Load of rubbish!!

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

I am frankly shocked that I haven't seen this film, as I thought I'd seen about everything that Ernst Lubitsch directed in the States-- and many of his German films as well. But, oddly, I'd overlooked this one.Before I talk about the film in detail, I have a few comments about the cast. Casting Charles Boyer with Jennifer Jones is really odd and you just don't normally think of them together--but the film managed to handle this odd combination well. Additionally, the film has some excellent supporting character actors--Reginald Owen, Reginald Gardiner, C. Aubry Smith and Richard Haydn. And, while I am not a huge fan of Una O'Connor (she overacts horribly in some films), here she is great...as she says nothing! As far as Jennifer Jones goes, she is usually one of my least favorite actresses. I think it's because her lover (and later, husband), David O. Selznick, really mismanaged her career and placed her in some roles which were terrible for her. In "Duel in the Sun", she played a half-breed she-devil--and played it to the hilt. Coming from a woman who excelled in sweet roles (such as "Cluny Brown", "Song of Bernadette", "Since You Went Away" and "Love Letters"), playing such an unwholesome and sleazy character didn't work at all and came off as silly. Several of her other films were clear misfires due to casting her WAY against type (such as in "Beat the Devil" and "Ruby Gentry" and "Indiscretion of An American Wife"). Here, fortunately, Jones is at her very best--as a very sweet and ditsy sort of character you can't help but like. And, everyone she meets seems to like her in this sweet little comedy.The film begins with a stopped up sink. Reginald Owen and Charles Boyer are about to have a dinner party and are relieved when they think that the plumber has arrived--but it's NOT the plumber but the plumber's niece, Cluny (Jones) who shows. She isn't a plumber at all, but seems to enjoy fixing plumbing as a hobby. And, since her uncle is busy, she thought she'd come and give it a try. She very quickly fixes it, but they have her stay because she is so vivacious and sweet that they don't want her to go. And, after a couple drinks she REALLY opens up and shows a cute side of her that is fun to watch. Obviously, Boyer is taken with her--but can't do much about it, as he's a homeless refugee from the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia.A bit later, a rich idealist (Peter Lawford) meets Boyer and it turns out the Boyer is a famous professor and political refugee. So, wanting to help a guy down on his luck, Lawford invites him to stay at his family estate in the country. When Boyer arrives, he's thrilled to see that Jones has just been hired as a servant there--and spends as much time as he can with her. And, by the way, she's a terrible maid--but she's so nice, they can't stand to fire her.Sadly for Boyer, Jones is inexplicably taken with one of the most boring men in human history (Haydn). And, she somehow likes the idea of possibly becoming this dullard's wife. But what about poor Boyer? He's homeless and is secretly in love with Cluny--and the likelihood he'll ever win over Cluny is remote. And, even if he does, how can he possibly afford to marry? And, Haydn and his weird mother (O'Connor) are bound to choke the life and charm out of poor Cluny as they want her to be more proper and 'adult'--something no sane person would want from her! I could say more but think it's best you just see this charming film for yourself.Utterly charming from start to finish. I do so wish Jones had made more films like this and the lovely Lubitsch touch is more than enough to make this film a treat to watch. MY only quibble, and it's a tiny one, is that the scene in New York following the train ride at the end was NOT necessary. I think having the film end a tiny bit sooner would have been a bit better--just a bit.

