Customer Reviews

The Swan [VHS]

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I bought the video by accident, I was expecting a cliche-type of movie. The kind of sugary set-ups Hollywood dishes to its innocent 1950's audience. But as the movie progressed, this assumption was immediately put in doubt. Halfway through it, I was so engrossed by the characters and the story, that I had no idea how it would all end and who would get the girl. That's how well-written this movie is. It makes you sympathetic to all the characters. Here, there is no one person who is the designated evil one. The only villain here is the social situation. A situation that has the characters caged by their social positions and what is expected of them.

Grace Kelly plays Princess Alexandra, a member of a royal family without its own throne or crown. Predictably, Alexandra's mother hopes her beautiful daughter will marry the Crown Prince Albert (the excellent Alec Guinness) so they may regain the family's prestige and financial security. Alexandra knows this is her duty and the rest of the royal family , including the tutor, Professor Agi (Louis Jourdan), who happens to be secretly in love with the remote Princess, understands this. But when the Prince visits the family, he is indiffirent to Alexandra, finding her cold and icy. Beatrice, Alexandra's mother, desperate to snag the Prince, orders her daughter to flirt with the unsuspecting Professor in order to make the Prince jealous. But things get complicated when real feelings are finally revealed.

Much of the success of this movie cna be credited to the witty script and the excellent performance of the cast. Grace Kelly was perfect as the elegant Princess who seemed unattainable. She is an excellent actress. Her gradual transformation from remote icicle to a woman deeply in love is a marvel to watch. It is a finely shaded performance wherein she slowly peels away each layer of her icy veneer to reveal a very human and romantic heroine. Louis Jourdan as the Professor is at par with Kelly. His was a very open performance, perfectly in tune with the Professor's innocent character. He is dashing and handsome, yet so vulnerable at the same time. You can't help but root for him 'til the end. His chemistry with Kelly is also electric. You can feel every romantic yearning the two characters have for each other, even without any words being said. In fact, one of the most romantic scenes in this movie is one that has zero dialogue. This is the scene where the Princess and the Professor dance the waltz. Here, we gradually see the Princess returning the Professor's feelings as he gazes at her with all his romantic hopes. Alec Guinness is every inch a prince. He is witty and gracious, but very aware of his rank and self-importance. Guiness pull off the role with so much dignity and humor that you can't help but like the guy.

The supporting characters are also fun to watch. Uncle Karl is wise and understanding, even if he does kinda help in maneuvering the Princess to take a hold of her feelings. Beatrice is also interesting as a more subdued Mrs.Bennet type of character. Aunt Synforosa and the two young princes provide much of the comic relief in the movie.

It's amazing how a film so grounded in reality could inspire so much romance. Despite its bittersweet flavor, you can't help but sigh when you see how beautiful Alexandra and the Professor look together. They just seem so right for each other. But then, hearing Uncle Karl's advice and Prince Albert's pragmatic statement, you find yourself sadly nodding in agreement. It reminds you once again that love and romance are luxuries royals cannot afford.

Nevertheless, the movie still makes the viewer root and cheer for love, being the underdog that it is. For that achievement alone, this movie ought to be rendered one of the best classics in Hollywood. In fact, this viewer wouldn't mind a remake or a sequel to be produced in the near future. Thanks for reading.

Director: Charles Vidor
Studio: Warner Home Video
Video Release Date: December 5, 1990

Cast:

GraceKelly ... Princess Alexandra
Alec Guinness ... Prince Albert
Louis Jourdan ... Dr. Nicholas Agi
Agnes Moorehead ... Queen Maria Dominika
Jessie Royce Landis ... Princess Beatrix
Brian Aherne ... Father Hyacinth
Leo G. Carroll ... Caesar
Estelle Winwood ... Symphorosa
Van Dyke Parks ... George
Christopher Cook ... Arsene
Robert Coote ... Captain Wunderlich
Doris Lloyd ... Countess Sibenstoyn
Edith Barrett ... Elsa
Bess Flowers ... Guest at the Ball

This is a wonderful story. It is said that Grace Kelly was responsible for the movie being made in the first place. She liked the story and persuaded the studio to make it. Princess Beatrix (Jessie Royce Landis) is a domineering mother of an erstwhile royal family, ousted from the throne in the past by Napoleon, whose name she forbids the use of in her house.

Prince Albert (Alec Guinness), her cousin, and the current crown prince, is coming to visit the household for a few days. The queen, his mother, Queen Maria Dominika (Agnes Moorehead), will join him shortly. Princess Beatrix has designs on Albert marrying her daughter, Princess Alexandra (Grace Kelly), in order to restore the family to the throne when Albert gets the crown.

But there is a thorn in Beatrix's plan. The tutor to her two small sons and Alexandra, in fencing, Dr. Nicholas Agi (Louis Jourdan), although considered to be low class and below consideration by Beatrix (and therefor also by Alexandra) is in love with Alexandra. Albert is cool to Alexandra, and Beatrix tries to get him interested by engineering a triangle, using Nicholas. It backfires, and therein lies the story.

It sound, in the telling, like a soap opera, but as played--because of the skill of the actors and the direction--it is a compelling drama. Grace Kelly, Alec Guinnsss, Louis Jourdan, Agnes Moorehead--how could it fail to captivate the audience.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre
author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

This movie has an above average script and is not a typical MGM film. The acting is excellent, the set beautiful, and the costumes divine. It is an altogether charming film. I found the ending very satisfactory and pleasantly surprising. I also think it is extremely remiss of the other reviewers to give away the ending of this movie before potential buyers have watched it.

