Word: valet
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...Eyeglasses. That boisterous Democratic spirit has not flagged in Private Citizen Truman. At 72, his grey hair is thinning, his belt is let out a little (Vietta Garr, the Trumans' longtime cook, has orders to hold down on her specialty, chocolate pie). Nowadays, without the White House valet to start him out, he sometimes wears his tropical suits a day too long. The white dress shirts of his presidential days have given way to soft sport shirts, the crisp handkerchief is no longer inevitable in his breast pocket...
...Workin' on the Railroad." For Squire Harriman, the swing through the west was educational as well as profitable. Without valet, in towns where tailor shops were locked for the night, the governor used an old technique of traveling salesmen: to ease out the wrinkles, he hung his suit in hotel bathrooms, turned on the hot water, let the room fill with wrinkle-removing steam...
Main interest must focus on James Mason who plays the role of British Ambassador's valet in neutral Turkey. Top secret minutes from the Teheran conference and plans for the Normandy invasion are stuffed in the Embassy's flimsy safe, and Mason knows the combination. Frustrated by his menial life, he photographs the documents and sells the film to the incredulous Nazis. While he amasses roughly two hundred thousand pounds in weekly installments, both Berlin and London bureaucrats are so mystified that they neither put the secret information to use, nor stop the security leak. And there is a woman...
Danielle Darrieux retains an aristocratic air throughout her relations with valet Mason. Her scheming has a real scope, and her sardonic, unrelenting smile is very convincing. Michael Rennie, nattily attired in a Bond-tailored-to-measure suit, is the London office's special troubleshooter sent to Ankara to bust open the nasty mess. He and his Hollywood-styled henchmen, who take part in the inevitable last-reel chase, resemble Dragnet posses currently on view on television. Otherwise, settings appear authentic, and the total lightweight result is quite entertaining...
...savage, yet never beyond belief. In the current production, the play's power is more spasmodic than sustained; despite George Tabori's playable adaptation, too much tends to date. Though Swedish-born Viveca Lindfors succeeds in the title role, James Daly overstresses what is crude in the valet by a crudity of attack. Even so, Miss Julie has explosive elements that neither O'Neill, Hellman nor Tennessee Williams has ever surpassed...