TV Guide OnlineMotion Picture Database

 

That Uncertain Feeling (1941)


In this remake of his l925 silent feature KISS ME AGAIN, director Lubitsch pairs Douglas and Oberon as a seemingly happily married couple. Douglas is an insurance man who loves his job and home life, not realizing that Oberon is bored to tears. Douglas is also negligent in showing Oberon some amorous attention, which subconsciously causes Oberon to hiccup in the middle of the night. After visiting a psychiatrist (Mowbray), Oberon gets to the root of her problem. As she's trying to warm up Douglas, Meredith, an eccentric piano player, moves into their home and is soon pitching woo to Oberon. Douglas discovers what's going on behind his back and the trio all end up squabbling in a lawyer's office about a divorce. This film has its moments but on the whole is rather disappointing. Lubitsch's pacing is too slow for the humor, though there are a few moments when the famed "Lubitsch Touch" stands out. One particularly enjoyable sequence has Oberon trying to trap a nonexistent woman in Douglas' hotel room. The cast certainly lends the film some charm, but overall this remake is an unsatisfying effort. Meredith enjoyed working on the production and years later recalled, "I don't know when I had a better time in my whole career than during that period." Of Lubitsch, Meredith said, "He was very psychic. I'd fall down laughing because right away he'd improvise, in the middle of a scene he was doing for me, some very personal thing about my life, with his big cigar in his mouth, and he knew I'd come over and say, `How did you know about that?' and he'd say, `I have ways of knowing.' " Heymann's music earned an Oscar nomination.

 

Academy Award Nomination: Best Score (Drama) - Werner R. Heymann

Country of origin: U.S.
Genre: Comedy
Color or b/w: Black & white
Production Co(s). UA
Released by: UA
MPAA rating: NR
Running time: 84

Merle Oberon -- Jill Baker
Melvyn Douglas -- Larry Baker
Burgess Meredith -- Sebastian
Alan Mowbray -- Dr. Vengard
Olive Blakeney -- Margie Stallings
Harry Davenport -- Attorney Jones
Eve Arden -- Sally
Sig Rumann -- Mr. Kofka
Richard Carle -- Butler
Mary Currier -- Maid
Jean Fenwick -- Nurse

Producer: Ernst Lubitsch
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Writer: Donald Ogden Stewart
Walter Reisch (based on the play "Divorcons" by Victorien Sardou, Emile de Najac)
Cinematographer: George Barnes
Editor: William Shea
Music Composer: Werner R. Heymann
Art Director: Alexander Golitzen
Costume Design: Irene

Previous Page | HOME