Silent films were still a relatively recent memory when this delightful vehicle for Clifton Webb was made (itself now nearly seventy years old) and the supporting cast includes actors, including Webb himself, who had actually been in silents.
There's the usual joke about Rin Tin Tin, but It's as much about television as the cinema, since it was through their use on TV as filler that silent films began their emergence during the fifties from their long hibernation of a quarter of a century; hence the recent look back upon the era in 'Sunset Boulevard' (which Fred Clark had also been in) and 'Singin' in the Rain' and the later popularity of TV series set in the twenties like 'The Untouchables'.
Webb's character in his silent star personification as a silent star recalls both the derring-do of Fairbanks and the suavity of Barrymore; while the way he made female hearts flutter (like that of his college principal Elsa Lanchester in this movie) but was sneered at by men recalls Valentino.
Another film it recalls is the satire on games shows, 'Champagne for Caesar'. But despite Ronald Colman's engaging performance in the former, Webb's character is in the long run less aloof and eventually rather warms to the relics of his misspent youth cherishably recreated here.
There's the usual joke about Rin Tin Tin, but It's as much about television as the cinema, since it was through their use on TV as filler that silent films began their emergence during the fifties from their long hibernation of a quarter of a century; hence the recent look back upon the era in 'Sunset Boulevard' (which Fred Clark had also been in) and 'Singin' in the Rain' and the later popularity of TV series set in the twenties like 'The Untouchables'.
Webb's character in his silent star personification as a silent star recalls both the derring-do of Fairbanks and the suavity of Barrymore; while the way he made female hearts flutter (like that of his college principal Elsa Lanchester in this movie) but was sneered at by men recalls Valentino.
Another film it recalls is the satire on games shows, 'Champagne for Caesar'. But despite Ronald Colman's engaging performance in the former, Webb's character is in the long run less aloof and eventually rather warms to the relics of his misspent youth cherishably recreated here.