Two lesser known Otto Preminger films receive a long overdue DVD release on this BFI double-bill. A Royal Scandal, a delightful comedy focusing on Catherine the Great of Russia, is a real discovery. It was originally begun by Ernst Lubitsch before he fell ill, and Preminger came in to finish it off. The wartime thriller Margin for Error, was made before Preminger’s highly successful string of film noirs, starting with Laura.
A Royal Scandal has been unfairly neglected and is a welcome arrival to dvd, not least because it offers a rare film role to the great Tallulah Bankhead, who plays Catherine the Great. The film follows her machinations as she woos the idealistic, dashing, but ultimately clueless Lt. Alexei Chernoff (William Eythe). This is one of the most fun biopics ever made – avoiding the stuffy pitfalls of so many costume dramas, this has the air of a classic screwball comedy. Bankhead, often dismissed as a stage actress rather than a movie star, gives a fantastic comedy performance as the majestic Czarina, always slightly more cunning than those around her believe. Her wickedly timed showdowns with her adversaries rival Margot Channing for lightning barb, and her facial expressions whenever she is referred to as ‘Mother Russia’, a moniker she loathes, are priceless. Anne Baxter has never been more firey as Catherine’s rival in love, and Charles Coburn takes the lion’s share of the laughs as the shrewd, manipulative Chancellor Nicolai Iiyitch.
Margin for Error, an intriguing mix of comedy and drama, stars Preminger himself as Karl Baumer, an evil Nazi running the German Consulate in New York just prior to WWII. When a patrolman (Milton Berle) comes to guard the Consulate, however, a discovery of missing funds leads to a dramatic turn of events. Preminger dominates the film as the ruthless sadist, casually poisoning his wife’s parrot, or informing a victim of his impending murder at his hands. As a piece of American propaganda, the film is fascinating; there are a number of scenes celebrating American free speech. In a disquieting twist however, the guard – Baumer’s nemesis – is Jewish; this was filmed just a couple of years before the discovery of the Holocaust.
Wisecrackin' Jewish cop Moe Finkelstein (Milton Berle) has just been put in charge of guarding the proto-Nazi German embassy in New York, a matter of weeks before the US enters World War II. Once there he encounters the egoistical, villainous consul (a scene-stealing performance by Otto Preminger himself), his American wife Sophie (Joan Bennett) who is desperate for a divorce, and the Consul's secretary, the sheltered Baron Von Alvenstor whose blind allegiance to his motherland is being severely tested by his boss's increasingly maddening power-hungry pursuits and his own growing affection for Sophie.
On the night Hitler's words are broadcast across the world, a murder is committed in the embassy – but with each character nurturing a dark secret, Moe can allow no margin for error.
Margin for Error was Otto Preminger's third film for the Hollywood studios, and offers great insight into the working methods of the Austrian director who went on to create classic masterpieces such as Laura (1944) and Anatomy of a Murder (1959).
A Royal Scandal (1945)
Bursting into the majestic surroundings of the court of Catherine the Great, brash young Officer Alexei Chernoff brings his Empress news of a revolution stirring in the Western front. Impressed by the dashing audacity of her devoted, handsome subject, Catherine makes sure that the young man is swiftly promoted through the ranks much to the annoyance of the court: the crafty old Chancellor (Charles Coburn) and his niece and Chernoff's fiancee (Anne Baxter). But will Catherine get her wicked way before the next revolution begins?
A Royal Scandal is a risqué comedy set at the height of the Russian dynasty that features a rare appearance from the sumptuous Tallulah Bankhead in one of her finest roles as Empress Catherine the Great. There is also a hilarious cameo from Vincent Price, a sparkling Lubitsch-honed script and the stunning black and white cinematography that has come to mark Otto Preminger's work.
In person, the man may have been a hectoring dictator, but Otto Preminger was one of the greatest talents of the cinema, working in a wider variety of genres than almo... more >
In person, the man may have been a hectoring dictator, but Otto Preminger was one of the greatest talents of the cinema, working in a wider variety of genres than almost any other director. These are two of his most intriguing films, and have been unseeable for many years -- a fact that makes this excellent BFI double bill all the more welcome. Margin for Error has Milton Berle as a sardonic Jewish cop given the job of guarding New York's proto-Nazi German Embassy and coming up against a sinister egomaniac consular type (director Preminger himself, reminding us just how good he was in the sort of role). But most cineastes will want to see the inimitable Tallulah Bankhead in the deliciously bawdy Russian comedy A Royal Scandal. Bankhead herself encouraged the notion that she was quite a sexually voracious as Catherine the Great was reputed to be -- and seizes on a role here with great gusto. < less
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A Royal Scandal / Margin for Error
