Jon Kolenchak

This movie should be required viewing for all church organists. The following are not necessarily spoilers, but fun things to check out:

1. See what music she puts on the music rack and then listen to what she plays.

2. She's talented -- she can make a keyboard switch without it changing the pipes that are playing!

3. She has a crabby boss. OK, so that's not news, but I am curious as to what his denomination is. It looks like the church is Episcopal from the outside sign, but if that's the case, he's wearing the wrong collar.

4. She has rubber legs -- look how she sails over the pedal board as if she were just hitting random notes.

5. Finally, she does the UNTHINKABLE. She plays without shoes! In all fairness, though, they do reappear on her feet when she leaves the console.

In watching this early DeMille work, it was once again reinforced to me that early DeMille is far superior to late DeMille. His attention to use of light within scenes is remarkable. His pacing is very good, enabling much to be told in the space of an hour or so. It is a pity that he wasn't as intuitive about the style of his later sound films as he seemed to be in his silent films.

This was the first film in which I had seen Cleo Ridgely. She was remarkable, quite restrained and yet conveyed a broad spectrum of emotions.

The ending is wonderful.

I have always loved Deborah Kerr, especially in the film The Innocents. I knew nothing about this film before I watched it, and that was probably a good thing.

The first thing that attracted me to this movie was the casting: Deborah Kerr, David Niven, Flora Robson, Sharon Tate, and David Hemmings. How could one possibly go wrong with a cast like that? Well, apparently anything is possible in cinema.

Without giving away the plot, which most people will figure out around 15 minutes into the movie, let me point out some aspects of this production that are worth noting. One gets to hear one of the most obnoxious and sometimes anachronistic film scores ever composed. One gets to see cinematography that tries so hard to be artsy, but ends up instead looking as though you were watching the film on a violent amusement park ride. One gets to see David Niven give his most extreme "doe-eyed" performance. One also gets to see Deborah Kerr make lots of funny faces, and run up and down seemingly endless flights of stairs wearing very noisy shoes.

It's good for a giggle... if you have your fast-forward button handy.