The Ambassador’s Daughter ** (1956, Olivia de Havilland, John Forsythe, Myrna Loy, Edward Arnold, Adolphe Menjou) – Classic Movie Review 10,110

‘A gay, bubbly magnum of fun.’

Writer-producer-director Norman Krasna’s 1956 pleasant if past its sell-by date comedy The Ambassador’s Daughter stars Olivia de Havilland and John Forsythe, who give it their best shot, but that extra something is missing in Krasna’s thin, lightweight script.

A mature de Havilland plays Joan Fisk, the daughter of the American ambassador to France in Paris, who decides to prove that the Forces aren’t a moral danger by getting picked up by American GI, Sergeant Danny Sullivan (John Forsythe).

It boasts witty lines and a smart cast, as well as being made in Technicolor and CinemaScope, but it is a determinedly old-school comedy with old-fashioned values that made it seem out of date in 1956.

Anyway, old-timers Edward Arnold (in his last movie) as Ambassador William Fisk, Adolphe Menjou and Myrna Loy are worth the price of the ticket, while Paris and its fashions look divine.

In real life de Havilland was living in Paris after marrying Pierre Galante, the editor of Paris Match magazine, in 1955, and they had a child together. After their divorce in 1979, they remained close friends. When he became ill with cancer, she nursed him till his death in 1998.

Also in the cast are Minor Watson, Tommy Noonan, Francis Lederer.

Previously Krasna and de Havilland had made Princess O’Rourke (1943) together.

In a Paris nightclub, Joan and Danny watch a stage revue, but in the European version the dancers are topless.

Olivia de Havilland (1916–2020).

RIP Olivia de Havilland.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,110

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