A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Ernest Lubitsch used the charms and abilities of his leads Charles Boyer and Jennifer Jones to get some maximum performances out of them and make his next to last film Cluny Brown a great success. I've not heard that Lubitsch had to contend with Jennifer's husband and Svengali David O. Selznick on the set, but it's a safe bet they clashed because Selznick could not help interjecting himself where his wife was concerned.Jones is the daughter of English plumber Billy Bevan and the most interesting thing is that in this English setting her non-English speech pattern is perfectly acceptable even against Bevan's cockney accent. Jones was also perfectly acceptable in another English part in Love Letters and certainly got no criticism. The camera always loved Jennifer Jones and in parts like Cluny Brown as the girl next door she lit up the screen.Boyer as often as not played a whole lot of European types not necessarily French. Here he's a Czech refugee over in the United Kingdom fleeing from Mr. Hitler. The film is set in Neville Chamberlain Great Britain and Boyer is one of many bringing unpleasant news to the British public.After Bevan rescues Jones from Boyer and Reginald Gardiner Jones is placed as a maid at a country estate where she meets Boyer again. There should be some class barriers, but Boyer breaks them down and Jones is more than agreeable.Lots of agreeable Lubitsch touches and a minimum of Selznick interference make Cluny Brown still a treat after over 60 years.

Jennifer Jones as a plumber's niece who is reduced to being a scullery maid. She lands in the same home with playboy Peter Lawford's parents. Charles Boyer plays a Czechoslovakian hiding out from the Nazis as it's 1938. The picture could have had so many themes but instead it is greatly reduced due to the unbearable writing.The story jumps from Lawford being with playgirl Bette Cream, their supposed break-up followed by an announcement that they're marrying. Lawford's parents are supposed to be of royalty but instead they act more like imbeciles until the bedroom scene between mom and Ms. Cream.What excitement could have been generated with Boyer fleeing from the Nazis. This is just mildly glossed over while he looks at with loving eyes Miss Jones (Cluny) who acts almost as she did as the young Miss Dove 9 years later.Richard Haydn, 19 years before being the impresario in "The Sound of Music" comes across like Peter Sellers. I now think that Seller's intonation was based on Haydn. The latter's mother Una O'Connor never speaks but is constantly clearing her throat. As usual, Sara Allgood, as the head housekeeper is given little to do other than possibly becoming romantically involved with the head butler in this farce.The ending is too predictable. Chalk this up to fine actors being victimized by an impossible script.

I thought this movie started out well: funny and unusual, with the main character of a female plumber in London. I was anticipating lots of funny situations as Cluny plied her trade around the city. But Cluny is quickly moved into the boring typical role of housemaid in a stuffy English manor, and nothing much of interest happens after that. Within days she becomes engaged to the local chemist (I found it unbelievable that such a beautiful woman would settle for the unattractive, dull chemist as a suitor: surely men from miles around (of every class!) would have been beating a path to Cluny's door!).Good performances from Jennifer Jones (although her British accent wasn't very strong) and Charles Boyer, however.

Cluny Brown is an orphaned teenage girl working as a plumber's apprentice for her uncle, and living in London between the World Wars --and between classes. While cleaning out a clogged sink, she meets an older, expatriate Czech freedom-fighter, Professor Bilinsky, and starts a battle of the genders. She is also romanced by the scion of a gentry family and a local middle-class chemist (pharmacist).Cluny is lost in Britain between the wars. The British class system is still strong in the late 1930's. Cluny, however, does not fit into the rigid castes of the day. She's not exactly working class (she has too much natural intelligence and style) -- nor is she middle class (too independent) -- nor manor born (cockney through and through). She too practical for the chemist and too rough for the gentry. She ends up being hired as a maid, and not a very good one at that, dropping food and not knowing when, where, and to whom to speak. Of course, the Professor is also outside the system -- he has to borrow evening dress just for dinner and has no visible means of support.Cluny dates the other men before she realizes that she's a better match for Bilinsky -- and for the US, where class strictures are less strict.The acting is all-around excellent. Peter Fonda shows his chops at this early phase of his career. The screenplay and direction are especially fine. "Cluny Brown" is a wonderful treat. I saw it at a revival, but I urge you to rent it if you can.