The Swan

A lovely movie!! Starring the lovely Grace Kelly (Princess Alexandra), the wonderful actor Alec Guinness (Prince Albert), and last but not least, the young and wonderful dashing Louis Jourdan (Tutor/Professor, Nicholas Agi), the trio knows how to make a lovely film. Alexandra is to be married to the Prince, to restore the lost throne, and then at a Ball, she falls inlove with Nicholas while dancing with him. She has to make a hard choice; either marry the man she loves, or become a queen with Prince Albert. There are funny parts, allot of Royalty, and is beautifully filmed, and a really good movie. 2 thumbs up!!

The summer of 1955 Grace Kelly read love letters from her real-life prince while sitting on the terrace of the Biltmore Estate in Ashville, N.C., waiting for the cameras to be set up for exterior shots of "The Swan." I saw the film for the first time in 1958 at the 25-cent movies for University of Illinois students in Champaign-Urbana. I thought my date that night looked like Louis Jourdan, the tutor who dared to love a princess. I watched the videotape of "The Swan" just before visiting the Biltmore Estate the summer of 1998. I looked for the rooms in "The Swan." They are studio sets.

Before her marriage to Prince Rainier, Grace Kelly made this next-to-last film for M-G-M, the royalty (though, alas, in somewhat of a decline from its glory days) of Hollywood's studio "system." I thought it, along with "High Society," a graceful exit for the lovely Miss Kelly, and M-G-M surrounded her with thorough professionals both before and behind the CinemaScope cameras. I especially enjoyed Alec Guinness, Jessie Royce Landis, and the wonderful Estelle Winwood, as well as Brian Aherne and Louis Jourdan. It's not available on DVD (and may possibly never be) and, I fear, the VHS version is formatted to fit the full screens of non-widescreen TVs. Too bad...It's a handsome production which, no doubt, won't visually impress very much when diminished by, ugh!, "formatting." What's wrong with "letterboxing," may I ask? Maybe it's the word itself!

I read a review proclaiming Grace Kelly was a young girl from Wisconsin, who made a hit in Hollywood, and became a real life princess. The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania native met her Prince at a photo match arranged by Paris Match in Monte Carlo, Monaco. She later transcended the realm of film and married the reigning prince of one of Europe's oldest principalities. Grace Kelly, later HSH Princess Grace of Monaco was as lovely as she was talented. She totally restructured Hollywood, giving it an old world elegance. This is the same charming appeal she brought to the film, "The Swan." She plays Princess Alexandra who finds herself torn between obeying her overpowering mother and marrying her cousin, Prince Albert, or following the dictates of her own heart. The battle for her heart is waged by two dashing gentlemen, the prince, Alec Guinness, and the poor but respectable tutor, Louis Jourdan. It is a movie that is entertaining and for those with a romantic disposition!

Alec Guinness and Grace Kelly and Louis Jourdan make a beautiful trio.

A very beautiful of Princess Alexandra who's to be married with the Crown Prince Albert, and instead falls inlove with the charming,handsome Tutor/Professor Nicholas Agi(Louis Jourdan). There's one choice she has to make: either let down the throne to marry the Professor or to restore the lost throne with the Prince. A good, funny beautiful movie, Two thumbs up!