Film Review
Given that the main virtue of Oscar Wilde's plays is the author's
unrivalled penchant for
le bon mot it seems unlikely that any film adaptation
made in the silent era could ever do justice to his work. Ernst
Lubitsch was probably the only filmmaker working in Hollywood in the
1920s who was capable of pulling off this perilous stunt, as his
inspired adaptation of Wilde's social comedy
Lady Windermere's Fan amply
demonstrates. So confident is he in his own abilities that
Lubitsch doesn't even quote Wilde in the film's inter-titles (of which
there are surprisingly very few). The Irish playwright's words
may be missing but Lubitsch still manages to capture the essence of his
play, and even gives it a deeper meaning by imbuing the characters with
a greater sense of reality. In his play, Wilde invites us to
laugh as his wickedly caricatured characters; in his film, Lubitsch
compels us to sympathise with his more sensitively drawn characters.
Early in Lubitsch's Hollywood career,
Lady
Windermere's Fan was the fourth of five films that the director
made for Warner Brothers, and one of the most successful. Taking
top billing was a young British actor who would become one of the most
sought-after actors in Hollywood with the advent of sound, Ronald
Colman. Robbed of his greatest asset - his distinctive,
cultivated voice - Colman still has a charismatic presence and is
perfectly suited for the role of the sympathetic cad, Lord
Darlington. May McAvoy and Bert Lytell are equally impressive as
the Windermeres, but the accolade for the best performance has to go to
Irene Rich. The latter's portrayal of Mrs Erlynne has a subtle
poignancy about it - in contrast to the scheming social climber of
Wilde's play, she is a more fragile and complex character, a victim of an
unforgiving system that has ruined her life. Meanwhile, Carrie
Daumery provides plenty of amusement value as the prim and vain Duchess
of Berwick.
Whereas Wilde uses verbal wit to mock the double standards and affected
behaviour of the upper classes, Lubitsch achieves the same end through
ingenious visual comedy. In the film's one great set-piece, the
impeccably turned out socialites are far more interested in examining
each other than the horses on the racetrack. Whilst the film
retains the structure of the play, Lubitsch makes some minor
alterations, for example revealing Mrs Erlynne's relationship to Lady
Windermere earlier in the story to introduce an element of suspense and
make the motives clearer. Lubitsch gives his characters more in
the way of psychological depth, making them more ambiguous, less
stereotypical than in Wilde's play. Lubitsch's
Lady Windermere's Fan is as cruel
and perceptive a satire as the original, but it has more warmth and
humanity to it, and, even though it contains not a jot of Wilde's
scalpel-edged dialogue, it remains one of cinema's best adaptations of an
Oscar Wilde play.
© James Travers 2014
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Next Ernst Lubitsch film:
The Merry Widow (1934)
Film Synopsis
Unaware that his wife is being courted behind his back by the eligible
bachelor Lord Darlington, Lord Windermere is disturbed when he receives
a letter from a woman, Mrs Erlynne, he has never met before, offering
him information of some importance. A social pariah after an
earlier indiscretion, Mrs Erlynne has recently returned to London with
insufficient means to re-enter society. She reveals to Lord
Windermere that she is his wife's mother, the mother who was thought to
have died some years ago. To avoid causing his wife distress,
Lord Windermere agrees to give money to Mrs Erlynne if she will
continue to keep her secret. When Lady Windermere discovers that
her husband has been writing cheques to Mrs Erlynne she draws the
obvious conclusion that he has taken a mistress. Without
delay, she heads for Lord Darlington's apartment, heedless of the
scandal that she is bound to bring upon herself...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.