When I first glimpsed the title of this movie, I thought it would be a fairy tale, but that is not true. The situations and realities of this movie are those that one might expect to have been played out in real life. Grace Kelly shines as the "ice princess." She perfectly characterizes Princess Alexandra. However, the real praise should go to Louis Jourdan, who I thought played the part of the lovestruck professor brilliantly. This is a movie for anyone who loves Grace Kelly, Louis Jourdan, or love stories in general.

I found the characters in the Swan very likeable, even Alec Guinness who plays Prince Albert. Grace Kelly was a little remote but she is an excellent actress. Louis Jourdan is very convincing. (need I say more?) The elderly aunt was very funny too. The sets and scenery are gorgeous, very cleverly put together film. Worth seeing!!!!!!!!

This is the kind of movie that nowadays would be scoffed at as too sentimental & bittersweet. I enjoyed it, however, if for no other reason than that of Grace Kelly's exquisite beauty and presence. She has the kind of face that makes one weep. Alec Guiness & Louis Jourdan are great in this, as well. One of the film's strong points is that Alec Guiness's character, Prince Albert, is portrayed not as an obnoxious, unlikeable villain--as might be the case in more cliched versions of this not very original story--but rather as a basically decent, albeit quirky, bachelor matter-of-factly going about the business of trying to find a queen. One ends up rather liking his character.

One of Grace Kelly's final two releases in 1956 ("High Society" being the other), prior to her royal marriage and disappearance from film history, "The Swan" has been mostly absent from the public eye, until this new release from Warner Archives. Yes, there is a pan-and-scan VHS floating around, and I had a letterboxed laserdisc that was certainly the best way to see this film (unless TCM showed it once in a great while), but the new Warner DVD finally brings the film into sharper focus than it has been for many years, and it proved to be a pleasant surprise. The letterboxing is very good and very necessary to appreciate the beauty of the palatial settings (both outdoor and on the set), capturing the magic of the original Cinemascope, and although the color seems a bit pale at times, it is probably accurate for the time, when 1950s color was being toned down in favor of the muted tones we were about to see throughout the next several decades of filmmaking (oh, for the glory days of Technicolor!)

Grace Kelly was a variable actress in terms of range and versatility, generally best used by Hitchcock in "Rear Window" and "To Catch a Thief," where his ability to bring out her humor and sensuality were unbeatable. Perhaps a bit overpraised for her Georgie in her Oscar-winning performance in "The Country Girl" two years before (let's not get started on the Judy Garland Oscar loss) and a bit underpraised for her Tracey Lord in "High Society" (not Hepburn, it's true, but surprisingly effective nonetheless and very game), her performance in "The Swan" never quite becomes the centerpiece of the film that it should be. As the fledgling princess who would be a queen, her performance is inconsistent; her "shy" scenes are not quite believable, and her aggressive scenes are not much better. She needs to hold the center of this film, which is truly a comedy of manners based on an old play by Ferenc Molnar, but something is missing. Perhaps director Charles Vidor (whose distinguised career highlights were the fabulous Technicolor gloss of "Cover Girl," the black-and-white ambisexuality of "Gilda" and above all, the romantic hard-knock realism of "Love Me or Leave Me") was the wrong director for this piece of gossamer flimflam. Similarly, Louis Jourdan as the lovelorn tutor spends too much time mooning and swooning over Grace, and when he turns angry, it just seems petulant and not very interesting (give me his Gaston in "Gigi" any time).

No, what makes this piece come to vibrant life is Alec Guinness as the amused and amusing monarch, who comes in search of his queen. Sir Alec may be remembered best by the mass of moviegoers for his "Star Wars" appearances, or his obsessive colonel in "River Kwai," but his performance here is more reminiscent of the small, droll British farces of the early 1950s turned out by Ealing Studios ("Kind Hearts and Coronets," "Ladykillers," "Man in the White Suit"). Of the three principals, only Guinness gets the real humor of the piece. He is immeasurably aided by the stellar supporting cast (Agnes Moorehead, Estelle Winwood, Leo G. Carroll, Brian Ahearne, the priceless Jessie Royce Landis) who all exhibit a similarly light touch that his type of film demands.

All in all, a pleasant way to spend two hours in a neverland setting. You may tune in for the beauty of Ms. Kelly and M. Jourdan, but it is Sir Alec that makes this fairytale magical.

I recently found a DVD copy from Hong Kong. I have the VHS but my tape player quit a long time ago and I was eagerly searching for the new format. This has got to be one of my favorite Grace Kelly movies, she is beautiful and excellent in this film as are all the other characters.Agnes Moorhead's(pre-Endora) short scene was fabulous. I would plead with all of you who love this film to contact MGM, no, pester them to death, to release this film on DVD.

I highly recommend this film. Grace Kelly is wonderful in it. It's a colorful film with some lovely costumes and good acting.

I absolutely adore The Swan. Why? Because it's a classic love story. Grace Kelly does an outstanding job as the Princess Alexandra. Alec Guiness is wonderful as Prince Albert. Loise Jordan is amazing as the love struck professer(with the looks to go with it! ) His acting is great and the way he looks at her you know that he is in love with her and her with him. But alas! Duty calls. Forced by both rank and position they must bid farewell to each other with only a kiss to console them. A great show! With wonderful humor and shot at the fashionable Biltmore Estate. Go see it!