User Reviews

When I got home from a screening of THE FAN I sat down to re-read "Lady Windermere's Fan," and came to the conclusion that the film is significantly better than the play. I don't think this opinion is as heretical as it sounds. Wilde's literary reputation rests largely on his exquisite aphorisms and his one perfect work, "The Importance of Being Earnest," my nominee for the funniest play ever written. Before he hit his stride with "Earnest," Wilde's plays were an awkward hybrid of sophisticated comedy and stilted melodrama, with creaky plots that heavy-handedly flogged their worthy message of tolerance. There is always a woman with a past, an acidulous dandy, a shameful secret, and a self-righteous young man or woman who has to come to terms with that secret.

Otto Preminger seems like a poor choice to interpret Wilde. He did not have a light touch, and anyone expecting sly, frothy comedy from THE FAN will be disappointed. (Watch the Lubitsch silent version instead.) Preminger downplays the comedy-of-manners aspect without eliminating or destroying it, but he succeeds in translating the cardboard melodrama into something subtle, complex and moving. Preminger's gift was for creating ensembles in shades of gray, with no black villains or white heroes. Here the whole cast is tamped-down and naturalistic: there is no mannered camp about the comedy and no teeth-marks on the scenery after the dramatic peaks.

The first half of the film is original, setting up the situation that the play lays in our laps in its first scene. To begin with there is a framing device set in contemporary post-war London, where the octogenarian Mrs. Erlynn (Madeleine Carroll) discovers the fan at an auction of unclaimed property from bombed buildings. In order to reclaim her property she has to prove ownership, so she tracks down Lord Darlington (George Sanders), now a doddering "museum piece" living in a remnant of his former home. We learn that Lord and Lady Windermere were killed in the Blitz; that the two worldly, ambiguous characters have survived the pure couple feels appropriate to a changed world. The frame gives the costume-drama portion a wistful edge; instead of the usual Hollywood gloss, here the past gleams through nostalgia like a flower buried in a paperweight.

The flashback unfolds as Mrs. Erlynn relates her story to the reluctant and skeptical Lord Darlington. George Sanders might seem like almost too obvious a choice to play this role. Some of the dialogue ("As a wicked man I am a complete failure. In fact, there are some people who say I have never done anything really wrong in my life. Of course, they only say it behind my back") might have been written for that inimitable dry-sherry voice, at once rich, acid and smooth. But Sanders, like the rest of the cast, does not lean on wit, delivering the bon mots casually, almost under his breath. Instead, he comes as close as I've ever seen him to suggesting raw feeling behind the polished facade of disdainful boredom. As Lady Windermere, delicate Jeanne Crain turns the tiresomely shrill, uncompromising puritan of the play into a fresh, gentle innocent, a young woman of innate but untested fineness. It's like watching a paper doll come to life.

But this is Madeleine Carroll's movie. All too often relegated to decorative roles, here she gives a nuanced performance as a complicated woman: flirtatious, scheming, unscrupulous, but ultimately brave and compassionate; proud but stricken with inconsolable regret. She manages the mother-love scenes with compelling emotion, never sliding into sentimentality. As a young woman Mrs. Erlynn left her husband and child for another man, breaking her husband's heart. In middle age, still relying on youthful allure and trailing a scandalous reputation, she returns to London. She is not above blackmailing her daughter's wealthy husband, Lord Windermere, who gives her large sums of money to spare his wife from learning the truth about her idealized mother, whom she believes is dead. Gossip turns this transaction into an affair, and Lady Windermere is devastated when she believes her handsome young husband has betrayed her.

Interestingly, the film shows Lord W. initially attracted by Mrs. Erlynn, suggesting he is no plaster saint. But he hardly deserves the agony of having to choose between losing his wife's trust or destroying her illusions about her mother. Meanwhile, Lord Darlington seizes on the alleged infidelity to declare his love for Lady W. and beg her to leave her husband for him. Would he really have devoted his life to her, or would he have abandoned her after a year, as Mrs. Erlynn suspects? We're never sure, but we believe that he still regrets losing her. This must be one of the few cases in which the movie version of a literary work has a less happy ending than the original. The elimination of Mrs. Erlynn's last-minute marriage suits the darker, sadder, more mature tone of the film—and since we see her in hale old age we know that she landed on her feet somehow. There is the faintest hint that she and Lord Darlington might make a December-December match, but it's not overplayed.

Few films have done a better job of hiding their stage origins; this one never feels static or talky, and the interpolated activities like a fencing match and a shopping trip feel natural and evoke an elegant lost world. THE FAN has more warmth and tenderness than many of Preminger's films, and if it doesn't belong with his very best, it certainly belongs with those, like DAISY KENYON, that deserve greater exposure and appreciation.

