CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Martha Wilcox Madeleine Carroll is way passed her best in this film and it comes towards the end of her career when she was making one film a year. I've never been a fan of Carroll even when she was in the Hitchcock films. And she added nothing to Cecil B. DeMille's 'North West Mounted Police'.George Sanders plays an older man, but in flashback when he plays his usual self he is taken by Jeanne Crain. He was better in 'Samson and Delilah' which came out the same year.I think Otto Preminger's handling of 'Laura' was far superior. This offering comes nowhere near the quality of 'Laura' in terms of story, performance, direction and production values.

st-shot Truncating the title and adding a little addendum of his own to the story director Otto Preminger offer's up a well polished version of Oscar Wilde's, Lady Windermere's Fan. A devastating Victorian satire in its day Preminger updates the opening to post war London with two of the now doddering principals drawn once again together over the fan re-kindling memories of when it first played such an important role in their lives.At an auction selling objects from bombed buildings Lady Erlynne (Madeline Carroll) attempts to reclaim a fan given her decades earlier. The auctioneer is reluctant to part with it on her say so unless she can find a witness. She goes and looks up "cad from the past" Lord Darlington (George Sanders) to vouch for her and after an initial re-buff the two recall the bell époque together and how his deviousness almost ended a marriage while her sacrifice saved it.Preminger seamlessly injects the war as a catalyst to springboard the play as well as add a sly touch that reveals itself comically at the end. With his ability to speak film language as well as anyone The Fan flows with long takes and fine performances by the principals Carroll, Jean Crain, Richard Greene and George Sanders who seemed born to play Wilde characters.The Fan is one well crafted work that Preminger elevates by eschewing the easy task of filming a classic stage satire and adding a stark but unobtrusive contemporary sub plot that not only advances the storyline but in the true spirit of Wilde pays homage to his timeless words.

vincentlynch-moonoi I was looking forward to this old film because of its cast -- the lovely and talented Jeanne Crain, Madeleine Carroll, Richard Greene, and the always interesting George Sanders. Unfortunately, the first third of the film was rather disappointing...almost dull. But then, the mystery begins and things get far more interesting -- why is Richard Geene paying large sums of money to Madeleine Carroll? Is it an affair? Almost certainly...except that it isn't.Jeanne Crain was, in my view, one of the loveliest actresses of her era, and she shines here, although I would say this film is more of an ensemble cast than a star vehicle. Madeleine Carroll -- in her last film -- is absolutely riveting here, not to mention mysterious. It's a rather odd film for George Sanders in that he's the character he so often played in the parts of the film that are flashbacks, but a very elderly gentleman for much of the story. Richard Greene, whose career pretty much stalled after the way, was still doing nicely here...a fine and underrated actor, though this is far from his best role.I was a little disappointed at the end of the film that we have no idea what happened to Jeanne Crain and Richard Greene. Dead in the war? We never know.Personally, I slightly preferred the 2004 film adaptation of the Oscar Wilde story -- "A Good Woman", which takes place in Italy. It starred Helen Hunt, Scarlett Johansson, and Tom Wilkinson. It had its own flaws, but it didn't suffer from the first third of the film being awkward. Although, I thought the rest of the Jeanne Crain version was better. Kind of a toss up, really.

dbdumonteil Based on an Oscar Wilde,a delightful bittersweet period piece which is some kind of reductio ad aburdum that conjugal love can be the way to happiness and that you must not throw it all away.A long flashback,where a fan sold in auction becomes the Madeleine de Proust which revives memories of long ago,when the two people who meet again after all those years return to a time when they were young and handsome.It's also a good lesson in teaching us that things are not necessarily what they seem.It is also a scathing attack on this society of snubs ,those privileged classes whose favorite pastime is putting their fellow men (and women) down.