(1948) "Wave a little wand a little and out comes the music," says Sir Alfred De Carter (Rex Harrison), self-deprecatingly of his conducting symphonic music; but later his determined disposition gets the better of him in director/producer Preston Sturges's clever but inconsistent comedy of musical murder, based on his own 1933 short story, "Symphony Story."

Returning to New York City from a visit to England, Sir Alfred angrily ignores a private-eye operator's report about his beautiful young wife, Lady Daphne (Linda Darnell), handed to him by his brother-in-law, August Henschler (Rudy Vallee), a multimillionaire American whom he despises. Distrustful and boorish, August, married to Daphne's sister Barbara (Barbara Lawrence), dislikes classical music and British titles (the only titles for an American are to property and best kept in a vault); but on his own he hired hawkshaw Ed Sweeney (Edgar Kennedy) to keep an eye on Daphne while the great man of music was away.

After ripping the report into pieces without caring to read it, Sir Alfred tosses the scraps into a waste basket before kicking it out the door. The hotel dick returns the report repaired, to which Sir Alfred alights the document, subsequently setting his dressing room aflame.

Hearing Sweeney's praises of the maestro's handling of Handel and delivery of Delius, Sir Alfred inside the detective agency condescendingly calls the gumshoe musically flatfooted, only to learn that Daphne may be - better to give her the benefit of the doubt, recommends Sweeney - guilty of infidelity. His sharp, surly manner toward Daphne the untrue has her hurt and confused by his temperamental transformation. Rapid, rich dialogue, contrasting American and British accents and idioms, complements Alfred Newman's score.

During the evening's concert while conducting, Sir Alfred first fantasizes revenge against his rival, devising a devious scheme to frame his wife's Romeo, as he exuberantly inspires the orchestra into a stupendous performance of Rossini's Overture to Semiramide. "What did you have in your head?" asks his manager Hugo Standoff (Lionel Stander), amazed at how Sir Alfred has produced such majestic sounds from "cat scratchers."

For the second piece, Richard Wagner's somber "Pilgrim's Chorus" from Tannhäuser, Sir Alfred's mental mood turns reflective, magnanimous, forgiving toward the mysteries of the human heart - "The one who knows the most carries the responsibility" - accepting a large portion of the blame: he imagines writing Daphne a check for $100,000 and sending her on her way with her lover. Again the audience, wet-eyed, applauds enthusiastically.

In the final musical selection, Tchaikovsky's dramatic Francesca da Rimini, Sir Alfred envisions himself in the apartment with Daphne and her amoretto - "seducer of my wife and destroyer of my home" - where he accuses them of their indiscretion and challenges the man to a round of Russian roulette.

Following the hugely successful execution of musical expression, Sir Alfred returns alone to his apartment to put his plan into action. Here the movie turns all cornball slapstick as the suave, debonair Sir Alfred suddenly becomes a clumsy, oafish clown. When Daphne arrives later, to Sir Alfred's suggestion she go out dancing with his young, handsome private secretary, Tony Windborn (Kurt Kreuger), she replies: "I feel as much like dancing as cutting my throat."

Everyone in the orchestra, except for a harpist (who during rehearsal sits filing her fingernails), is male. According to some accounts, the character of Sir Alfred was loosely based on the personage of British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, who was also the inventor of Beecham's pills; Sir Alfred's surname is then a play on Carter's pills.

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Copyright © 2008 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
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