That's a funny comedy that takes England as the target of its humor, the England of 1938 and what's more the aristocracy and their twisted class relations with their servants. It is humorous by the way it shows how an Eastern European can easily trap the aristocrats in 1938 with the sound of Prague, some good manners and a little bit of anti-nazism. That Adam Belinski is able to charm these English aristocrats, especially the son who wants to go and fight against Hitler, and his parents who do not even ask a question, or hardly. That Czech refugee is able to live on that noble family for a while before leaving for America along with the maid who arrived the same day as him and he had met in London before. The comedy is funny because that girl, who is not an aristocrat, far from it, does all the mistakes you can imagine English etiquette is going to frown upon severely. She pretends to be a plumber and she repairs some toilet or washstand in a jiffy in front of a middle-class family, their guests and the pharmacist who was getting enamored. The result is the departure of all the guests, after the departure of the pharmacist's mother, and then she is practically rejected. She does not know what class differences are. She will of course be captured by the Czech refugee and taken to America where he is going to become a popular writer and she will finally be away from silly class distinctions. It is funnily absurd and the Lord and his Lady are just passé and old-fashioned, quaint is probably the word if we want to remain nice. Lubitsch takes great pleasure at showing how silly such class-distinctions are. The whole comedy is more humorous than really funny and that humor always remains polite, even at times mundane, though in the light American way.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines, CEGID

"Cluny Brown" had quite an impact on me when I saw part of it as a child. I'm sure my feelings had to do with the luminous beauty of Jennifer Jones and wanting to be just like her when I grew up. Jones has the title role of an imaginative young woman who, being the niece of a plumber, doesn't mind picking up a hammer herself once in a while and having a good whack at the pipes. It gets her into some trouble at the apartment of Hilary Ames (Reginald Sinclair) when she arrives before a party to clear out his sink before his guests arrive. There she meets Adam Belinski, a Czech academician who's on the run from Hitler. Well, that's who the very earnest Andrew Carmel (Peter Lawford) assumes he is...Belinski never actually says.When her uncle finds Cluny drunk and on the couch at the Ames apartment, he puts her into service. She winds up working at the Carmel country estate, where Belinski comes to stay. Attracted to her, he sets about aggravating the local pharmacist, Mr. Wilson (Richard Haydn) who is courting Cluny, and getting involved with Andrew's romance with Betty Cream (Helen Walker).This is a very sweet, light comedy from Lubitsch that touches on not only the class system in England but the attitude of the upper class toward the impending war. As in the Fox film "This Above All," the upper class in "Cluny Brown" seems annoyed by the mere thought of war and hope the nonsense will just go away. As for Cluny, born to her class, she's expected to work and behave a certain way, though it isn't really her nature.The performances are all very good, with Boyer a delight as Belinski, a character perhaps modeled on the Czech freedom fighter Jan Mazurek - though he basically doesn't act in danger or worried and manages to hit Andrew up for money. One is never really sure throughout the film what he's up to. Richard Haydn is hilarious as Cluny's suitor Mr. Wilson, one of the best scenes taking place when he plays the harmonium for her and she all but swoons. As his mother, all Una O'Connor does is cough, but that's all she needs to do. Playing opposite boyish Peter Lawford, Helen Walker seemed too old for the part of Betty. The other supporting players are all excellent, including Sara Allgood, Reginald Owen, and Margaret Bannerman.David O. Selznick saw Jennifer Jones in his outer office, and it was love at first sight. It's easy to see why. She is radiant and spirited as Cluny, her vivid imagination shining through her eyes and smile. A wonderful presence - gentle, vulnerable, and guileless."Cluny Brown" isn't at the top of Lubitsch's best - it's uneven and doesn't have enough of a plot. It's entertaining nonetheless, and the ending is pure joy.

Have seen this more than once on TV (though not for quite a few years now) and I'd be first in line if Fox Classics were to issue it on video. It's a slight bit of fluff, given the full Twentieth gloss, and elevated to sublimely sly tongue-in-cheek humor, courtesy of Herr Lubitsch. Everyone in the cast is in top form (Thank goodness David O. Selznick was willing to loan his treasure, Jennifer Jones, to Fox...She's a delight in this one!) Standouts are Sara Allgood as the mansion's oh-so-proper head housekeeper and Richard Haydn as the hilariously stuffy Mr. Wilson, Cluny's would-be suitor. The final shot of Jennifer falling in a dead faint (due to her impending, but not yet obvious maternity) seen through a 5th Avenue bookstore window, is one of the best curtains in screen annals!