May. 28, 2003 - 11:13 pm
i had been thinking about seeing this film for the past few years since it is one of the very few Grace Kelly films that i had not seen up to this point. the others being Mogambo (1953), Green Fire (1954), and Fourteen Hours (1951). i wish that her career hadn't been so brief. i guess that's something that we love and hate at the same time though. it's great to have things that you love that only existed for a brief period of time, but you also mourn those that much more for their brevity.
this was one of the last films that Grace made before becoming real life Princess Grace of Monaco. in this one she actually portrays a princess which makes you wonder if life is imitating art or art is imitating life. anyway, the movie is about the princess and her attempt to win the affections of Crown Prince Albert of England so that she can later become
queen. well, that's what her mother wants for her to do anyway. unfortunately when he arrives at their estate, he doesn't seem at all interested in her for some reason. that's when Princess Alexandra's mother devises her scheme. she plans to get Alexandra to ask the handsome tutor (of her younger brothers) who lives on the estate to go with her to the ball that is being held that evening. the plan is to use him to make the prince jealous. and it actually works out much better than they could have hoped...to everyone's dismay.
i ended up enjoying this quite a bit. it's a very poetic, humorous, and romantic tragedy. the ending is wonderful as well. you'd think that the movie is simple and easy to predict at first glance, but it actually has some hidden and surprising elements to it that you couldn't possibly be expecting. well, maybe if you took a look at the director (Charles Vidor) and his past works like Gilda (1946). man, was that one unpredictable.
well, i think i need to go ahead and work on finishing up the Grace Kelly collection. i know where i can get my hands two of them, but Fourteen Hours seems to be completely unavailable. it sounds like an interesting movie, so i'm sure i'll find it at some point.