A Breath of Scandal
Picture: B-
Sound: C+ Extras: D Film: C
Director Michael Curtiz’s 1960 remake of the 1929 film His Glorious Night, titled here A Breath of Scandal, has something left
to be desired besides the lovely Sophia Loren and Angela Lansbury. The film works best visually, but the rather
tiresome storyline and waste of talent are what disappoint more than anything,
especially coming from a reputable director and cast.
A Breath
of Scandal is simply another one of those stories about this
beautiful princess who ends up falling for an aggressive American and the
problems that ensue since she is a princess and the prince (played by Maurice
Chevalier will most certainly not let this happen easily, or at all. There are some entertaining parts,
especially involving Lansbury as the Countess Lina. Although halfway through this 97-minute extravaganza you are
pretty much wanting her to start writing some murder/mystery stories to at
least keep you going.
The film is well filmed and in VistaVision no less. Paramount’s DVD looks fairly good despite a
bit of softness here and there, which is more noticeable when projected rather
than on a analog TV. Compared to some
of their other VistaVision DVD’s on the market this is not one of the top of
the list in the quality department. Not
a real shocker though either considering this is not exactly their best movie
title in their vault and the Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is also fair. The film has been anamorphically enhanced at
1.85 X 1 and manages good color balance throughout.
With no extras the key selling point here is the scenery,
both set-wise and also Loren-wise.
Aside from that you may want to reconsider your time investment in this
little production. Check out some of
the reviews on this site for other Paramount VistaVision titles though, such as
Last Train from Gun Hill, The Matchmaker, It Started in Naples, The
Rainmaker, for starters. More are
on the way from the period.
- Nate Goss
