THE CONSTANT HUSBAND
UK, 1955, 88 minutes, Colour.
Rex Harrison, Margaret Leighton, Kay Kendall, Cecil Parker, Nicole Maurey, George Cole, Raymond Huntly, Michael Hordern, Robert Coote.
Directed by Sidney Gilliat.
The Constant Husband is a light-touch comedy with serious overtones. It was written and directed by Sidney Gilliat who had been writing films since the late 1920s and had a partnership with Frank Launder. They made a number of very striking films from the UK over the decades. Gilliat himself directed a number including State Secret, Green for Danger, The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan.
Rex Harrison does his usual style as a man who gradually wakes up in Wales unable to remember anything about himself. Cecil Parker portrays the psychiatrist who helps him to remember. However, he would prefer not to remember as the personality who is revealed is very much a cad, a conman, charming with women and having many wives, hence the title of the film.
The supporting cast includes a lot of regulars from English comedies at the time including George Cole, Michael Hordern and Robert Coote.
Rex Harrison is at his best in this kind of role, very mannered, but very much Rex Harrison. Margaret Leighton, on the other hand, was much more an actress for serious films. Kay Kendall is one of the supporting cast and was to appear with Harrison in The Reluctant Debutante, and to marry him.
1. How enjoyable was this comedy? The tone and theme of the title? What were the best aspects of the comedy? The human observation? The English style?
2. How much did the success of the film depend on Rex Harrison and his style? How adequate and successful was he?
3. The commonness of the amnesia theme? How well was it used in this film? With what originality? The theme of a person seeking his identity? Starting from nothing and building up an identity? The shock of discovery of the real person? Comment on the styles of the discovery of identity? Of the puzzle of identity?
4. Introduction to Charles, his waking up, his searching for the truth? the comic aspects? the puzzling aspects? His relationship with the Doctor? His continued discovery? His relationship with his photographer wife? The contrast with the Italians? The effect of all of this on him?
5. The different homes that he had set up? The different places that his personality sought? comment especially on the Italian situations.
6. The humour of the court case? Why was this interesting, enjoyable?
7. The importance of having counsel and defence? Why did she become infatuated with Charles? What did this illustrate about him and his magnetic personality? Was he loveable?
8. How appropriate was the ending? An easy way out of this light froth of a comedy? A point being made?
9. How enjoyably did the film illustrate the themes about men and women, the relationship between them, the irresistible response to a man such as Charles? How telling a satire on men and women?
