THAT LADY IN ERMINE

US, 1948, 89 minutes, Colour.
Betty Grable, Douglas Fairbanks Jnr, Cesar Romero, Walter Abel, Reginald Gardner, Harry Davenport.
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch and completed by Otto Preminger.

That Lady in Ermine is based on an operetta by Rudolph Schanzer. It has all the ingredients of an Austro-Hungarian? story and operetta.

Betty Grable has the opportunity to portray two characters: Angelina, the countess of an Italian state in the 1860s who finds the state invaded by the Hungarians. She is helped by the woman in the portrait, her ancestor of three hundred years earlier, Francesca – again Betty Grable. The leader of the invading army is played by Douglas Fairbanks Jr – and, of course, in operetta fashion, the countess falls in love with the invader.

The film is a light musical, with some recitative. It was directed with the light touch by Ernst Lubitsch, the director of many a light comedy in Germany and then in the United States. However, with his final illness and death, the film was completed by Otto Preminger.

1. The success of the film as a musical comedy? Betty Grable vehicle?

2. The film had two directors, was this evident? Ernst Lubitsch was noted for his light and ironic touch, Otto Preminger is noted for his heavy touch. Was the film spoilt because of the change of directors?

3. The appeal of romantic films, costume dramas, fantasies? How well did the film fulfil expectations in these regards?

4. How enjoyable was the basic situation in terms of realism, fantasy, musical comedy? The light touch on European politics?

5. What did the songs contribute to the film? The title song, the romantic songs, the song about the Hungarian? The people who sang them, Betty Grable, the ancestors?

6. How successful was the presentation of the plot parallel? The expectations of death, changing to love?

7. The humorous portrayal of the ancestors in the portraits,
coming down, their influence on Angelina?

8. How attractive a character was Angelina? Was the character developed? Francesca coming down from the portrait? Her influencing Angelina? The fluid moving from one character to the other?

9. The character of Mario and his cowardice? Returning as a
gypsy? Romantic complications for this kind of light plot?

10. The Colonel and the Duke as hero/villains? The expectations of the Colonel and his arrival, his romantic dash and derring-do? The comparison with the Duke of the past? The dreams? Instead of his being killed, remaining alive?

11. The transition from death in the past to love in the present? How well did the film treat the light themes of love and war?