This movie wasn't on my Dad's initial list since he never got around to getting a copy. However, among the files he left on his computer was a list of "films to look for" which was his running list of movies he wanted to seek out on video that he remembered liking from long ago. He'd found most of these but "Cluny Brown" (1946) was one of them. I don't think it was on DVD before and Criterion did a blu ray just last year. There are a few others from this list I am still looking out for.
He was right to be looking for this one. This was my first viewing of this Lubitsch classic rom-com/sendup of British class and society (albeit in the 1930s) and it won't be the last.
Jones and Boyer are so charming and well developed as characters but not overplayed. The rest of the cast is just right as the fairly ridiculous and silly supporting characters. The movie doesn't make a false move or overstay its welcome. It's also an interesting contrast to Jennifer Jones' other film made around the same time, "Duel In The Sun" which can also be amusing when watched today but not intentionally. Jones is obviously working very hard on both films but the result couldn't be more different. I have to chalk this up to Lubitsch being allowed to direct Jones free of her then-husband David O Selznick who often meddled in her movies, including the screenplays. The result is clear and made me forget all about the campy and overheated performance she gave in "Duel".
Lastly, the movie holds up with the way the woman's character is so much more developed, with agency intact than so many other movies of this era so it comes off as relatively progressive (and hey, she fixes peoples' sinks!).
