With two top stars letting their hair down, a director at his most effortlessly professional, and a fine Paramount production that simulates German landscapes on the backlot, Mitchell Leisen’s Golden Earrings is entertaining in spite of its flamboyance.
The Production: 3.5/5
Mitchell Leisen’s espionage picaresque Golden Earrings is flamboyantly entertaining. With two top stars letting their hair down, the director at his most effortlessly professional, and a fine Paramount production that simulates German landscapes on the backlot, Golden Earrings may not earn points for realism but all of that fades in importance within the confines of its entertainment value.
British officer Ralph Denistoun (Ray Milland) relates to war correspondent Quentin Reynolds (playing himself) his amazing story of a mission behind enemy lines just prior to the start of World War II where he masqueraded as a gypsy in order to make contact with anti-Nazi German scientist Professor Krosigk (Reinhold Schunzel) to retrieve the formula for poison gas so that it wouldn’t fall into Nazi hands. The roads are treacherous and the dangers many as Denistoun makes his way through the Black Forest with the aid of loving gypsy Lydia (Marlene Dietrich) who claims Ralph as her own knowing full well the war will inevitably take him from her.
Screenwriters Abraham Polonsky, Frank Butler, and Helen Deutsch have elected to tell the story in flashback spoiling any surprise about Denistoun’s survival but leaving some twists and turns to delight the audience as the colonel and his gypsy love face one peril after another as they go after the McGuffin formula that almost becomes an afterthought until the final quarter hour. The scenario also allows Dietrich to sing some gypsy melodies, hum the title tune, and play the zither in addition to her many palm readings and jealous reactions to other women moving in on her man. The film’s big centerpiece is the reunion with the gypsy caravan where Denistoun and gypsy leader Zoltan (Murvyn Vye) must engage in a furious fight for superiority (captured quite nicely by director Mitchell Leisen in a mixture of close-ups and long shots) after which there is a feast and a sensual serenade where Murvyn Vye (fresh from his co-starring role as Jigger on Broadway in Carousel) finally translates the lyrics by singing the title song in English (music by Victor Young, lyrics by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston). His rendition is quite spellbinding, but it was Peggy Lee’s pop recording that sold the most copies. Elsewhere, there’s a fair amount of rear projection to help persuade the viewer of the movie’s European locales, but Leisen smoothly segues from real locations to studio-based shots in the best Hollywood style of the era. If the drama never revs itself up into great action or nerve-jangling suspense, it’s all easy to take and very pleasant in the final analysis.
Though Ray Milland commands top billing (he had just won the Oscar for The Lost Weekend and was truly at the peak of his career), Marlene Dietrich really steals the show as the flamboyant Lydia. She’s buried under layers of caked-on dark makeup and greasy hair (she’d repeat this look a decade later in Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil), but her feisty spirit and joie de vivre simply can’t be denied as she takes the rather starchy, straight-laced Ralph Denistoun and turns him into a gypsy before it’s over, consumed by his masquerade to the point that he learns to read palms and keep himself subjugated in scenes where Nazis bully and buffet him. Murvyn Vye has an exciting screen debut as the burly, blustering Zoltan while Bruce Lester is his exact opposite, meek and mousy as captured British officer Byrd who hero worships Denistoun. As the evil Nazis out to stop the British spies before they get to the gas formula, Dennis Hoey and particularly Ivan Triesault (who must have appeared as a Nazi in every propaganda movie in Hollywood during and right after the war) make solid impressions.
Video: 4/5
3D Rating: NA
The film’s 1.37:1 theatrical aspect ratio is firmly presented in this 1080p transfer using the AVC codec. In most of the film, the sharpness is excellent (sharp enough to easily detect Milland’s stunt double in the long shots during the fight sequence) and details in the close-ups quite fetching (of course, even under all that desultory make-up, Miss Dietrich receives the glamor treatment in her close-ups). But there is fading along the edges of the film in places compromising the black levels of the grayscale quite severely. There are also some random scratches, but they are usually very unobtrusive. The movie has been divided into 8 chapters.
Audio: 5/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono sound mix presents the fidelity of the era of audio recording quite distinctly. Dialogue has been professionally recorded and is never overpowered by the background score or the numerous sound effects. There are no problems with age-related anomalies like hiss, crackle, flutter, or pops.
Special Features: 2.5/5
Audio Commentary: film historian David Del Valle presents one of his as usual chaotically organized but nevertheless interesting ruminations about the film while he focuses most of his attention on director Mitchell Leisen and stars Ray Milland and Marlene Dietrich. Along the way, there is some misinformation present (Bing Crosby did not win the Oscar for The Bells of St. Mary’s) and a number of mispronunciations of people’s names to contend with.
Theatrical Trailer (2:17, SD)
Kino Trailers: Desire, Seven Sinners, Flame of New Orleans, Arise My Love, The Lost Weekend, So Evil My Love, Death Takes a Holiday, No Time for Love.
Overall: 3.5/5
Though they may not have gotten along off camera, Ray Milland and Marlene Dietrich heat up the screen with excellent chemistry in Mitchell Leisen’s espionage romp Golden Earrings. This 1947 tale of derring-do amuses and entertains rather effortlessly in its taut and tumultuous ninety-five minutes.
Golden Earrings
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Matt has been reviewing films and television professionally since 1974 and has been a member of Home Theater Forum’s reviewing staff since 2007, his reviews now numbering close to three thousand. During those years, he has also been a junior and senior high school English teacher earning numerous entries into Who’s Who Among America’s Educators and spent many years treading the community theater boards as an actor in everything from Agatha Christie mysteries to Stephen Sondheim musicals.
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