That Lady in Ermine
Encyclopedia
That Lady in Ermine is a 1948
American
musical film
directed by Ernst Lubitsch
. The screenplay by Samson Raphaelson
is based on the operetta
Die Frau im Hermelin by Rudolph Schanzer and Ernst Welisch.
Although Lubitsch received sole credit as director, he died after only eight days of filming, and the project was completed by Otto Preminger
.
hussar
s led by Colonel Teglash on their wedding night, Mario flees.
At midnight, the paintings in the ancestral gallery come to life, and their subjects ask Francesca, Anｇelina's great-great-great-great-grandmother, to save the castle just as she did in the 16th century. Through a spyglass, Francesca observes Teglash leading the advancing army and finds herself attracted to him. When he sees her portrait, Teglash is puzzled by the fact she is wearning an ermine
coat but no shoes.
Angelina greets Teglash, who flirts with her when he learns her bridegroom has escaped, but she makes it clear she respects her marriage vows and is concerned about her husband's safety. Angelina's servant Luigi, seeing how smitten the colonel is with his mistress, tells Teglash how three hundred years earlier, Francesca retained control of the castle when a tyrannical duke attempted to seize it. Via flashback
, we see her, barefoot and in ermine, present herself to the duke and accompany him into his tent. After a period of time, Francesca departs, leaving the duke, with a dagger in his back, lying dead on his bed. Luigi tells the colonel that, according to rumor, she killed the duke because she feared she was falling in love with him.
Disguised as a gypsy, Mario returns to the castle but runs off when soldiers come to investigate. When he is captured, Teglash, unaware of his identity but impressed by his musical ability, decides to spare Mario's life and make him his personal gypsy. When he realizes he is Angelina's husband, he offers to free him if she dines with him that night, but she fails to rendezvous with him.
Francesca visits Teglash while he is asleep, prompting a dream in which Angelina joins him for dinner and demands a kiss. While she embraces him, she removes a knife from a roast pig and throws it at the clock, effectively stopping time. The two acknowledge their love and, as the gallery portraits look on, they fly up and crash through the roof.
The following morning, Teglash awakens to find the knife still in the pig and the clock ticking. Angelina arrives, and Teglash tells her he is freeing her husband and then describes his dream, touching her with his obvious deep feelings for her. When Mario arrives, she assures him she had nothing to do with the colonel.
Time passes, but Teglash still mourns the loss of Angelina. One night, while he is asleep, she arrives and falls asleep in a chair near his bed. Teglash revisits his prior dream, but this time the knife falls from the clock and Angelina stabs him with it. He awakens with a start and finds Angelina, who tells him Mario has left her and proposes they wed. That night at midnight, the portraits come to life once again to celebrate their union with song and dance.
purchased the screen rights to Die Frau im Hermelin, which had served as the basis of the 1922 stage musical
Lady in Ermine by Al Goodman
, Harry Graham
, and Cyrus Wood. The operetta previously had been filmed twice, in 1927 as The Lady in Ermine, starring Corinne Griffith
and Einar Hansen
, and in 1930 as Bride of the Regiment with Vivienne Segal
and Walter Pidgeon
. At the time, the studio announced Irene Dunne
would star in the dual roles of Angelina and Francesca, and a few months later, Charles Boyer
was announced as her co-star, but nothing came of the project.
When Ernst Lubitsch became involved, he initially wanted Jeanette MacDonald
for the female lead, although Fox production chief Darryl F. Zanuck
preferred Gene Tierney
, opposite either Cornel Wilde
or Rex Harrison
. The Production Code Administration
deemed an early draft of the screenplay "unacceptable" because "adultery and suspicion of adultery [were] treated for comedy without any compensating moral values." PCA Director Joseph Breen
suggested Angelina be portrayed as anxious to preserve her marriage and Mario be the one to instigate the dissolution of their union. His recommendations were incorporated into the script, and the final draft of the screenplay was approved. During pre-production, the film's title was Lady in Ermine, which was changed to This is the Moment when principal photography began. By the time the film was released, its title had been changed yet again.
The film was Lubitsch's first musical project since directing The Merry Widow
for MGM in 1934. It proved to be his last film. Eight days after principal photography began, he died of a heart attack
, and Otto Preminger, who had completed A Royal Scandal
when Lubitsch was forced to withdraw due to illness in 1944, took over the reins. He stipulated sole screen credit should go to Lubitsch "as a mark of respect and admiration for the departed master."
