Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

cstotlar-1 This film has a symmetry we seldom see in any comedies, by Sturges or anyone. It begins with a happy couple and dissolves into suspicion. Then the fun begins and the weird balance takes over. The conductor's concert becomes a three-act play with the scenes related yet illogical, as dreams so often go. After the concert, the conductor tries to relive his fantasies and virtually nothing cooperates with him. Preston Sturges was always brilliant with his dialog and love of words and here you see this at the beginning. That, for the viewer is Act One. The concert itself with the images of revenge makes up the second act, a black one at that. Finally, at the end of the concert comes the hilarious Act Three, an hysterically funny attempt to put the emotions and illusions into practice - with disastrous results. So the concert had its own three acts within and the viewer gets another broader three. The verbal humor in the beginning becomes a visual portrayal of revenge in the middle and a foiled attempt to carry it off in the end. I've never thought of Sturges as working with physical humor but he did here and extremely well. The conductor's attempt to pull ideas into the realm of reality prove as deranged as his suspicions. I think the presence of classical music scares many Americans away from the screen. Sturges appears to know the subject intimately well, so for me, as a professional musician, this is perfect film in beautiful balance.

mark.waltz Sir Alfred De Carter (Rex Harrison) is an aging British conductor who becomes extremely suspicious of his beautiful younger wife (Linda Darnell) and his handsome (but boring) assistant (Kurt Kreuger) after his wife's brother-in-law (Rudy Vallee) brings him a detective's report. Harrison at first refuses to even look at the report, but as his ego gets the better of him, he goes to the original detective (an unrecognizable Edgar Kennedy) and is visited by their hotel's house detective (Al Bridge) who confirms seeing Darnell going into Kreuger's suite in the middle of the night. Harrison does what any brilliant music conductor does-he plots revenge, and that means murder and framing his rival for the crime. Harrison (known for his own extreme ego in real life) seems to enjoy spoofing the whole idea as Alfred just gets crazier and crazier, first setting his dressing room on fire in an effort to destroy the detective's report, then furiously conducting his orchestra for rehearsal as if he were riding the winning horse at the Kentucky Derby. By the time his concert begins, he has decided to emulate Sweeney Todd, as we learn in the first of three fantasy sequences where he plots the perfect crime. But dreaming of revenge and actually carrying it out are two different things, and in one of the funniest sequences Preston Sturges ever directed, Harrison goes deeper and deeper into madness as he destroys his entire hotel suite while trying to carry out his scheme. This is slapstick at its most intelligent.This is a film where you are not supposed to like the leading character. That makes his over-the-top actions all the more funny, and Harrison relishes every moment. Darnell, of course, is truly beautiful, the most ravishing clothes horse of the 1940's, but has nothing to do but look lovely and confused as Harrison's menace increases. Lionel Stander has some amusing lines as Harrison's pal, while Vallee, Barbara Lawrence (as Darnell's sister), Kennedy, and Bridge offer fine support. Sturges, responsible for some of the best screenplays and for directing some of the finest comedies in Hollywood's history, adds another gem to his resume. The music too is wonderful, furiously as part of the plot as Harrison's insanity is. This was remade somewhat successfully by Dudley Moore in 1984, one of the more obscure classics to be re-done. It has grown in cult status over the years, but was totally overlooked for awards during its release year. The film remains a showcase for its stunning leading man who in spite of 40's classics such as "Blithe Spirit" and "The Ghost & Mrs. Muir" wouldn't become legendary until he uttered those immortal stage and screen words, "Eliza, where the devil are my slippers?" years later.

Alex da Silva This film is complete rubbish.This is the story - for the first 45 minutes absolutely NOTHING happens. This is quite difficult to achieve so deserves a mention. Rex Harrison hams it up, trying to be funny (his technique being to speak loudly and quickly) but he only succeeds in irritating the viewer. Then, whilst conducting an orchestra, he imagines 3 scenarios as a result of believing that his wife has cheated on him. He tries to put one of these scenes into practice and makes a drawn out mess of it that tests the viewers' patience as we are expected to laugh along with the unfunny antics that ensue.Harrison is way too OTT and the film contains a lot of slapstick, very obvious, visual humour which tediously drags on. An example of the humour you can expect goes like this: Harrison stands on a chair but puts his foot through it (ha ha ha), then he opens a cupboard and something falls on his head (ha ha ha), then he drops something (ha ha ha), then he puts his foot through the chair again (ha ha ha), then he falls over, etc - this scene goes on for 10 -15 minutes but it seems like a billion hours. And its not funny at any point.The film is very boring.

Spikeopath Well well, I certainly found this to be a very mixed bag, I simply adore Preston Sturges, the satirical wit in many of his classic standards is still thrilling new fans as each year passes by. This one was one I had to hunt down to add to my collection purely because of its director, and what trusted review sources I looked at led me to expect an undervalued masterpiece. Sadly the film only hints at greatness and I wasn't in the least bit surprised to find that the film had been cut by 20 minutes such was the uneven feel I got from it.The film centres on a comic slant of misconception, mistrust, and one mans zany decent into jealous madness. Believing his beautiful wife is having an affair, top conductor Sir Alfred De Carter {an ebullient Rex Harrison} dreams three scenarios that will give him peace, all very different, and all played out to the accompaniment of classical music, Rossini's-Semiramide, Wagner's-Tannhauser, and Tchaikovsky's-Francesca de Rimini. These sequences lift the film out of the stupor that besets the piece for most of the first half, and this sets us up nicely for the finale as we see which route Carter has chosen and of course the mirthful results that ensues.Back on release the film didn't catch on, and we can only wonder what the film would have been like with the added scenes still in place, I like to think that Sturges really had crafted the masterpiece that some top line critics today believe the film actually is. The film was also blighted by a sad scandal as Rex Harrison's girlfriend Carole Landis committed suicide and naturally the films distributor {Fox} felt the films subject matter was just too close to the bone to support wholesale, and the subsequent lack of support practically killed the film on release to the point that Sturges never made another American film again . It's an entertaining film, the music working with the mindset of the protagonist works a treat, and the comedy stands up well to tickle the ribs, but it will always be a case of so near, yet so far, but that of course is my own humble opinion.7/10