Unfaithfully Yours (1948)

Bear with me.

This is a really borderline genre film, a point which I believe is still worthwhile noting.

There is nothing truly fantastic here, but there is quite a bit of crossover with stories lines and themes from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), Ensayo de un crimen/La vida criminal de Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955), or even The Daydreamer (1966) and Divorce, Italian Style (1961) Divorzio all'italiana with touches of Fantasia (1940.)

Preston Sturges is no Buñuel (even if we do get a single ‘surrealistic’ spinning whirlpool image, we also see the fantasy sequences by travelling into the character’s head via his left eye’s pupil,) but there should always be room here for the story of a man who daydreams about committing (a perfectly realized) murder, and then proceeds to (ineptly) attempt it, only to give up at the end.

The visualization of the murder is suitably disturbing and the details gruesome, if bloodless, as suits an admittedly black comedy of the time.

If you really wanted to alienate general audiences nowadays you could easily pile on the grue and bodily juices, and take it to a totally different (and still valid) direction.

Rex Harrison is excellent as an intense, temperamental conductor, but not as successful in the pratfall portion, which goes to show that very particular talents are required for physical comedy.

As a result the slapstick routines seem a tad repetitive and go on for just a bit too long. I can picture slapstick by Buster Keaton doing wonders with the role (with other direction by Buñuel!)

The movie works as an exploration of the dark side of the artistic temperament, not quite the tragedy of Othello, but certainly something that would appeal to our inner John Waters: How long before this guy snaps and actually kills someone?..

The basic point of the movie is that artists feel more intensely (than us regular shlubs) and project those feelings to us thru their artistic work.

The movie does that well in the theater scenes, but it also provokes feelings of resentment of artists by the added implications, (our figures of identification are either the adoring fans of this a-hole or the unpoetical, unromantic, tight-wadded, philistine cuckold,) which may explain the public’s rejection of the movie at the time of its release.

The movie is a Tarantino favorite and was remade with Dudley Moore.