The Lady in Question (1940) - film review

André Morestan, the affable owner of a Parisian bicycle shop, is delighted when he is called for jury service.  An attractive young woman, Natalie Roguin, is on trial for the murder of her boyfriend, and Morestan has no doubt over her innocence.  When Nathalie is acquitted, Morestan offers her a place in his home and a job in his shop, which she accepts gratefully.   Morestan’s son Pierre is drawn to the mysterious woman and is resolved to marry her – at any price...

Whilst it has some charm, The Lady in Question is one of those frustratingly mercurial films that can’t quite make up its mind whether it wants to be a burlesque comedy or a straight melodrama.  It looks suspiciously as if the film started out as a melodrama but, after two or three early drafts of the screenplay, someone (more preoccupied with popularity than artistic integrity) issued the "let’s make it funny" edict – hence the rather cumbersome and pretty pointless injections of knockabout comedy.

This is a remake of the 1937 French film Gribouille, which was directed by Marc Allégret and starred Raimu and Michèle Morgan.  Writers Marcel Achard and Lewis Meltzer worked on the screenplay for both films, which explains the close similarity in the plot.  It is telling that the ambiguity and darker aspects of the earlier film are all but lost in its Hollywood remake, which replaces the harsh ending of Gribouille with an unsatisfying and painfully contrived "Happy ever after" coda.  

The main appeal of The Lady in Question are the contributions of its high calibre cast.  Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford appear together, in one of the half a dozen films where they would form a memorable screen duo, although here they are outclassed and outshone by Brian Aherne, who puts in an enjoyably ebullient performance, breathing life into some stillborn comedy.

© filmsdefrance.com 2008

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