Very Cool!!!

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

A phony slap-happy countess (ballet legend Vera Zorina) is fooling the social elite of the most upscale of European hotels, walking up to total strangers (whom she's researched, of course), clobbering them and then profusely apologizing for mistaking who they were. Of course, she then cons them and quickly disappears, that is if she isn't selling them a valuable piece of jewelry for much more than its worth (and having the victim of the con sign a statement indicating that they were told that the piece of jewelry that they overpaid on was a copy). She's not the mastermind behind these schemes; That falls to the autocrat Erich Von Stroheim and his somewhat dimwitted sidekick (Peter Lorre) who took Ms. Zorina under their wing from the streets.When her attempt to fleece a handsome stranger (Richard Greene), fails, she finds herself falling in love and decides to leave her con-game with Von Stroheim and Lorre behind. All it takes is for Greene to slap Ms. Zorina back to get her to change her fleecing ways and wake her up. But that can't get Von Stroheim and Lorre off her back; Once a beautiful meal ticket, always a beautiful meal ticket, but she's gone onto become a ballet star and become Greene's loyal wife. With her past ready to come back and haunt her, she's got some pretty quick thinking and scheming to do, and her intended victims are pretty formidable.Beautifully filmed and acted with a delightful tongue-in-cheek, this shows Von Stroheim in a light he rarely had an opportunity to take on. He seems to enjoy being less serious than normal, although he does play the role totally seriously. There's a sparkle in his eye in this one, and his pairing with Lorre is equivalent to what Lorre would do over at Warner Brothers with Sydney Greenstreet. Zorina (as she is billed) makes an enticing heroine, and if not given a terribly difficult role to play, she does so beautifully, and when she dances, she's magnetic. Greene is a handsome, feisty hero, giving as much to Zorina as she gives to him. This is a film which deserves higher recognition, as sophisticated a comedy as other more well known films.

A fun picture when it was made – and still one of the choicest delights of 1940's cinema – this film is a highly enjoyable romantic comedy/drama (with even a bit of ballet thrown in). Writing, directing and acting always maintain the most perfectly exquisite balance between the story's various elements. For once the efforts of a multitude of writers – in addition to the credited Karl Tunberg, Don Ettinger, John O'Hara, Jacques Companeez, Herbert Jutkee, Hans Jacoby and Michel Duran, Nunnally Johnson also contributed to the script, as did Erich von Stroheim who sketched in most of his own very amusing "business" and contributed to Peter Lorre's as well – have produced a delightfully smooth and energetic comedy of manners that only slows down slightly with the climactic ballet and during some of the moments when Richard Greene is on- screen (not Richard's fault. Except for his rousing opening scene, his role is totally conventional and lacks the sparkle that animates the movie's other main characters. Even Sig Rumann, in a tiny role, makes a greater impression simply because he has the material to do so). Production values are especially lush. Two photographers were employed, but they did not work in tandem, as many people suppose. In general, Cronjager handled the close-ups and the tight shots (like the scenes on the train), while Shamroy did the large group shots, the long shots and the establishing shots. My guess is that Shamroy also photographed the whole of the ballet – but in Cronjager's style. Cronjager was a favorite with female stars because he took infinite care to make them look ravishingly beautiful. On the other hand, he was not well liked by producers, directors and impatient stars because he worked too slowly. Available on a superb Fox DVD,

I bought this DVD - which I had never seen anywhere previously - primarily because I am a lifelong admirer of John O'Hara and knew he'd worked on this title (he does in fact get an on-screen credit) and figured anything else would be a bonus. As it happened there was a fair amount of anything else though it's equally true to say that the films lacks any kind of element that would serve to single it out from a dozen others of the same genre produced at roughly the same time. Con teams were not exactly thin on the ground in the 30s and 40s and the only thing to distinguish this trio is the combination which errs on the side of the bizarre; honcho Erich Van Stroheim, dumbo Peter Lorre with Zorina as the honey trapper. It works well enough and Sig Ruman and Fritz Feld are happy to sit still as gullible marks but Richard Greene as the mark-turned-Prince Charming isn't really up to matching acting chops with Lorre and Von Stroheim. Well worth watching.

Actor/director/writer Gregory Ratoff often did Lubitsch-like films -"Cafe Metropole" is one and this one, 1940's "I Was an Adventuress" is another. Light and delightful, the film stars Vera Zorina, Eric von Stroheim, Richard Greene and Peter Lorre. Zorina, Stroheim and Lorre are partners in crime - practicing the old bait and switch of the fake necklace that someone says is not fake after all but worth a fortune. The targeted sucker overhears the conversation and buys what he thinks is a real necklace from the unsuspecting woman. He pays way too much for a fake but not as much as the sale price of the real thing. Of course, when he tries to sell it, he's told it's a fake, but the thieves have left town.All goes well until Tanya (Zorina), posing as Countess Vronsky, meets handsome, charming Paul Vernay, whom she attempts to set up for a con but ends up falling in love with him. She breaks with Polo (Lorre) and Andre (von Stroheim), marries Vernay and takes up her ballet career again. After several months, Polo and Andre need her to return, but they can't find her. When they do, Andre moves in for a shakedown.This film is lots of fun all the way with some marvelous performances. Von Stroheim and Lorre make a great team - one, Teutonic and committed, the other, an apologetic kleptomaniac with a heart. Zorina certainly had one of the most interesting faces in film, beautiful yet strong, and she's wonderful as Tanya. Her dancing was lovely, with the exception of her very distracting arms.Richard Greene was getting the big star buildup at 20th Century Fox when war was declared in Europe, and he returned to England to serve his country. Handsome with a to-die for accent, he just might have given Tyrone Power a run for his money, at least in some of the lighter roles, as I suspect he didn't have a large range. As it was, Greene became best known in this country for his TV series "Robin Hood." Here he exhibits warmth and sophistication as Paul Vernay.Look for this film on Fox Movie Channel - you won't be sorry.