Charles Boyer and Jennifer Jones in Ernst Lubitsch's production of "Cluny Brown"

Cluny Brown (1946) is a romantic comedy produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch and starring Charles Boyer and Jennifer Jones. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Margery Sharp. The cinematography was by Joseph LaShalle (Laura 1944). The supporting cast includes Peter Lawford, Helen Walker, Reginald Owen, Reginald Gardiner, Richard Haydn, C. Aubrey Smith, Sara Allgood, Florence Bates, Margaret Bannerman, and Una O'Connor.

Cluny Brown (Jones) is an orphan who lives with her uncle (Billy Bevan), a plumber. Cluny has learned all about plumbing from her uncle, but her uncle doesn't think being a plumber is good for a young woman. By coincidence, Cluny meets Adam Belinski at the London home of Mr. Ames (Gardiner). Mr. Ames is having plumbing issues and Cluny manages to fix the issue, much to the surprise of both Belinski and Ames. Cluny and Belinski hit it off and seem to make a special connection.

Unfortunately, Cluny's uncle procures a job for Cluny as a parlor maid at the country estate of Sir Henry Carmel (Owen) and Lady Carmel (Bannerman). As fate would have it, Belinski is the invited guest of Andrew Carmel where he meets Cluny once again. Their relationship continues while Belinski is a guest in the Carmel home.

Will Cluny be content with the life of a parlor maid, or will she and Belinski build a life of their own?

Charles Boyer, Reginald Gardner, and Jennifer Jones

Ernst Lubitsch (1892 – 1947) was a German-born film director who became famous for his sophisticated comedies during the pre-code era. Silent film star Mary Pickford lured Lubitsch to Hollywood in 1922. He directed Pickford in Rosita, which was a huge, hit and cemented his reputation in Hollywood. Lubitsch’s films were so unique that they were described as having the “Lubitsch touch.” Some of Lubitsch’s classic films include Trouble in Paradise (1932), Design for Living (1933), Ninotchka (1939), The Shop Around the Corner (1940), Heaven Can Wait (1943), and Cluny Brown (1946). Lubitsch was awarded an Honorary Academy Award for his work in film.

Charles Boyer (1899 - 1978) was a French-American stage and film actor. Boyer was nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award four times. He became a major movie star in the late 1930s in films like The Garden of Allah (1936), Algiers (1938), and Love Affair (1939). He starred as the evil husband of Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight (1944). Boyer starred opposite most of the top female stars of the period including Claudette Colbert, Marlene Dietrich, Irene Dunne, Jean Arthur, Greta Garbo, Bette Davis, Joan Fontaine, Katharine Hepburn, and Olivia de Havilland. As he grew older, Boyer played supporting roles in film and also starred on Broadway in Kind Sir (1953 - 1954) and The Marriage-Go-Round (1958 - 1960).

Jennifer Jones (1919 - 2009) was an American actress. She received five Academy Award nominations, including one win for her performance in The Song of Bernadette (1943). At age 25, Jones was one of the youngest Best Actress Award winners. She was a major movie star throughout the 1940s and 1950s. She starred in Duel in the Sun (1946), Portrait of Jenny (1948), Madame Bovary (1949), and Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955). Jones was married to producer David O. Selznick who carefully managed her career. 

Jennifer Jones takes direction from Ernst Lubitsch on the set of Cluny Brown.

Cluny Brown trivia

• This was director Ernst Lubitsch's last completed film. He died while filming That Lady in Ermine (1948).
• In the novel Adam Belinski is Polish. In the film, he's Czech but retains the name Belinski which is Polish.
• Richard Haydn and C. Aubrey Smith starred together in And Then There Were None (1944).
• Reginald Owen and Billy Bevan appeared together in National Velvet (1944).
• Reginald Gardiner and Una O'Connor appeared together in Christmas in Connecticut (1945).

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

To join the discussion on May 23, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and a link to the discussion on Zoom.

Discussion questions

1. Did you think the relationship between Adam Belinski and Cluny Brown was believable?
2. Was there chemistry between Boyer and Jones?
3. Was there a theme or message? Do you think Ernst Lubitsch was making a statement of some kind with this comedy?
4. The film is filled with some of the greatest character actors. Did any one of the character actors stand out to you?
5. Did this film remind you of any other films you've seen?

Charles Boyer and Jennifer Jones in a publicity photo for Cluny Brown

Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, and Louis Hayward in "And Then There Were None"

And Then There Were None (1945) is a mystery movie directed by Rene Clair and starring Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, and Louis Hayward. The film is an adaptation of Agatha Christie's 1939 novel of the same name. 

Eight strangers are invited to a small isolated island off the coast of Devon, England, by a Mr. and Mrs. Owen. Two newly-hired servants, Thomas and Ethel Rogers greet them to the secluded mansion, but their hosts are absent. As the guests sit down to dinner, they notice a centerpiece featuring figurines of ten Indians. Thomas plays a record and a man's voice accuses them all of the murder! 

Are they really all guilty? Is this all a cruel game concocted by the mysterious Mr. and Mrs. Owen?

Rene Clair (1898 - 1981) was a French film director and writer. He directed silent films in his native France but was lured to Hollywood where he directed five films. His first American film was The Flame of New Orleans (1941) starring Marlene Dietrich. The film was not a success and it would be a year before he made another American film. His most popular American film was And Then There Were None (1945) based on Agatha Christie’s novel of the same name. After World War II, Clair returned to France where he was considered one of that country’s best film directors.

Barry Fitzgerald (1888 – 1961) was an Irish stage, film, and television actor. He appeared in many notable films over four decades including Bringing Up  Baby (1938), How Green Was My Valley (1941), Going My Way (1944), None but the Lonely Heart (1944), and The Quiet Man (1952). He was a member of the Abbey Theatre and made his film debut in Juno and the Paycock (1930) directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Walter Huston (1883 - 1950) was a Canadian singer, stage, and film actor. He is also the patriarch of the Huston clan that includes his writer-director son John, and his granddaughter, actress Anjelica. Huston worked in the theater, with roles on Broadway where he made his debut in 1924. Once talking pictures began in Hollywood, Huston worked as both a leading man and also a character actor. Some of Huston’s films include The Virginian (1929), Rain (1932), Gabriel Over the White House (1933), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, directed by his son John. Huston’s last film was The Furies (1950) co-starring Barbara Stanwyck and Wendell Corey.

Louis Hayward (1909 – 1985) was a British-American actor. He worked on the London stage under the tutelage of Noel Coward. He made some films in England in the early 1930s and came to Broadway in 1935 working with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in Noel Coward’s Point Valaine. His Broadway fame brought him to Hollywood where he was cast in some minor roles before getting starring roles in The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), My Son, My Son! (1940), and The Son of Monte Cristo (1940). Hayward was married to Ida Lupino from 1938 to 1945.

To watch the film on YouTube, click the link below.

To join the discussion on December 6, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and link to the discussion on Zoom.

Discussion questions:

1. Agatha Christie's novel has been filmed over ten times, are you familiar with any of the other versions? If so, how does this version hold up?
2. Would you have guessed this was the same director who directed I Married a Witch and It Happened Tomorrow?
3. The film features many prominent character actors; did you have a favorite?
4. What did you think of the top-billed stars: Fitzgerald, Huston, and Hayward?
5. Did anything surprise you?