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Monday, September 7, 2009

THE PRIVATE LIFE OF DON JUAN (1934)

Douglas Fairbanks last film ought to work better than it does.  The story idea both sound and well-suited for a middle-aged swashbuckler: Riddled with debt, Don Juan tries living incognito when a Don Juan imposter dies in a duel.  For a while, he enjoys some rare peace & quiet, but when he attempts to resume his true identity as the great lover, no one believes this aging gent could be the real Don Juan . . . and maybe that’s for the best.  Production designer Vincent Korda and lighting cameraman Georges Perinal turn in stellar work, and playwright Frederick Lonsdale’s script is literate & fun.  Best of all, Doug appears comfortable acting his age in a Talkie.  If only producer Alex Korda had let someone with a bit of directorial panache take over the reins on set.  Still, a pleasant & graceful final bow for Doug and, in its stiff way, looking pretty gorgeous in a Criterion DVD edition.


ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: That’s Australian baritone John Brownlee singing the opening number.  He’d play the Mozart/Da Ponte Don Giovanni in the legendary opening production at Glyndebourne Opera next year and make a recording that’s never left the classical catalogues.

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