Unfaithfully Yours (1948)

 Coming from anyone else,  I would've hailed this as a comic masterpiece, but coming from Sturges, I was a little disappointed.  A black comedy about a Conductor who wrongly suspects his wife of infidelity, about Three-fourths of Unfaithfully Yours is as witty as anything Sturges did in Lady Eve or Palm Beach Story.  The cast is great, with lovely Barbara Lawrence, getting all the best lines.  But then there's the other fourth.  We get some dull filler,  some of the worst slapstick I've seen (Rex Harrison is terrible at it), and Rudy Valle is criminally under-used.    

Best lines:

Barbara: You see, some men just naturally make you think of Brut champagne. With others you think of prune juice.
August: Oh, ho!
Barbara: You have nothing to laugh at!

Funniest Sight-gag:   The picture from the "even a child can do it" recording machine instruction manual   

Best Scene:  Alfred's dressing-down of August for siccing a detective on Daphne,

Summary:  All-in-all a good comedy, but not up to the level of  Palm Beach Story or Lady eve.  Uncharacteristically for Sturges, the film has its dull spots, and I'm not sure if Harrison was the best choice* for a screwball comedy.  Its the one Sturges film that could lose 10 minutes**. Best seen on DVD where you can skip around Rating *** 1/2 

* =   Sturges wanted James Mason 

** = Incredibly, this is after  Zanuck cut 20 minutes from the Sturges final edit.