Unfaithfully Yours DVD | Movie Mail UK | DVDs and Blu-ray films direct

Star Review

Preston Sturges has been lionised by cinéastes, plagiarised by screenwriters and scrutinised by students. Yet each time one of his peerless comedies is reissued for theatrical or DVD release, he almost has to be rediscovered by the average viewer because his films have never quite acquired the kudos of those by contemporaries like Ernst Lubitsch or Billy Wilder. Part of the reason for this accidental anonymity lies with the critical and commercial failure of Unfaithfully Yours (1948) - a structurally ambitious black satire that, ironically, many have come to see as his masterpiece.

The story of a composer whose jealousy of his adoring wife manifests itself in the visions he experiences while performing with his orchestra dated back to 1932, when Sturges was still a newcomer to Hollywood. Yet it remained incomplete for another 15 years, during which time rattling screwballs like The Lady Eve, Sullivan's Travels (both 1941) and The Palm Beach Story (1942) had established him as a comic genius with a sharp social conscience.

Perhaps Sturges realised that the average moviegoer wouldn't be able to follow the subtle shifts in perspective that accompanied Rossini's overture to Semiramide, Wagner's reconciliation theme from Tannhauser and Tchaikovsky's opening to Francesca da Rimini.

But the most fatal blow dealt to the film's prospects was the suicide of an actress totally unconnected with the project. However, Carole Landis had been having an affair with Rex Harrison, who had been cast as Sir Alfred De Carter (who was a caricature of Sir Thomas Beecham) after James Mason proved unavailable. Twentieth Century-Fox decided, therefore, that it would be in bad taste to distribute a farce about a potential murder while its married star was embroiled in such a tragic, adulterous scandal.

Consequently, Unfaithfully Yours eventually emerged without the usual fanfare and flopped, causing Sturges to lose his touch and spend his remaining decade unfulfilled in Europe. Now, perhaps, it will finally find the audience it deserves.

David Parkinson on 2nd June 2004

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