Unfaithfully Yours

In less than a decade, Preston Sturges reeled off a series of successful comedies, many of which are considered classics today. At the end of this period was Unfaithfully Yours, a mixture of black comedy and sidesplitting, slapstick hilarity. The plot is centered on a stuffed shirt symphony conductor (Rex Harrison) who is wrongly led to believe that his wife (Linda Darnell) is having an affair. This leads to him imagining three plans of revenge, one of which involves murder. Of course, when they are put to actual use, none of them quite work out as expected.

Some critics have said that, an actor like Cary Grant – who had better comedy skills than Harrison – would have better filled the main role. However, Grant could not play a prim and priggish character like Harrison could (think Henry Higgins) and that quality makes watching him get his comeuppance even funnier.

The movie was remade with the same name in 1984 with Dudley Moore playing the conductor.