Lydia *** (1941, Merle Oberon, Joseph Cotten, Edna May Oliver, Hans Jaray, Alan Marshal, George Reeves, Sara Allgood, John Halliday) – Classic Movie Review 13,346

Julien Duvivier remakes his own 1937 French classic Un Carnet de Bal as the 1941 American romantic drama film Lydia starring Merle Oberon.

Director Julien Duvivier’s 1941 American romantic drama film Lydia stars Merle Oberon, Joseph Cotten, Hans Jaray, Alan Marshal, Edna May Oliver, George Reeves, Sara Allgood, and John Halliday.

Lydia is a sweetly filmed reworking of director Duvivier’s own 1937 French classic Un Carnet de Bal, which starred Marie Bell. This time the beautiful Merle Oberon plays a wealthy mature woman called Lydia MacMillan, meeting up again with her past lovers and reminiscing about their various romances.

It is carefully crafted, with an excellent score by Miklos Rosza, lovely black and white photography by Lee Garmes and beautiful set designs by Vincent Korda. And it is attractively told again by Duvivier, with Oberon on top, most expressive form.

Miklos Rosza was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score —Dramatic or Comedy Picture.

The film was made in the US on a budget of more than one million dollars by Alexander Korda’s British production company London Films, conceiving it as a vehicle for his wife, Merle Oberon. Ben Hecht and Samuel Hoffenstein write the screenplay, adapting the Un Carnet de Bal script and resetting it in America.

The box office of only one million dollars was the same as the film’s budget so it cannot have been profitable.

The working title was Illusions, which might have been better than the weak Lydia.

Censorship raised its ugly head again. The Hays Office demanded a different ending so that Lydia would pay for her love tryst in a cabin. Korda reluctantly gave in and shot several new endings, finally feeling he had to make nice by claiming to like the one that was approved even better than the original.

The last film for Edna May Oliver and John Halliday.

Distributed by United Artists.

Release date: September 18, 1941.

Running time: 104 minutes.

British actress Merle Oberon (born Estelle Merle O’Brien Thompson; 19 February 1911 – 23 November 1979)

The cast

The cast are Merle Oberon as Lydia MacMillan, Joseph Cotten as Michael Fitzpatrick, Hans Jaray (billed as Hans Yaray) as Frank Andre, Alan Marshal as Richard Mason, Edna May Oliver as Sarah MacMillan, George Reeves as Bob Willard, John Halliday as Fitzpatrick, Sara Allgood as Johnny’s mother Mary, William Roy [Billy Roy] as Johnny, Frank Conlan as Old Ned, Harry Cording as Hotel House Detective, Hal K Dawson as Hotel Desk Clerk, and Herbert Rawlinson as Dignitary.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,346

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