Friedrich Hollaender
and Leo Robin
composed the five musical numbers performed in the film.
of the New York Times called the film "a bright and beguiling swatch of nonsense cut straight from the rich, gold-braided cloth of best-grade Graustark
ian romance and done in a nimble, playful style." He added, "Wrapped up in Technicolor
, which complements the trappings and costumes, it is a luxurious something to walk into on a damp and oppressive August day. For Mr. Lubitsch was nothing if not thoroughly indulgent of the tastes of the workaday moviegoers for elegance, amplitude and splash. And he also was nothing if not generous—as far as his writers would be—with the twists and turns and conniptions of an aggressively impudent wit. Fortunately, both of these penchants have been amply supported in this film."
TV Guide
rated it 2½ out of four stars, noting it "is definitely not a Lubitsch film" and adding, "Though the production was lavish, the film has no life and remains an exercise in trite and contrived plotting."
for "This is the Moment" but lost to Jay Livingston
and Ray Evans
for "Buttons and Bows
" from The Paleface.
Samson Raphaelson was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award
for Best Written American Musical.
as part of the two-disc set Hollywood Highlights 1 - Comedy.
1948 in film
The year 1948 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Laurence Olivier's Hamlet becomes the first British film to win the American Academy Award for Best Picture.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :...
American
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
musical film
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch was a German-born film director. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch."In 1947 he received an Honorary Academy Award for his...
. The screenplay by Samson Raphaelson
Samson Raphaelson
Samson Raphaelson was an American screenwriter and playwright.Born in New York City, Raphaelson worked on nine films with Ernst Lubitsch, including Trouble in Paradise , The Shop Around the Corner , Heaven Can Wait , and That Lady in Ermine...
is based on the operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
Die Frau im Hermelin by Rudolph Schanzer and Ernst Welisch.
Although Lubitsch received sole credit as director, he died after only eight days of filming, and the project was completed by Otto Preminger
Otto Preminger
Otto Ludwig Preminger was an Austro–Hungarian-American theatre and film director.After moving from the theatre to Hollywood, he directed over 35 feature films in a five-decade career. He rose to prominence for stylish film noir mysteries such as Laura and Fallen Angel...
.
Plot
In 1861, Countess Angelina, ruler of Bergamo in southeastern Europe, marries Mario, a baron she has known since childhood. When the castle is threatened by HungarianHungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
hussar
Hussar
Hussar refers to a number of types of light cavalry which originated in Hungary in the 14th century, tracing its roots from Serbian medieval cavalry tradition, brought to Hungary in the course of the Serb migrations, which began in the late 14th century....
s led by Colonel Teglash on their wedding night, Mario flees.
At midnight, the paintings in the ancestral gallery come to life, and their subjects ask Francesca, Anｇelina's great-great-great-great-grandmother, to save the castle just as she did in the 16th century. Through a spyglass, Francesca observes Teglash leading the advancing army and finds herself attracted to him. When he sees her portrait, Teglash is puzzled by the fact she is wearning an ermine
Ermine
Ermine has several uses:* A common name for the stoat * The white fur and black tail end of this animal, which is historically worn by and associated with royalty and high officials...
coat but no shoes.
Angelina greets Teglash, who flirts with her when he learns her bridegroom has escaped, but she makes it clear she respects her marriage vows and is concerned about her husband's safety. Angelina's servant Luigi, seeing how smitten the colonel is with his mistress, tells Teglash how three hundred years earlier, Francesca retained control of the castle when a tyrannical duke attempted to seize it. Via flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
, we see her, barefoot and in ermine, present herself to the duke and accompany him into his tent. After a period of time, Francesca departs, leaving the duke, with a dagger in his back, lying dead on his bed. Luigi tells the colonel that, according to rumor, she killed the duke because she feared she was falling in love with him.
Disguised as a gypsy, Mario returns to the castle but runs off when soldiers come to investigate. When he is captured, Teglash, unaware of his identity but impressed by his musical ability, decides to spare Mario's life and make him his personal gypsy. When he realizes he is Angelina's husband, he offers to free him if she dines with him that night, but she fails to rendezvous with him.
Francesca visits Teglash while he is asleep, prompting a dream in which Angelina joins him for dinner and demands a kiss. While she embraces him, she removes a knife from a roast pig and throws it at the clock, effectively stopping time. The two acknowledge their love and, as the gallery portraits look on, they fly up and crash through the roof.
The following morning, Teglash awakens to find the knife still in the pig and the clock ticking. Angelina arrives, and Teglash tells her he is freeing her husband and then describes his dream, touching her with his obvious deep feelings for her. When Mario arrives, she assures him she had nothing to do with the colonel.
