(this blog was begun Saturday night, October 5 2019)
Sorry I missed ya last night. I didn't have a movie because Grim came over. He wanted to play me a cd by a new favorite band of his called Starcrawler; young kids from L.A. all around 21 years old with a female singer who has a decadent rock star persona reminiscent of the 70s. I thought they sounded okay but weren't really my thing.
Tonight I did watch a movie, and it was a good one : "Cluny Brown" (1946), directed by the great Ernst Lubitsch and starring Jennifer Jones, my favorite actress, as a young English woman who lives with her Uncle, a plumber. Only Lubitsch, the king of velvety-smooth light comedy, could start a movie with a stopped up sink.
A wealthy society man (Reginald Gardiner) is preparing to host a party for 50 guests, but his kitchen sink won't drain and he can't have that. So he calls for a plumber, and after a while Charles Boyer appears at his door. Now, if you know Charles Boyer (pronounced Boy-yay), you know he is not going to be playing a plumber in any movie, haha, and in this case he is a writer from Czechoslovakia, in England as a refugee hiding from Hitler. If you looked up "suave" in the dictionary, and then looked up "gentleman" right after that, you would see Charles Boyer's picture next to both words. He was one of the coolest guys ever to appear in movies, and here we see that he can excel in comedy too.
When he arrives at Reginald Gardiner's door, Gardiner assumes he is the plumber, but of course he is not. He actually seems to be crashing the party as an early arrival, but then we are distracted from this by another knock. It is young Miss Jones, lovely as always, but daffy too this time. She tells Gardiner that she is the niece of the plumber he was expecting. Her Uncle has been delayed and she is substituting for him. Here the comic premise kicks in, because we are in 1940s England, and it is unheard of (said in a proper Brrritish accent) that a woman should engage in such filthy, manly work. A woman plumber? Egads! But Mr. Gardiner does need his sink fixed pronto, as his guests are due to arrive at any moment, so he allows Cluny to chance the repair. She is already halfway to the kitchen anyway. Cluny is an exuberant young woman who operates without a filter. At first glance she seems like what was once called a Holy Fool, meaning a blessed idiot, or a savant. But she's really much more intelligent than that, in fact she is wise. It's just that she verbalises every thought that comes to mind, and because of this trait she seems to be an airhead.
She's good with a wrench, however, and she fixes Reginald Gardiner's sink, but in doing so, she offends the Upper Crust-y standards of the staid dinner guests. Word of her importune behavior gets back to her Uncle - who did not know she was standing in for him - and to avoid further embarassment he sends Cluny off to the countryside to be employed as a maid, at a resort/mansion run by a wealthy upper class couple.
From there, the plot will begin. Upon her arrival at the estate, Cluny is instructed in the proper etiquette of a servant, which she has a hard time following. She isn't rebellious in the least, just free sprited and has difficulty restraining herself. When she mutters a dinner suggestion to the Lord of the manor, his wife and the other servants are horrified. Worse still when she drops a silver tray of lambchops on the floor. They ultimately forgive her mistakes, though, because she is lovable and also emotionally fragile, and above all is eager to please.
Her Uncle's desire has been to see her get married, so that she will not become a spinster who is forever in his care. Cluny knows this, and seeks to meet a nice man who might be suitable. Wouldn't you know it, but right then who should arrive at the manor but Charles Boyer? How Ernst Lubitsch is that? :)
Boyer seems to know everyone, no matter where he travels, and the younger set among these well-heeled types are aware of who he is. Peter Lawford, the Lord's handsome son, is in fact a fan of Boyer's and has read all his books, which are anti-fascist in nature. There is a political thread running beneath the surface of the script, but Lubitsch never dwells on it. Instead, he concentrates on romance. Boyer becomes everyone's matchmaker. Though he finds the young Lady Cream (yes, that's her name) very attractive, he knows that Lawford has eyes for her, and so he steps aside to promote their relationship, even though at first they cannot stand one another.
Really though, it is Cluny whom he takes under his wing. They both find their second meeting to be a product of fate, and Boyer has been taken by Cluny's goofy charm ever since the first dinner party at the beginning of the movie. He is secretly in love with her, but he backs away like a gentleman once again when she tells him that she has found a nice man in the village who is ready to propose marriage. Boyer is crushed but will never show it, for he is far too distinguished. But when he sees what an absolute dweeb the man is - a stuffed-shirt pharmacist whose life is run by his mother - he takes it upon himself to secretly sabotage the relationship. Sometimes Cluny doesn't really know what's best for her, and in this case, marriage to the uptight pharmacist would be a disaster.
How will things work out? Will Peter Lawford and Lady Cream ever stop fighting and declare their mutual love? Will Cluny come to her senses and drop the pharmacy goon before it's too late?
Charles Boyer to the rescue in both cases! Let's all say Hooray for Boy-yay! :)
This is his film as much as it is Jennifer Jones', and their contrasting styles work together to ensure once again the perfection of The Lubitsch Touch that we have become accustomed to seeing in all of his films. It is a liquid quality in every facet of the filmmaking, from the seamlessness of photography and editing, to the actors' movements onscreen, to the recitation of every line of dialogue. There is no mistaking an Ernst Lubitsch movie; he is right up there with Preston Sturges as one of the kings of sophisticated comedy.
I give "Cluny Brown" Two Huge Thumbs Up. The restoration by Criterion is spectacular, as if you were watching it brand new in the theater. Jennifer Jones sparkles in the title role. If you love her as much as I do, you will not want to miss her here as a sweet young lass who just happens to be handy with a wrench. And in the bargain you get Charles Boyer, leading the way. //////
Well, that's all for now. It is of course now Sunday afternoon. We had good singing in church, and now I am gonna head out for a quick CSUN walk before returning to Pearl's to make supper and watch the Dodgers beat Washington. They've got Ryu on the mound, so it should be a shoo-in...right?
Wait, don't answer that.
I'll see you tonight at the Usual Time and we'll find out then. :):)
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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