CinemaSerf
12/27/2022
Joseph Cotton is "David", a wealthy engineer travelling post war Italy when he encounters concert pianist "Manina" (Joan Fontaine). They have some time to kill before their flight back to the US, so go exploring and manage to miss their plane. Serendipity takes a hand - the plane crashes - affording them the perfect opportunity to play dead and allow their burgeoning romance to develop... All seems to be going to plan until his wife "Catherine" (Jessica Tandy) and young son "David Jr." (Robert Arthur) decide to visit Italy and call upon her friend "Maria" (Françoise Rosay) and... Fontaine is good in this film, she always had an understated class that this role suits well. She has a chemistry with Cotton - never the most natural of actors in a romantic setting - and with some lovely Capri scenery (perhaps monochrome photography doesn't quite do justice to the "Blue Grotto") this makes for quite an engaging drama with a fine score from Victor Young and a charming refrain of Kurt Weill's "September Song" to add a maturity to this, admittedly rather thoughtless and selfish, love story.
