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Cluny Brown

New 35mm Print!
Not available on DVD

(Ernst Lubitsch, USA, 1946, 35mm, 100 min) Combining elegance and wit, Lubitsch's last film, set in 1938 London, is one of his most engaging romantic comedies. Tempering its character's sexually-charged emotions with stylized finesse, Lubitsch and his screenwriters gently skewer the English upper class, as well as class in general, frequently portraying them as out of touch and frivolous.

The film stars Jennifer Jones as Cluny, a plucky young maid with a penchant for plumbing. During one of her house calls, she finds a kindred spirit in Professor Belinski (Charles Boyer), a European intellectual on the run from the Nazis. The two displaced souls form a bond, though Cluny focuses her attentions on Mr. Wilson (the hilarious Richard Haydn, who enlivened many Hollywood films in the 40s), a pompous chemist attached to the apron strings of his dour mother (the great Una O'Connor). But when she is called to make a choice, Cluny finds herself torn between the security offered by her rich employer and her feelings towards the impoverished writer.

"A delicious comedy of manners." Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

"A lovely, easygoing comedy, full of small, surprising touches." Pauline Kael, The New Yorker