Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

GamerTab That was an excellent one.

ChampDavSlim The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Man99204 There is a reason this is a rarely seen Betty Grable movie. It is not a typical Betty Grable movie.While it is a beautifully filmed technicolor movie, it is NOT a Musical. Though, it does have a few very brief spoken word songs by Grable.I suspect that Fox was trying to broaden Grable's appeal. They tried to give her something which would showcase her "acting abilities". Grable was a very talented entertainer - but she was NOT an accomplished actress. No movie more clearly shows this than "That Lady in Ermine".In fairness, I doubt that anyone could have made a success out of this muddled mess of a plot. It is a preposterous mess with gaping plot holes large enough for the Hungarian cavalry to ride through. The movie is set in 1860, in a small European principality called Bergamo. Betty is the current head of State. On her wedding night her country is invaded by the Hungarians led by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Yes, Fairbanks is called upon to play the part of a Hungarian... with absolutely no touch of Hungarian accent. In an ironic twist of fate, Fairbanks falls immediately in love with a photo of Grable's Grandmother. And, then the movie starts to get ridiculous.The movie is still worth watching - if you are prepared for it to make absolutely no sense at all.

bbmtwist Lubitsch's last film - completed by an inept Preminger - is a remake of BRIDE OF THE REGIMENT _ a 1930 all two -strip Technicolor film, starring Walter Pidgeon, Vivienne Segal and Myrna Loy - which is now lost - although the Vitaphone disc soundtrack survives at UCLA.This was in turn derived from a stage musical entitled THE LADY IN ERMINE by Lonsdale and Wood, adapted from an operetta, DIE FRAU IM HERMELIN by Schanzer and Welisch.It drags badly and Grable is as inept as Fairbanks is fabulous, doing all the work here, full of life and vitality, taking the Lubitsch direction perfectly. It is tired Lubitsch and rather dull and boring during most of its length, although it perks up occasionally. Interesting more as an artifact than a film.

Mart Sander Can I be as simple and primitive in my evaluations as to simply say "I liked it"? It's reasonably funny by bits, it got great stars and it's gorgeous to look at. The songs (there are about two which are then repeated) are forgettable, but they get a healthy ironic treatment (such as the terribly handsome Mr Fairbanks exploding into frenzied Wagnerian version of the tender ballad Miss Grable has just rendered); there isn't much dancing with all the 1861 crinolines draped around Miss Grable, and the comedy might be a bit heavy handed, but the result still is very uplifting. The photography (including real outdoor shots which are a thrill) is amazing, playing around with different shades of lush heavy gold. Miss Grable is a bit past her prime and on the plumpish side, but still fresh and comfortable in this continental "olde worlde" comedy. It's pretty much along the line of "Down to Earth" with Rita Hayworth, and that one tends to be rather disliked by many. So I suppose several people would deem "That Lady in Ermine" to be outdated and stuffy. But it's a fairy tale, and these tend to move along at a certain paste anyhow. My suggestion is - just enjoy the artwork, the costumes, the witty script and everything else this film has to offer, and stop complaining. The film has been released on DVD in Germany, with both German and English soundtrack.

Igenlode Wordsmith I enjoyed this film far more than anything had led me to anticipate; from reading other comments here, I suspect it benefits enormously from being seen on a full-size screen in the cinema, in the company of a cheerful and enthusiastic audience. I was lucky enough to have that experience, borne up on ripples of laughter from all around, and had an immensely good time with this undemanding comedy.For it is as a comedy that it shines, if it shines anywhere at all. The music is nothing special -- in fact, I hadn't realised it *was* a musical, and was very surprised when the assembled ancestors burst into half-spoken lyric -- but I do have to admit that the half-threat, half-promise of 'Oh, what I'll do...' has proved far more catchy than it ever seemed at the time, as it's still going round and round in my head!The plot, such as it is, largely pivots around the past history of the eponymous Francesca, a sixteenth-century portrait sporting a distinctly anachronistic hairstyle and fur-coat. Her idea on the sanctity of marriage don't quite jibe with those of her distant descendant, the Countess Angelina, and one can almost hear the storyline creaking at the seams under the strain of the Production Code in order to ensure that the heroine arrives unsullied in her much-delayed marriage-bed with the right man...The romance is scarcely earth-shattering, and in fact the first few scenes, played pretty well straight, verge on the tedious. But where script and film really come to life is in the battle of the sexes that follows. The impudence of Douglas Fairbanks Jr's courtship of Betty Grable's married Angelina is equalled only by Betty-Grable-as-Francesca's pursuit of him in turn, culminating in complete role-reversal in the hilarious fantasy sequence where she -- literally -- sweeps him off his feet. This is probably the comic climax of the plot, although the consequences of the Colonel's understandable confusion are worked out with a deft touch in the remaining two 'acts' of the operetta-structure, and the spectacle of Fairbanks' blissful, bemused awakening is more or less worth the price of admission on its own.Grable is entirely convincing in establishing her two contrasting characters, wisely gets almost all the (limited) singing opportunities, and shares the honours where the swathes of quotable dialogue in the various verbal duels are concerned. But in the field of unspoken reaction she is really outclassed by her male supporting leads; Fairbanks in particular is an absolute treat in a number of wordless sequences whose set-up and humour is worthy of the silent screen.This film is too uneven in style to be a classic, varying from sparkling repartee to hackneyed tedium. But at its best it is quite honestly very funny indeed, and brought a round of spontaneous applause and laughter across the auditorium at the end as the lights went up. Out of tune with its times, it may have failed to draw contemporary audiences -- but, on this showing, really didn't deserve to be disowned by both Grable and Preminger, the (uncredited) director. This is no masterpiece, but a thoroughly entertaining minor work, and I for one found myself grinning in remembrance all the way home.