Bluebeard's Eighth Wife should have been a match made in heaven, bringing together as it does the wonderful screenwriting team of Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett with the inimitable director Ernst Lubitsch, and featuring a high-wattage cast including Claudette Colbert, Gary Cooper, David Niven, and Edward Everett Horton. Unfortunately, Bluebeard is a mess of a movie. Wilder and Brackett were not operating near the top of their form, and despite a number of funny lines and amusing situations, the story never takes off. Lubitsch directs in an uncharacteristically fuzzy manner, as if he is unsure of what exactly either he or the film wants to say. But the most fatal problem lies in the casting of Gary Cooper, a fine actor who is totally out of his element here. The role calls for a man with the easy sophistication of Cary Grant, which Cooper simply doesn't have in him; he substitutes his usual guilelessness and innocence instead, which are totally wrong for the character. Even worse, they make Colbert come across as rather unsympathetic. The entire picture is thrown off balance, and it never really rights itself. Bluebeard is not without some charm, and it's not painful to watch, but it is a major disappointment.
by Craig Butler
review