This 1949 version of Oscar Wildes Lady Windermere's Fan is lovely, performed with wry wit and delicious innuendos. Madeleine Carroll plays Mrs. Erlynne brilliantly along with George Sanders as Lord Robert Darlington, together they take us back to a different era. The now elderly Mrs. Erlynne recounts memories of love , loss and a mother's sacrifice and this story is played out in flashback in Victorian era London, with Jeanne Crain as the beautiful, young Lady Margaret Windermere and Richard Greene as Lord Arthur Windermere. Martita Hunt amuses as the Duchess of Berwick, a typical gossipy, upper-class matron. This is not a classic film of Oscar Wildes classic story, but it is very thoughtfully done and this film version moves along at a pleasurable pace. I must correct a fellow reviewer, we are told the fate of Lady and Lord Windermere, early in the story Mrs. Erlynne tells Lord Darlington she has visited their grave as they were killed together in the first bombing of London during WW II. I enjoyed this story about the hypocrisy and morals during the Victorian era , and Madeleines Carroll's delightful performance I would watch again. But this is a film I encourage the reader to watch and decide for themselves.

Alas, little is left here of Oscar Wilde's famous play, "Lady Windemere's Fan", as so much screen time is now taken up with the added present-day sequences. Nonetheless, George Sanders and Martita Hunt still have all the best lines. On the other hand, Richard Greene is so mediocre an actor, he diverts audience sympathy in the wrong directions. Otto told me it was one of the very few times in his career that he disliked a movie whilst actually shooting it. I don't agree with him. The movie is very stylishly directed and has all the hallmarks of Preminger's middle-career style, particularly in its long takes and fluid camera-work. I particularly liked the long take of Sanders and Crain on the balcony while dancers whirl (slightly out of focus) in the ball-room below. It's certainly not Otto's fault that the movie is over-cluttered with dialogue and that Wilde's wit has been drained off and that many of the players have little charisma and are just plain dull. Miss Crain, for instance, could be described as a dull actress in a dull part. Yes, in all, the movie is rather disappointing, but it's a good example of how NOT to adapt a Victorian comedy of manners. Don't try to make it topical. That just dates it all the more. When Googie Withers revived "The Circle", she actually set it BACK to the 1890s. And that was a very successful adaptation, both with critics and audiences!

I was looking forward to this old film because of its cast -- the lovely and talented Jeanne Crain, Madeleine Carroll, Richard Greene, and the always interesting George Sanders. Unfortunately, the first third of the film was rather disappointing...almost dull. But then, the mystery begins and things get far more interesting -- why is Richard Geene paying large sums of money to Madeleine Carroll? Is it an affair? Almost certainly...except that it isn't.

Jeanne Crain was, in my view, one of the loveliest actresses of her era, and she shines here, although I would say this film is more of an ensemble cast than a star vehicle. Madeleine Carroll -- in her last film -- is absolutely riveting here, not to mention mysterious. It's a rather odd film for George Sanders in that he's the character he so often played in the parts of the film that are flashbacks, but a very elderly gentleman for much of the story. Richard Greene, whose career pretty much stalled after the way, was still doing nicely here...a fine and underrated actor, though this is far from his best role.

I was a little disappointed at the end of the film that we have no idea what happened to Jeanne Crain and Richard Greene. Dead in the war? We never know.

Personally, I slightly preferred the 2004 film adaptation of the Oscar Wilde story -- "A Good Woman", which takes place in Italy. It starred Helen Hunt, Scarlett Johansson, and Tom Wilkinson. It had its own flaws, but it didn't suffer from the first third of the film being awkward. Although, I thought the rest of the Jeanne Crain version was better. Kind of a toss up, really.

Still, another picture depicting a mother's sacrifice. Don't you think it was naive of Jeanne Crain never to realize that Madeleine Carroll was her mother? Who else but a mother would speak to Crain in the way Carroll did?

Carroll steals the film as a woman with a past who returns to London to secure her dead daughter's fan. The only way she can prove her involvement with the fan is to reintroduce herself to the elderly George Sanders, once a lover of the Crain character so many years ago.

This is definitely a film describing the mores, culture and gossip of London society, circa turn of the century. Martita Hunt, as the duchess, is just perfect in the part of the gossiper thriving attention.

Carroll gave up a potential life of luxury to save her daughter's marriage. Didn't anyone think it odd that Carroll, so much older, could actually be the lover of Crain's husband, Richard Greene, her son-in-law?

I'm with Imogen Sara Smith on this: THE FAN is an improvement on its source material, a wistful comedy-melodrama with fine performances and strong direction. Some have complained that the postwar scenes are pointless, but I think they add a bittersweet dimension to the story. The impoverished London setting contrasts starkly with the beautiful Victorian London we see in the main story, making Mrs. Erlynne's recollections of this bygone world all the more precious. There is a Proustian quality to it, as another reviewer has pointed out.

Performances are strong across the board, but Madeline Carroll is the standout. I often associate her with the Flavia character in the 1937 PRISONER OF ZENDA, but she gets a much meatier role here. She wisely underplays the more sentimental elements of the character, making her maternal affections more organic. George Saunders is wonderful too, giving his rogue a wistful edge that elevates the material.

Ignore the critics and enjoy.