{"id":9679,"date":"2009-09-22T15:22:21","date_gmt":"2009-09-22T22:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=9679"},"modified":"2020-12-14T20:26:27","modified_gmt":"2020-12-15T03:26:27","slug":"private-affairs-of-bel-ami-the-1947","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=9679","title":{"rendered":"Private Affairs of Bel Ami, The (1947)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;I do not think it is easy to be a successful scoundrel.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/Private-Affairs-of-Bel-Ami-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/Private-Affairs-of-Bel-Ami-Poster-152x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"152\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-22856\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/Private-Affairs-of-Bel-Ami-Poster-152x300.jpg 152w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/Private-Affairs-of-Bel-Ami-Poster.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 152px) 100vw, 152px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA caddish social climber (George Sanders) in 19th century England woos a series of women, then discards them &#8212; all while remaining in love with a penniless widow (Angela Lansbury).\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>Angela Lansbury Films<\/li>\n<li>Ann Dvorak Films<\/li>\n<li>Frances Dee Films<\/li>\n<li>George Sanders Films<\/li>\n<li>Historical Drama<\/li>\n<li>John Carradine Films<\/li>\n<li>Warren William Films<\/li>\n<li>Womanizers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nGeorge Sanders starred in all three of director Albert Lewin&#8217;s literary adaptations: W. Somerset Maugham&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=41153\"><em>The Moon and Sixpence<\/em> (1942)<\/a>, Oscar Wilde&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=34478\"><em>The Picture of Dorian Gray<\/em> (1945)<\/a>, and this film (based on Guy de Maupassant&#8217;s novel <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bel-Ami\"><em>Bel Ami<\/em><\/a>). With his droll delivery and arrogant demeanor, Sanders at first seems perfectly cast in the title role as corrupt journalist George Duroy, whose monetary and social aspirations lead him to cruelly manipulate the countless women who fall for his charms. Yet we never fully understand why Sanders&#8217; &#8220;Bel Ami&#8221; is so appealing to females: he&#8217;s handsome, but not irresistibly so, and is ultimately too icily self-contained to convince us of his persuasive powers as a lover. With that said, the women he woos &#8212; particularly Angela Lansbury as his one true love, and Ann Dvorak as the wealthy wife of his consumptive best friend (John Carradine) &#8212; give fine, empathetic performances, allowing us to vicariously experience the suffering he inflicts. The film is beautifully shot, with striking cinematography by Russell Metty and creative period detail.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Angela Lansbury as Clotilde<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/private-affairs-lansbury.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/private-affairs-lansbury.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9683\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Ann Dvorak as Madeleine<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/private-affairs-dvorak.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/private-affairs-dvorak.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9684\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Atmospheric cinematography by Russell Metty<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/private-affairs-cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/private-affairs-cinematography.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9686\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Creative set designs<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/private-affairs-art-design.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/private-affairs-art-design.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9687\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, but it&#8217;s worth viewing once. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0039735\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1947\/06\/16\/archives\/the-screen-in-review-the-private-affairs-of-bel-ami-based-on-the-de.html\">NY Times Original Review (spoiler alert)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/the-private-affairs-of-bel-ami\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I do not think it is easy to be a successful scoundrel.&#8221; Synopsis: A caddish social climber (George Sanders) in 19th century England woos a series of women, then discards them &#8212; all while remaining in love with a penniless widow (Angela Lansbury). Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Angela Lansbury Films Ann Dvorak Films Frances Dee Films George Sanders Films Historical Drama John Carradine Films Warren William Films Womanizers Review: George Sanders starred in all three of director Albert Lewin&#8217;s&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=9679\"> 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-9679","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\/9679","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=9679"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57919,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9679\/revisions\/57919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}