NAUGHTY ARLETTE

Mai Zeiterling and Hugh Williams 

NAUGHTY ARLETTE (aka The Romantic Age/1949). Director: Edmond T. Greville.

A girls school hires its first male instructor, a middle-aged English teacher named Arnold Dickson (Hugh Williams of The Fake). Dickson has a daughter, Julie (Petula Clark), who attends the school, and a wise, lovely wife named Helen (Margot Grahame of Orders Are Orders). But that doesn't stop Dickson from succumbing to the charms of one of his students, the sexy French girl Arlette (Swedish actress Mai Zetterling), who only makes a play for the sap to get even with him for his dismissive treatment of her. Naughty Arlette is not a particularly memorable movie, but it boasts excellent performances from the entire cast and some sensitive moments in its relatively superficial study of an aging, not very sexy man who somehow needs the attentions of a pretty young woman. (In movies like this, the wives are much too forgiving). Petula Clark [Goodbye, Mr. Chips] later became internationally famous with her rendition of "Downtown" in the sixties. The ending with Arlette's butler giving her her comeuppance is amusing if somewhat improbable.

Verdict: Perhaps Arlette just isn't quite naughty enough. **.

THE FAKE

THE FAKE (1953). Director: Godfrey Grayson.

Paul Mitchell (Dennis O'Keefe of Weekend for Three) is investigating the theft of a couple of da Vinci paintings when he arrives at the Tate gallery in London. Once there, he suspects that the da Vinci in their collection is a fake. One of the main suspects for the forgery is an unsuccessful painter named Henry Mason (John Laurie of Island of Desire), whose daughter, Mary (Colleen Gray of The Phantom Planet), works at the gallery and is appalled and angered by Mitchell's suspicions, which hardly helps him make time with her. Others mixed up in the case include Smith (Guy Middleton), Peter Randall (Gerald Case), and Sir Richard Aldingham (Hugh Williams). Will Mitchell survive this investigation as the forger gets increasingly desperate to avoid capture? The only really interesting thing about this by-the-numbers movie with its TV-like production is that the score is based on Mussorgsky's "Pictures from an Exhibition." The acting is decent.

Verdict: Not quite a fake movie, but close. **.