Video Review

The Private Affairs of Bel Ami (1991)

Reviewed by Steve Daly | Aug 30, 1991
EW's GRADE
B

Details Movie Rated: Unrated; Genres: Comedy, Drama; With: Geraldine Fitzgerald, Angela Lansbury and George Sanders; Distributor: Republic Home Video

The video release of this film is happy news for fans of George Sanders' particular brand of cinematic spleen. The Private Affairs of Bel Amicasts Sanders as a Parisian womanizer who uses marriage to advance his career while ignoring his one faithful lover (Angela Lansbury). Hollywood censors demanded a final comeuppance, but the star takes the full, decadent measure of his role when he eyes one middle-aged conquest and mutters, ''I have lighted a fire in an old, soot-filled chimney.'' At such moments Sanders makes stylish thoughtlessness totally compelling. B

Originally posted Aug 30, 1991 Published in issue #81 Aug 30, 1991 Order article reprints

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