silverscreen888 Review of Cyrano de Bergerac

Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)

Classic of Honor; a Great Part and a Great Performance; Inspiring

[9/10 · 27 July 2005]

Th original play, a fictionalized biography of Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmund Rostand, from which the film was drawn, is one of the chief ornaments of the nineteenth century's literature. It belongs to the pre-World War One era; its central character, however, appears to me to be a late-nineteenth century mind. He is a fabulous swordsman, the bravest and most intelligent of soldiers, and a man whose very-large nose has destroyed all other aspects of his life. Believing he has been cheated by nature, he takes out his vengeance upon the pretentious; he appoints himself an avenging angel against all forms of fraud. Eventually, this includes the flower of French nobility who dare to insult him. He is in love with his cousin Roxane, the most beautiful woman at the French court; but he consents to write love letters to her for his handsome, courageous but ungifted friend, perhaps to prove to himself that his creative talents might have won the love of the world's fairest ornament, so long as she did not know he were the unattractive source of such beautiful utterance.When the beautiful young man is killed in the wars, during which Cyrano becomes a popular hero, he continues the deception. He brings Roxane in her abbey retreat court news, and comforts her in her widowhood, all the while opposing the tyrannical and overbearing new faction at court. Finally they attack him; managing to keep his appointment with Roxane, against medical advice, although grievously wounded, he makes a slip, She finds out he was the author of the original love letters, and Cyrano dies, delirious, inveighing against his ancient enemies--the sins of the overbearing nobility-totalitarians--and claiming that he had kept his "white plume"--his honor--unstained always, despite all fears and temptations. He dies, a symbol of a lost society and a betrayed Age--and she weeps for him at the end. This estimable film was produced by Stanley Kramer, and directed by Michael Gordon. It presents a good deal of dialogue, but the pace if deliberate, it is also serviceable at almost all points. Carl Foreman wrote the screenplay from Brian Hooker's translation of the play; and it still looks like a play at a few points. But the very-difficult dueling and war sections appeared to me to work very well as cinema. Franz Planer did the unusually dense B/W cinematography; original music was composed by Dimitri Tiomkin. The production was designed by Rudolph Sternad, with set decorations by Edward G. Boyle. Dorothy Jeakins did the lovely gowns for Roxane. In this production, Ferrer is arrogant and frequently superb. He roars, he insinuates, he flashes his intellect as poet the way other men do their rapiers; and with a sword he shows himself to be seemingly beyond equal. His dispatching of an arrogant nobleman who tries to stop him from chasing a bad actor off the stage is the film's showpiece; he finally kills him, but not before delivering his ripostes and thrust in rhyme and offering the fellow a way out. Accepting dainties from a servant girl he takes only a sip of water and half a macaroon--his way of acknowledging the worth of her admiration, and his freedom from weakness. He finally betrays himself at the end to Roxane as the author of her letters by quoting one to her in a light so dim he could not be reading it. Mala Powers is good as Roxane but not great. As her lover, William Prince is very good and properly stiff. The presence of talents such as Lloyd Corrigan, Morris Carnovsky, Edgar Barrier as Cardinal Richelieu, Virginia Christine and other fine actors helps the production's success. This is a difficult part to bring to life; it requires a nasal bite in speech, perfect diction, charisma, a suggestion of depth of soul, high intelligence and even hubris, as well as regard for others. Ferrer did the part about as well as it has ever been done on film; one has only to compare his interpretation to those of others to appreciate the level of his triumph. It is an award-level achievement; and the film, while a bit stagey at several points is also beautiful, memorable and very different in the attainments of its dialogue, its poetry and its ideas.