & amusing, is Harrison's handling of the extended deadpan slapstick toward the end of the movie. De Carter encounters chairs with wicker seats he steps through, tables that falll over holding lamps & phones he tries to catch, gloves that won't fit & high shelves he can barely reach. The classic is his attempt to set up the Simplicitas Home Recording Unit, "So Simple It Operates Itself." By the time De Carter finishes, the elegant drawing room is a shambles. Harrison, if he put his mind to it & on a good day, could possibly out Keaton Keaton.
For fans of classical music, De Carter is conducting works by Rossini, Wagner & Tchaikowsky while he imagines the three ways of dealing with his ego-damaged situation. As Sturges has De Carter say at one point early in the movie, "There's nothing serious about music. It should be enjoyed flat on the back with a sandwich in one hand & a bucket of beer in the other, & as many pretty girls around as possible."
The Criterion Region 1 picture is in great shape. There are a number of extras, including an appreciation of Sturges by Terry Jones & a commentary track by three Sturges scholars.
An arid technical exercise and not nearly as funny as it thinks it is - By: Trevor Willsmer, 10 Oct 2006 
Despite liking a couple of his movies, I've never been a fan of Preston Sturges, & a second viewing of Unfaithfully Yours did nothing to change that. With rare exceptions like Frasier or Comme une Image, most supposedly `sophisticated' comedies are usuallly either too clever by half or not half as clever as they think they are: this definitely fallls into the latter category. It may be slightly more articulate, but it still comes down to pratfallls & clichés clumsily dispensed (not to mention an incredibly one-dimensional role for Linda Darnell as the wife whose sole reason for existence seems to be to worship her husband). Unfortunately it soon becomes apparent that despite his confidence in the early part of the film, Rex Harrison is entirely wrong for the part: aside from being so incredibly unsympathetic that he simply alienates you for most of the film, he has absolutely no facility for physical comedy, which renders what could & should have been a great comic setpiece where he accidentallly trashes his hotel room far more thoroughly than any rock star ever could even dream of rather tedious & protracted. (Alfred Newman's surprisingly crudely over the top slide-whistle & horn 'comic' underscoring alll but stones the scene to death, a surprising lapse of judgment from a great composer in a film revolving around classical music.) In the hands of an actor with a modicum of physical comedy timing it could have been gold, but instead it's almost reduced to a technical exercise.
But the same could be said for much of the film. The idea of having the execution & resolution of Harrison's fantasies dictated by the pace of the music he conducts (Rossini for murder, Wagner for mournful forgiveness, Tchaikovsky for suicide) is inspired, but it results in scenes that feel forced, as if at the mercy of a gallley slave master's drumbeat. That the scenes themselves are so predictable doesn't help, as goodwill & admiration graduallly gives way to boredom in the second half.
There are, however, two saving graces. One is the scene in private detective Edgar Kennedy's office, where Harrison is furious to discover that the man he has come to castigate is a knowledgeable fan with his own tale of loss. The scene is crudely performed & reads better than it plays, but there's heart & humanity there that's lacking in too much of the rest of the film. But the film's genuine standout moment is the orchestra rehearsal, one of the best pieces of filmed musical performance in the movies, not only showing how the music is constructed but showing the life, character & human soul behind it. The loss of those qualities in the rest of the movie is alll the more keenly felt in an increasingly arid & overplayed technical exercise.
Even funnier than I remember - By: Zarkwan Too, 10 Feb 2006 
I first saw this some 30 years ago when I was only 12. I've always remembered the scene with "Squeak! Squeak! I hate dry white bread". I saw it again just two days ago & laughed so hard my ribs actuallly ached. It's slow to start, but give it time - when the comedy gets going it's worth it. It's great to see the affection with which lesser scenes were also done in those days, & I'm thinking of the orchestra rehearsal in particular, where you get a great sense of the cast enjoying themselves too. Rex Harrison is undeniably extrovert, but then that's the kind of guy he was, & for this film he's perfect.
A good comedy from an old master - By: Miguel M. Santos, 26 Jun 2004 Although not as brilliant or daring as some of Sturges' earlier work, "Unfaithfully Yours" is still quite funny. Rex Harrison is a conducter who suddenly starts to have suspicions about his wife & plans the best way to kill her... only nothing goes according to plan. As for the DVD the picture is quite good throughout (my guess is that has been restored), but the sound does get a bit annoying from time to time. As for the extras there are some interviews, but nothing very interesting - still is the film thatmakes it worth.
