MJB784 It's about a conductor who plans in his mind, while performing, to kill his wife in three ways. After the orchestra is finished, he plans those ways out, but he keeps messing up. It's a comedy of different tones, but mostly dark. I usually don't like dark comedies, but that was very creative.

gratwicker This film brings us Rex Harrison already foreshadowing Professor Higgins. He tries out the arrogant, picayune, verbally acute role and is absolutely successful. The seed is planted and we, who know what is to come twenty years hence, rub our hands gleefully in anticipation of Higgins. But Linda Darnell is no Eliza. Instead, she is a loving, docile, trusting wife, already dressed as though she will be meeting the Queen and looking beautiful and so very desirable.The dialog crackles and moves fast. Only Rex Harrison and perhaps Cary Grant could have have delivered with the wit and brio that Sturges deserved.There are two extended slapstick scenes that should have been cut shorter.Edgar Kennedy as a Private Eye has a couple of great scenes when he turns out to be a classical music devotee and is knowledgeably enthusiastic about Harrison's conducting.A digression: Harrison tosses a couple of tickets to the Philharmonic concert, they are orchestra tickets a few rows from the front row. Price $3.80, designated as "Patron"' seats.

Michael Neumann Writer director Preston Sturges made a habit out of kicking the legs out from under some of our most cherished virtues, and he turned his attention to the sanctity of marriage in this late career classic: a dark and malicious (but no less hilarious) comedy easily several decades ahead of its time. The vow 'til death do us part' takes on an entirely new meaning when a world-renowned symphony conductor (Rex Harrison) begins to question the fidelity of his beautiful young wife, and while in concert is inspired to fantasies of revenge, noble sacrifice, and suicidal self-pity by the music of (respectively) Rossini, Wagner, and Tchaikovsky.This is Preston Sturges at his iconoclastic best, sharpening his trademark wit to a keenness matched only by the startling, contrasting darkness of his humor. Notice how the catharsis of Rex Harrison's murderous daydreams lends an emotional brilliance to his interpretation of each musical score, and note too the malicious glee he takes in slashing his wife's pretty neck with a straight razor, and later watching his bête noir consigned to the electric chair.Harrison's dapper English urbanity was perfectly suited to Sturges' unique, demented brand of verbal hysteria; one need only imagine Dudley Moore in the same role in the inevitable 1984 remake to appreciate the sophistication of the original. Sturges was not unaccustomed to getting away with murder in his comedies, but it's hard to believe a film of such daring poor taste could ever have been made under the moral straightjacket of mid-1940s Hollywood. Like all of the director's best efforts it hasn't aged a day since, and if anything is even funnier (and more chilling) when seen today.

krorie Preston Sturges was not only ahead of his time in 1948, he's ahead of his time in 2006. Many movie critics haven't caught up with his brilliant if somewhat warped mind yet. The remake of "Unfaithfully Yours," though not bad doesn't come close to the satire and farce of the original. Why Sturges even uses slapstick to spoof slapstick. Who else could take such a stuffed shirt item as classical music and the blatant arrogance associated with it and poke fun at it while at the same time giving the audience the treat of enjoying some heavenly classical selections that fit perfectly with the plot? Part of the fun in "Unfaithfully Yours" is to watch the ego of the pompous classical conductor Sir Alfred De Carter (note the moniker) being punctured and slowly deflating until all he has left are the murderous fantasies of an intensely possessive human being. Sturges' genius is to make us laugh at all this. Only Chaplin in his masterpiece "Monsieur Verdoux" can make the audience laugh at murder the way Sturges does in "Unfaithfully Yours."Not to take away from the excellent performances of the two leads, Rex Harrison and Linda Darnell, but the marvelous character actor Edgar Kennedy nearly steals the show playing the private detective Sweeney who just happens to be a lover of classical music and worships Sir Alfred who could handle Handel like nobody could handle Handel. Rudy Vallee too shines under Sturges' guiding hand the way he shone in "Palm Beach Story." Vallee was such a versatile entertainer that he could play just about any part but he was always at his best when Sturges was in the driver's seat.This is a film that the viewer has to watch several times to get the feel of what Preston Sturges is all about. Though Sturges left a gallant legacy of wonderful off the wall humorous works such as "The Great McGinty," "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek," and "Sullivan's Travels," this movie "Unfaithfully Yours" may very well be the best creation of them all.