A Breath of Scandal

Sophia Loren--in a succession of lavish gowns, her hair tinted a honey-brown--looks every inch the princess in this surface-pretty remake of 1929's "His Glorious Night", adapted from Molnar's play "Olimpia". An American businessman from Pittsburg travels overseas and falls in love with mercurial royalty from Ruritania; she has breached protocol by even being seen with this "peasant", so in order to keep him quiet she agrees to spend a weekend with him in the country. Wily Maurice Chevalier, as Sophia's father, gets to sing a little and make eyes at the ladies, and his polished comic timing is a welcome relief to the empty, useless bantering of the young lovers. As Loren's gallant guy, stiff John Gavin talks as if he's being dubbed by a ventriloquist (he has no music in his voice). Sophia doesn't have the witty lines of the older players (nor that of Angela Lansbury as a competitive Countess), though she gives more to this puff-piece than most actresses would have. A few funny lines do lighten the load, yet it's largely forgettable. ** from ****