{"id":25345,"date":"2012-04-17T09:32:43","date_gmt":"2012-04-17T16:32:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=25345"},"modified":"2020-12-19T13:01:42","modified_gmt":"2020-12-19T20:01:42","slug":"cluny-brown-1946","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=25345","title":{"rendered":"Cluny Brown (1946)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Nobody can tell you where your place is&#8230; Wherever you&#8217;re happy, that&#8217;s your place.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Poster-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-25347\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Poster-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Poster.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nAn itinerant Czech philosopher (Charles Boyer) is invited to stay at a country manor owned by the parents (Reginald Owen and Margaret Bannerman) of one of his admirers (Peter Lawford); meanwhile, a quirky, plumbing-loving housemaid (Jennifer Jones) sent to work in the manor falls in love with a stuffy local pharmacist (Richard Haydn), not realizing Boyer has his eye on her as well.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Charles Boyer Films<\/li>\n<li>Class Relations<\/li>\n<li>Comedy<\/li>\n<li>Ernst Lubitsch Films<\/li>\n<li>Jennifer Jones Films<\/li>\n<li>Peter Lawford Films<\/li>\n<li>Richard Haydn Films<\/li>\n<li>Servants, Maids, and Housekeepers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nWhile conceding that it doesn&#8217;t quite rank among his best work, critics nonetheless seem uniformly charmed by Ernst Lubitsch&#8217;s final completed comedy (he died midway through directing 1948&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4147\"><em>That Lady in Ermine<\/em><\/a>), based on a <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cluny_Brown_%28novel%29\">coming-of-age novel by Margery Sharp<\/a>. I&#8217;m less impressed. Beautiful Jones (whose comedic performance is eerily reminiscent at times of Marilyn Monroe) puts forth her best effort, and comes across as appropriately free-spirited, but she nonetheless seems inappropriately cast as a lower-class maid-servant (and when she talks at a certain point about how make-up doesn&#8217;t do much to help her appearance, one can&#8217;t help snorting a bit). <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Haydn.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Haydn-1024x600.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"375\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-25346\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Haydn-1024x600.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Haydn-128x75.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Haydn-300x175.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Haydn.png 1523w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, it beggars all belief that she would fall head-over-heels in love with an annoying prig like Haydn; what could she possibly be thinking? That she&#8217;s ultimately best suited for Boyer&#8217;s charismatic European refugee is made clear from the start; we thus spend the entire film waiting for them to finally realize this fact themselves. There&#8217;s subtle humor to be had, I suppose, in the running joke about Cluny&#8217;s obsession with plumbing &#8212;  <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Whoever gets me won&#8217;t have to worry about his plumbing.&#8221;<br \/>\n&#8220;You know what plumbing does to me &#8212; I just can&#8217;t keep my hands off it.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&#8212; but this humor ultimately feels somewhat forced and juvenile. Boyer fares well, and I&#8217;m fond of Helen Walker&#8217;s unabashedly privileged performance as the much-lusted-after &#8220;Betty Cream&#8221;, but the rest of the film simply leaves me unmoved. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Charles Boyer as Professor Belinski<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Boyer.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Boyer-1024x566.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"354\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-25348\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Boyer-1024x566.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Boyer-128x70.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Boyer-300x165.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Boyer.png 1593w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Helen Walker as Betty Cream<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Cream.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Cream-1024x568.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"355\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-25349\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Cream-1024x568.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Cream-128x71.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Cream-300x166.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Cluny-Brown-Cream.png 1587w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo; this one is only must-see for Lubitsch completists. Listed as a film with Historical Importance and a Personal Recommendation in the back of Peary&#8217;s book.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0038419\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rinkworks.com\/movies\/m\/cluny.brown.1946.shtml\">At-a-Glance Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/71133\/cluny-brown#articles-reviews?articleId=212786\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Nobody can tell you where your place is&#8230; Wherever you&#8217;re happy, that&#8217;s your place.&#8221; Synopsis: An itinerant Czech philosopher (Charles Boyer) is invited to stay at a country manor owned by the parents (Reginald Owen and Margaret Bannerman) of one of his admirers (Peter Lawford); meanwhile, a quirky, plumbing-loving housemaid (Jennifer Jones) sent to work in the manor falls in love with a stuffy local pharmacist (Richard Haydn), not realizing Boyer has his eye on her as well. Genres, Themes,&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=25345\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25345"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58500,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25345\/revisions\/58500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}