Time passes, but Teglash still mourns the loss of Angelina. One night, while he is asleep, she arrives and falls asleep in a chair near his bed. Teglash revisits his prior dream, but this time the knife falls from the clock and Angelina stabs him with it. He awakens with a start and finds Angelina, who tells him Mario has left her and proposes they wed. That night at midnight, the portraits come to life once again to celebrate their union with song and dance.
Production
In 1942, 20th Century Fox20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
purchased the screen rights to Die Frau im Hermelin, which had served as the basis of the 1922 stage musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
Lady in Ermine by Al Goodman
Al Goodman
Al Goodman was a conductor, songwriter, stage composer, musical director, arranger, and pianist....
, Harry Graham
Harry Graham (poet)
Jocelyn Henry Clive 'Harry' Graham was an English writer. He was a successful journalist and later, after distinguished military service, a leading lyricist for operettas and musical comedies, but he is now best remembered as a writer of humorous verse in the tradition of grotesquerie and black...
, and Cyrus Wood. The operetta previously had been filmed twice, in 1927 as The Lady in Ermine, starring Corinne Griffith
Corinne Griffith
Corinne Mae Griffith was an American actress. Dubbed "The Orchid Lady of the Screen", she was one of the most popular film actresses of the 1920s and widely considered the most beautiful actress of the silent screen...
and Einar Hansen
Einar Hansen
Einar Hansen is a Faroese footballer who plays as a defender for NSÍ Runavík. He is also a member of Faroe Islands national football team.-External links:...
, and in 1930 as Bride of the Regiment with Vivienne Segal
Vivienne Segal
Vivienne Sonia Segal was an American actress and singer.Segal was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is best remembered for creating the role of Vera Simpson in Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's Pal Joey and introduced the song "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"...
and Walter Pidgeon
Walter Pidgeon
Walter Davis Pidgeon was a Canadian actor, who starred in many motion pictures, including Mrs...
. At the time, the studio announced Irene Dunne
Irene Dunne
Irene Dunne was an American film actress and singer of the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s. Dunne was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for her performances in Cimarron , Theodora Goes Wild , The Awful Truth , Love Affair and I Remember Mama...
would star in the dual roles of Angelina and Francesca, and a few months later, Charles Boyer
Charles Boyer
Charles Boyer was a French actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found success in movies during the 1930s. His memorable performances were among the era's most highly praised romantic dramas,...
was announced as her co-star, but nothing came of the project.
When Ernst Lubitsch became involved, he initially wanted Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette MacDonald was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy...
for the female lead, although Fox production chief Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl Francis Zanuck was an American producer, writer, actor, director and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors...
preferred Gene Tierney
Gene Tierney
Gene Eliza Tierney was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed as one of the great beauties of her day, she is best remembered for her performance in the title role of Laura and her Academy Award-nominated performance for Best Actress in Leave Her to Heaven .Other notable roles include...
, opposite either Cornel Wilde
Cornel Wilde
Cornel Wilde was an American actor and film director.-Early life:Kornél Lajos Weisz was born in 1912 in Prievidza, Hungary , although his year and place of birth are usually and inaccurately given as 1915 in New York City...
or Rex Harrison
Rex Harrison
Sir Reginald Carey “Rex” Harrison was an English actor of stage and screen. Harrison won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards.-Youth and stage career:...
. The Production Code Administration
Production Code Administration
The Production Code Administration was established by the Motion Picture Association of America in 1934. The PCA required all filmmakers to submit their films for approval before release.-See also:* Pre-Code* Joseph Breen* Will H. Hays...
deemed an early draft of the screenplay "unacceptable" because "adultery and suspicion of adultery [were] treated for comedy without any compensating moral values." PCA Director Joseph Breen
Joseph Breen
Joseph Breen is an American soap opera actor.He played contract parts on both Guiding Light and Loving before being offered his most front-burner role to date: that of Lisa’s long-lost son, Scott Eldridge, on As the World Turns...
suggested Angelina be portrayed as anxious to preserve her marriage and Mario be the one to instigate the dissolution of their union. His recommendations were incorporated into the script, and the final draft of the screenplay was approved. During pre-production, the film's title was Lady in Ermine, which was changed to This is the Moment when principal photography began. By the time the film was released, its title had been changed yet again.
