Word: countesses
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...plot itself is lucid. In late nineteenth century Paris a general, his wife, the Countess, and her admirer affably intrigue. A pair of diamond earrings, which precipitates every crisis among them, exchanges hands constantly. Each gentleman strives to impress the Countess, either by giving them to her or by taking them away, until the earrings themselves come to symbolize her love...
...Countess ultimately finds herself loyal to her husband but devoted to another man. Yet she never focuses this dilemma upon herself. The movie remains a story rather than a study, and this limitation is its chief fault. Although passions are continually involved, their dramatic opportunities go unheeded...
...have played as directed. Charles Boyer is a general who better resembles a priest. His deliberateness makes him dispirited in a part which calls for shrewdness. Seeing his wife off on a train, his rapt expression conveys no idea of what he is thinking. Vittorio De Sica as the Countess' admirer, misses the irony of his position. Only the Countess, Danielle Darricux, seems to have understood her role, but even she fails to exploit it fully...
...weakness is the film's direction, done by Max Ophuls. Because the picture does seem to have a theme running through it, its light-touch scenes are somewhat distracting. His conclusion, however, achieves just the right degree of understatement. The two men duel, one gun is fired, and the Countess, who is rushing to the scene, is stricken by the shot's implication. Yet had the movie not been underplayed, this ending by contrast would have been twice as forceful. As it is, The Earrings of Madame de . . . is simply unfulfilled...
...firm's customers and what they buy are private matters. But four months ago, the firm complained publicly about a customer in a way that shook café society and Hollywood; it had received a worthless check from Playboy Robert Schlesinger (TIME, Feb. 21), whose mother is Countess Mona Bismarck, remarried widow of Utilities Tycoon Harrison Williams, and whose father is Henry J. Schlesinger, retired Milwaukee industrialist. Said Van Cleef & Arpels : Schlesinger had given Cinemactress Linda Christian, estranged wife of Cinemactor Tyrone Power, jewels worth $132,500, made partial payment with a $100,000 check that bounced. Unable...