"Cluny Brown" Review

 

by Daniel White

Ernst Lubitsch's penultimate film (the last one that was truly his own), Cluny Brown (1946), is a seamless, near-perfect concoction that adroitly lampoons the British class system. It's a Cinderella story set in England about a young lass (Jennifer Jones) named Cluny Brown who is happiest unclogging drains and fixing leaks. Never has plumbing been so sexy.

I am not the world's biggest Jennifer Jones fan. Her slushy, licorice-tinged voice coupled with mannered style can be off-putting, not to mention irritating. But when handled properly as she is here, those same liabilities turn out to be charming assets.

She gets the perfect co-star in the bemused Charles Boyer. He plays Adam Belinski, a Czech writer and anti-Nazi who finds himself homeless and broke, dependent upon London's elite for survival. Invited by a fawning, young idealist (Peter Lawford) to stay with his parents at their estate, the smitten Bielinski is delighted to discover Cluny working there. The two met briefly in London when Cluny had been hired to fix a stopped up sink at a home where he was hoping to find shelter. Forced to take a position as a maid by her concerned uncle (a lady plumber is susceptible to all sorts of improprieties), the free-spirited Cluny attempts to make the best out of her new found, stifling circumstances.

Lubitsch is a superb technician, a master at setting up the situation, then skillfully maneuvering his players through their careful yet airy paces. Everything is orchestrated and fine-tuned but appears spontaneous. Nothing is left to chance, yet everything feels impetuous. The film is ultimately about two non-conformists struggling to exist in a conventional world.

It's both frustrating and humorous to watch Cluny struggle and fail amidst the staid English. We, the audience, become as impatient as her besotted Romeo, waiting for our mixed-up heroine to come to her nonsensical senses. She is an orchid in a flower bed of geraniums but unable to realize her own value.

Our two romantic leads have been surrounded by one of the most talented and capable cast of supporting actors ever assembled in a comedy. Helen Walker, both Reginald's, Gardiner and Owen, Richard Haydn, and Sara Allgood all play their parts to parfait perfection. As do Una O'Connor, Margaret Bannerman, Ernest Cosssrt, C. Aubrey Smith, and Billy Bevan. Nary a misstep amongst them

The screenplay, by Samuel Hoffenstein and Elizabeth Reinhardt, is a delightful display of comic lunacy. It's based on the novel by Margery Sharp. Released by Twentieth Century Fox, Cluny Brown is available on YouTube.