Robert Sherwood's fluffy stage comedy starred Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne and was far more adult than this adaptation, which had to rinse out a few of the innuendoes to avoid the censor's shears. Barrymore and Wynyard had once been lovers when Barrymore held the title of archduke. All
that is over now, and he's been reduced to driving a taxi in Vienna, although Wynyard still often thinks about her one-time amour. She is now married to Morgan, a psychiatrist, and he realizes that Wynyard retains a fixation on Barrymore, so he decides to allow things to occur naturally. Barrymore
goes to a party and Wynyard is there. They spend the night together but we're never sure if anything transpired. In the play there was no doubt that the couple made love, but in the film Barrymore takes the tack that since Morgan put them both in such a position, there was no way he would sully
her honor (and his) by taking advantage of the situation.
Barrymore overplays, but he's fun to watch. Travers and Ciannelli repeat the roles they played in the stage version. Good sets include the Morgan home, a modernistic type of place totally out of keeping with what we think of as Vienna, and the hotel where the party occurs, a once-proud hostelry
that has fallen upon bad times. The play was dated when it ran on the stage, and the movie is even more so. Barrymore tries a bit too hard to be funny and whenever that happens it's forced and frantic where it should be light and bubbly. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best
Cinematography. leave a comment