Reviews

It is not hard to understand why this movie has never been released on anything but 16mm, which is how I came to see it. This movie is a bit too eccentric to actually accomplish it's purpose. The acting is much too stylized and emphatic with the plot rather weak. The interest in this film lies in the fact that has many firsts and lasts. It is Charles Boyer's last film, and Isabella Rossellini's first. It is also the last film that Vincent Minnelli directed, and close to the end of Ingrid Bergman's career. Other than that there is little to recommend it, but it does have some interesting footage of Rome. It is about a chamber maid who gains employment in Rome taking care of a declining socialite who once strutted across the world stage but who is now on the rocks. She is unable to accept being a has-been and continues to live in her mind as though she is still the consort of emperors. Her new chamber maid Liza Minnelli tries to support her as well as she can, although it is a hopeless task.

This appears to be more a demonstration of how MASH units work than in actually putting together a movie. Bogart is the only one who gives this film any life even though he seems to feel his time is being wasted, which it is. June Allyson is cute, but with a script this lame even cute can't go very far. Keenan Wynn as an army grunt spends his time raising and lowering tents and smuggling booze but his handlebar mustache is the most interesting thing about his role. It starts out with Bogart in a MASH unit clearly trying to hide his alcohol abuse which gets him in trouble, and then along comes June Allyson as a new nurse. He moves in on her in a way that would get him kicked out of today's army and then the movie gets more and more pointless with a completely predictable ending.