Interesting to note that The Swan's screenplay writer/adapter, John Dighton, also co-wrote the screenplay for "Roman Holiday", since one can logically assume that MGM's decision to film Molnar's play "The Swan" was inspired by the success of the earlier film; the similarities are obvious.
"Swan" must be regarded as one of the great DIALOGUE films of the '50's; the exchanges between all of the characters are continually witty and engaging, and the cast clearly relished the opportunity to perform such beautifully written material.
The direction is fine and, except for a few slow patches, keeps the action and dialogue moving at a rapid clip. The performances are uniformly solid, with Alec Guiness in top form as the bemused, distracted and somewhat shallow Crown Prince Alexander; a more deft and perfectly controlled performance could not be imagined.
Jessie Royce Landis also excels in a typically thankless sort of role, and a major one at that. In fact, the expert performances are clearly the result of the high level of STAGE experience of Guiness, Landis, and Brian Aherne (as the aristocrat-turned-monk Karl), among others. You almost feel that you are watching Molnar's original play in a filmed version, so fascinating is the chamber-like, character-driven nature of the dialogue and action.
The scene near the end where Alec Guiness convinces his mad-cap Queen/mother (Agnes Moorehead) to unknowingly give her blessing to the romance between Grace Kelly and Louis Jordan is but one of the many delightful, dazzlingly-delivered dialogue scenes.
Oddly, I found Grace Kelly's much-heralded performance to lack a certain amount of intensity; her screen presence rarely seems particularly commanding; this may be due to the essentially reticent nature of her character. However, she definitely seemed to "catch fire"--in all of her understated, regal beauty---during her lengthy waltz scene with Louis Jordan. One really senses the awakening of her deepest emotions, even though she only occasionally glances at her partner. And then goofy Alec Guiness decides to go play the double-bass in the court orchestra instead of romancing Grace. I laughed out loud.
My reaction at the end of the film was rather unexpected, given what I knew of the "Roman Holiday-style" ending. In that film, I was heart- broken during Gregory Peck's long, lonely final walk. But here---due entirely to the very real, conflicted nature of all three principal characters, I felt that Grace Kelly's choice may have been, in fact, the better one. It's difficult to know, human nature being a rather complex thing. And therein lies much of the brilliance of this film.
Bronislau Kaper's score is also delightful, and beautifully captures the musical idiom of the era and its locale, the "swan song" as it were of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, whose faded glory would become extinct less than a decade later.
A FILM THAT SHOULD BE FAR BETTER KNOWN AND ACCLAIMED THAN IT IS.
LR
