. Fantasia, only with sequences about a guy murdering his wife. Sturges’ star was dimming by the time he made this perverse farce, but the finished work boasts much of the wit, lunacy, and free-for-all comic verve of the writer-director’s best wartime films. In the film, Sir Alfred De Carter, a symphony conductor whose mad jealousy dwarfs Othello’s, fantasizes three different demises for his wayward wife – each hilariously scored to a different orchestral work – then tries to make good on his fantasies, with disastrously comic results. Harrison lets his crisp facade come wonderfully unglued and proves himself marvelously keen at slapstick. Check out The Chronicle‘s recent article on The Austin Film Society’s Preston Sturges Retrospective
This article appears in July 21 • 2000.
