Word: walbrook
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...addition to their lunch-hour activities, the City's 16 Guild Churches have each developed a specialty. St. Stephen, Walbrook, specializes in rescuing would-be suicides; with a staff of seven and 200-part-time volunteers, it handles more than 100 calls for help a week. St. Mary Aldermary gives advice on religious retreats; St. Martin, Ludgate, specializes in marriage counseling, and the tiny church of St. Ethelburga concentrates on the ministry of healing...
...cast of the film reads something like an index of the modern French stage. It includes, among others, Gerard Philippe, Danielle Darrieux, Daniel Gelin, Simone Simon, Anton Walbrook, and Jean-Louis Barrault. All of these actors give fine performances, though two at least stand out from the rest: Walbrook, who plays the sophisticated master of ceremonies, and Barrault, as the poet. Few actors would have enough courage to make a declaration of love while lying on their backs on the floor, and enough talent to make the scene come off. Barrault, however, does. His work and that of Max Ophuls...
Strangely enough, ten seductions become tedious, although Anton Walbrook does his best to keep between boudoir scenes diverting. Representing himself as "everyone and no one," Walbrook leads the merry-go-round as an omniscient spectator, introducing the participants and commenting wryly on the spectacle. At appropriate moments, the camera leaves the lovers and returns to the master of ceremonies. One suspects, however, that these exits have become hastier since the film's Boston debut, and that the bedroom lights fade out much sooner than director Max Ophulus intended...
...some of his dialogue, and in several episodes, the words become forced and stilted in an effort to produce the double meaning and the sly implication. An imposing array of French stardom, from Gerard Philipe to Danielle Darrieux, does manage to salvage some of the bedtime satire. Coupled with Walbrook's performance, scenes such as the affair between The Wife and The Student leave a residue of genuine humor...
...remnants of Pushkin's plot are recognizable. The action takes place in old St. Petersburg, where a power hungry young officer slyly schemes to obtain the secret of success at faro from the wizened old countess (who sold her soul to get it). Anton Walbrook, who doesn't need a sound track, plays the officer; the rest of the cast are competent English actors, quite at home in their nineteenth century dress...