The film was Lubitsch's first musical project since directing The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow (1934 film)
The Merry Widow is a 1934 film adaptation of the operetta of the same name by Franz Lehár. It was directed by Ernst Lubitsch and starred Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald...
for MGM in 1934. It proved to be his last film. Eight days after principal photography began, he died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
, and Otto Preminger, who had completed A Royal Scandal
A Royal Scandal
A Royal Scandal is a 1996 British television docudrama produced and directed by Sheree Folkson. The teleplay by Stanley Price focuses on the ill-fated marriage of George IV and Duchess Caroline of Brunswick. Dialogue from actual historical records reveals how each party tries to humiliate the...
when Lubitsch was forced to withdraw due to illness in 1944, took over the reins. He stipulated sole screen credit should go to Lubitsch "as a mark of respect and admiration for the departed master."
Friedrich Hollaender
Friedrich Hollaender
Friedrich Hollaender was a German film composer.He was born in London, where his father, operetta composer Victor Hollaender, worked at the Barnum & Bailey Circus...
and Leo Robin
Leo Robin
Leo Robin was an American composer, lyricist and songwriter. He is probably best known for collaborating with Ralph Rainger on the 1938 Oscar-winning song "Thanks for the Memory," sung by Bob Hope in the film The Big Broadcast of 1938.-Biography:Robin was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and...
composed the five musical numbers performed in the film.
Cast
- Betty GrableBetty GrableElizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable was an American actress, dancer and singer.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the LIFE magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World"...
..... Francesca/Angelina - Douglas Fairbanks Jr. ..... Colonel Teglash/The Duke
- Cesar RomeroCesar RomeroCesar Julio Romero, Jr. was an American film and television actor who was active in film, radio, and television for almost sixty years...
..... Mario - Harry Davenport ..... Luigi
- Walter AbelWalter AbelWalter Abel was an American stage and film character actor. His eyes were brown and his height was five foot ten inches....
..... Major Horvath/Benvenuto - Reginald GardinerReginald GardinerReginald Gardiner was an English-born actor in film and television and a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in Britain. His parents wanted him to be an architect and he studied at it but he wanted to be an actor and eventually got his way.He started as a super on stage and eventually...
..... Alberto
Critical reception
Bosley CrowtherBosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
of the New York Times called the film "a bright and beguiling swatch of nonsense cut straight from the rich, gold-braided cloth of best-grade Graustark
Graustark
Graustark is a fictional country in Eastern Europe used as a setting for several novels by George Barr McCutcheon. Graustark's neighbors, which also figure into the stories, are Axphain to the north and Dawsbergen to the south....
ian romance and done in a nimble, playful style." He added, "Wrapped up in Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
, which complements the trappings and costumes, it is a luxurious something to walk into on a damp and oppressive August day. For Mr. Lubitsch was nothing if not thoroughly indulgent of the tastes of the workaday moviegoers for elegance, amplitude and splash. And he also was nothing if not generous—as far as his writers would be—with the twists and turns and conniptions of an aggressively impudent wit. Fortunately, both of these penchants have been amply supported in this film."
TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
rated it 2½ out of four stars, noting it "is definitely not a Lubitsch film" and adding, "Though the production was lavish, the film has no life and remains an exercise in trite and contrived plotting."
Awards and nominations
Friedrich Hollaender and Leo Robin were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original SongAcademy Award for Best Original Song
The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film...
for "This is the Moment" but lost to Jay Livingston
Jay Livingston
Jay Livingston was an American composer and singer best known as half of a songwriting duo with Ray Evans that specialized in songs composed for films. Livingston wrote the music and Evans the lyrics....
and Ray Evans
Ray Evans
Raymond Bernard Evans was an American songwriter. He was a partner in a composing and songwriting duo with Jay Livingston, known for the songs they composed for films...
for "Buttons and Bows
Buttons and Bows
"Buttons and Bows" is a popular song. The music was written by Jay Livingston with lyric by Ray Evans. The song was published in 1947. The song appeared in the Bob Hope and Jane Russell film, The Paleface, and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song...
" from The Paleface.
Samson Raphaelson was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award
Writers Guild of America Award
The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949...
for Best Written American Musical.
DVD release
On September 25, 2006, the film was released on DVD with Ernst Lubitsch's 1946 film Cluny BrownCluny Brown
Cluny Brown is a 1946 film made by Twentieth Century-Fox, directed and produced by Ernst Lubitsch. The screenplay was written by Samuel Hoffenstein and Elizabeth Reinhardt, based on a novel by Margery Sharp. The music score is by Cyril J. Mockridge. The film stars Charles Boyer and Jennifer Jones...
as part of the two-disc set Hollywood Highlights 1 - Comedy.