Unfaithfully Yours (1948)

Director:

Preston Sturges

Writer:

Preston Sturges (original screenplay written by)

Release Date:

10 December 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Music | Romance

Tagline:

Will somebody "get her" tonite?

Plot:

Set to music, a symphony conductor envisions multiple possible scenarios for dealing with his wife's infidelity.

Plot Keywords:

Symphony | Conductor | Infidelity | Jealousy | Detective

Cast

Rex Harrison	...	Sir Alfred De Carter
Linda Darnell	...	Daphne De Carter
Rudy Vallee	...	August Henshler
Barbara Lawrence	...	Barbara Henshler
Kurt Kreuger	...	Tony Windborn
Lionel Stander	...	Hugo Standoff
Edgar Kennedy	...	Detective Sweeney
Al Bridge	...	House Detective (as Alan Bridge)
Julius Tannen	...	O'Brien
Torben Meyer	...	Dr. Schultz
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pati Behrs	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
George Beranger	...	Maitre d' (uncredited)
Evelyn Beresford	...	Madame Pompadour (uncredited)
Georgia Caine	...	Dowager (uncredited)
Harry Carter	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Bill Cartledge	...	Page Boy (uncredited)
Ruth Clifford	...	Saleslady (uncredited)
Douglas Gerrard	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Robert Greig	...	Jules - the Valet (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Isabel Jewell	...	First Telephone Operator (uncredited)
Laurette Luez	...	Hatcheck Girl (uncredited)
J. Farrell MacDonald	...	Stage Doorman (uncredited)
Marion Marshall	...	Maisie - Second Telephone Operator (uncredited)
George Matthews	...	Musician (uncredited)
George Melford	...	Man in Audience (uncredited)
Frank Mills	...	Stage Hand (uncredited)
Frank Moran	...	Fire Chief (uncredited)
Dave Morris	...	Musician (uncredited)
Franz Roehn	...	Musician (uncredited)
Tamara Schee	...	Madame La Lotte (uncredited)
Harry Seymour	...	Musician (uncredited)
Charles Tannen	...	Airport Information Man (uncredited)
Max Wagner	...	Stage Manager (uncredited)

Directed by
Preston Sturges

Writing credits
Preston Sturges		(original screenplay written by)

Produced by
Preston Sturges	....	producer

Non-Original Music by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky		(as Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky)
Richard Wagner

Cinematography by
Victor Milner		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Robert Fritch
Stuart Gilmore		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Lyle R. Wheeler		(as Lyle Wheeler)
Joseph C. Wright

Set Decoration by
Paul S. Fox
Thomas Little

Costume Design by
Bonnie Cashin
Oleg Cassini		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Ben Nye	....	makeup artist
Franz Prehoda	....	makeup artist (uncredited)
Henry Vilardo	....	makeup artist (uncredited)
Marie Walter	....	hair stylist (uncredited)
Gladys Witten	....	hair stylist (uncredited)

Production Management
Charles Hall	....	production manager (uncredited)
Raymond A. Klune	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gaston Glass	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Roger Heman Sr.	....	sound (as Roger Heman)
Arthur von Kirbach	....	sound (as Arthur L. Kirbach)

Special Effects by
Fred Sersen	....	special photographic effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Eddie Ledgerwood	....	grip (uncredited)
F. Bud Mautino	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Ray Nolan	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Charles Le Maire	....	wardrobe director (as Charles LeMaire)
Sam Benson	....	wardrobe supervisor (uncredited)
Eugene Joseff	....	costume jeweller (uncredited)

Music Department
Alfred Newman	....	musical director
Maurice De Packh	....	music arranger (uncredited)
Cyril J. Mockridge	....	music arranger (uncredited)
Edward B. Powell	....	music arranger: Cyril J. Mockridge (uncredited)

Other crew
Stephen Brooks	....	production assistant
Robin Sanders Clark	....	conducting instructor: Rex Harrison
Stanley Scheuer	....	script supervisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (presents) (as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation)

Distributors

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1948) (USA) (theatrical) (released through) (Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation)
• Criterion Collection, The (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Media Cooperation One (MC-One) (2009) (Germany) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | USA:Approved (certificate #12960)

Filming Locations:

Stage 3, 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Carole Landis, who was dating Harrison at the time, was originally to play Daphne. But personal problems between them caused her to be replaced by Linda Darnell.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the rehearsal scene. A cigarette pack disappears from the podium as Harrison conducts.

Quotes:

Alfred:I give you my solemn word, August: if I don't regain control of myself in a few minutes, concert or no concert, I'll take this candelabrum and beat that walnut you use for a head into a nutburger, I believe they're called!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Unknown Peter Sellers (2000) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Semiramide Overture

A great symphony of a comedy

Though he directed a few more movies over the years, Unfaithfully Yours was the last great hurrah from one of Hollywood's greatest comedy writer-directors, Preston Sturges. But Lawdy, what a way to go out.

The movie stars Rex Harrison in what might be seen as a kinder, gentler cousin of his egomaniacal diction professor in My Fair Lady (1964). Here, Harrison is Sir Alfred de Carter, a world-renowned symphony conductor who is still astoundingly infatuated with the woman he refers to as his "bride," Daphne (charming Linda Darnell). The movie never declares how long or short of a time the Carters have been married, but judging from their passion level, one would guess they're still in the honeymooning stage.

(The far more down-to-earth married couple, Alfred's in-laws August and Barbara, are portrayed wonderfully by Rudy Vallee and Barbara Lawrence. Barbara gets all the great barbs off against her husband, who is only to happy to show his ignorance of them.)

One day, August accosts Alfred with the unfortunate news that he paid a detective to tail Daphne while Alfred was out of town. Alfred is so convinced of his wife's fidelity that his reaction starts at outrage and goes haywire from there. Little by little, though, Alfred is given reason to think that Daphne might have needed some spying-on after all. At his concert that evening, Alfred conducts three pieces by Rossini, Tchaikovsky, and Wagner, and with each piece, Alfred imagines the stylish revenge he will extract upon Daphne for her presumed cheating.

From this sober-sounding scenario, Sturges--as he always did--goes all over the place, from sparkling dialogue to skittering slapstick to rich drenches of sentiment. And the melange has never worked better than it does here. Just for kicks, take three of the movie's set-pieces: Alfred's achingly funny dressing-down of August for siccing a detective on Daphne, the first fantasy where Alfred hatches an elaborate murder scheme, and Alfred's drunken attempt to carry out the scheme. Three scenes of complete different tones, and they all plausibly fit into the same movie. Now try to imagine any modern-day comedy-maker whose work would display the wit of any of those scenes.

The Criterion Collection DVD of the movie does it full justice. It includes a seemingly irrelevant but nonetheless enjoyable critique of Sturges' work from Monty Python alumnus Terry Jones. And an interview with Sturges' widow Sandy, as well as copies of voluminous memoes to Sturges from uncredited producer Darryl Zanuck, demonstrate why the movie was initially a colossal box-office failure. Zanuck hounded Sturges to the point that the gifted creator of (to name but two) The Palm Beach Story and The Miracle of Morgan's Creek began doubting himself as a writer, resulting in the final humiliation of Zanuck cutting the film on his own. Then a timely scandal involving Rex Harrison forever killed the box-office chances of a black comedy starring Harrison as an ostensible woman-murderer.

Happily, Unfaithfully Yours, like Chaplin's similarly dark Monsieur Verdoux, survived its prudish times and has become renowned as a great movie. Alfred's take on Delius might be delirious (as professed by one of his fans, played by the great Sturges alumnus Edgar Kennedy)...but Sturges himself remains stupendous.