Danielle Darrieux

The Earrings of Madame de…

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The general and his wife in all their finery

Light-hearted, ironic, passionate, frivolous, lush, beautifully made and full of little jokes, The Earrings of Madame de… is the sort of self-consciously filmic film that film-makers love but audiences are less enthusiastic about. It was a favourite of Kubrick. Douglas Sirk described it as perfect. When it got its Criterion Collection release Paul Thomas Anderson did the spoken introduction. New York Observer critic Andrew Yarris referred to it as the Greatest Film of All Time. Even if you don’t rate it quite so highly, it’s undeniably exquisitely made. This was director Max Ophüls back in Europe after a sojourn in Hollywood, and he’s definitely off the leash. His final four European films – La … Read more

Bad Seed

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Jeannette and Henri

Billy Wilder directed 1934’s Bad Seed (Mauvaise Graine) more out of necessity than desire. He’d never directed a film before, in spite of having been quite a big wheel as a writer in the German film industry (the Nazis put paid to that). But he was in a tight spot and so had to add a string to his bow. He wouldn’t direct another film for eight years, in Hollywood, where 1942’s The Major and the Minor became the first of a remarkable run lasting nearly 40 years. Alexander Esway also gets a director’s credit, but he was little more than a gracious front man whose name helped Wilder’s movie get financed. What’s … Read more