Unfaithfully Yours

A comedy set in New York. Sir Alfred de Carter is a conductor. English, famous, and sure of himself. His wife Daphne is much younger. The two appear happy. He comes back from a trip. His brother-in-law tells him something. He hired a detective. He had his wife watched while Sir Alfred was away. Sir Alfred is furious. He tears up the report. Then he wonders. He looks at it. There is a fact in it. Daphne spent a night in the same room as Sir Alfred's secretary. From there the film goes to a concert. Sir Alfred takes the podium. He will conduct three pieces. During the first he imagines something. He makes a plan: he will kill his wife and put the blame on the secretary. The narrative shows that fantasy in full. Scene by scene, detailed and cold. Then the music ends and we return. The second piece begins. This time he imagines something else. He is generous; he forgives his wife, writes a cheque, and sets them free. In the third piece there is a third fantasy. A game of Russian roulette. Each fantasy is built to the character of the music. The concert ends. Sir Alfred goes home. From there the film is a story of execution. He tries to carry out the first plan. Nothing works. A recording machine, a razor, a piece of furniture and a door; all of it against him. The section runs fifteen minutes and is almost without speech. What the narrative is interested in is not jealousy but distance: its idea is that everything works perfectly in the man's head and nothing works in the world. An explanation comes at the end and the matter was a misunderstanding. The film did not work when it opened. Preston Sturges's career went into decline in this period. Its standing rose later. Rex Harrison plays the part both verbally and physically. Preston Sturges wrote and directed. Rex Harrison, Linda Darnell, Rudy Vallee and Barbara Lawrence are in the cast. Who it is for: anyone who likes black humour and classic American comedy. Who it is not for: anyone expecting lightness; the first fantasy is genuinely dark and the tone shifts sharply.