The Ambassador's Daughter (1956)

The greatest movie ever!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Excruciating sex and romance comedy wherein the romance is applied by cutting to close-ups of star Olivia de Havilland gazing at her G.I. with stars in her eyes, though the sex never happens because this is hermetically-sealed 1956 and, of course, people didn't do such things. Out to prove her Ambassador father wrong, daughter Olivia goes out on a date with soldier John Forsythe (under the guise of a French model!) to prove he isn't a "mucker" (or, wolf). It gets worse from there. Forsythe's chatty buddy, who sounds like he's auditioning for a cartoon voice-over job, gets chummy with a senator and his wife while Forsythe has a confrontation with every person he talks to (he's far too intense and focused an actor to relax and be easy, and these fluffball surroundings have him looking like a deer in the headlights). Norman Krasna wrote and directed this misguided comedy, one without a single laugh or single engaging character (although Myrna Loy tries). It looks good in widescreen, but the script is a piece of lead, insulting to everyone from French fan dancers to bagpipe players to horny American G.I.s who can't even take in a show without arguing with the maître d' over their restaurant cover charge. * from ****

When Olivia DeHavilland played the title role in The Ambassador Daughter you have to ask yourself what in the world was she doing with parts that Audrey Hepburn should have played if she wanted it?Back of course in her salad days at Warner Brothers, Olivia would have definitely had a part like this, Jack Warner would have seen to it. Back in those days I could see her being cast with Errol Flynn as the young soldier. Of course back then there was no North Atlantic Treaty Organization and no American soldiers stationed in Europe. But that's indeed another story.John Forsythe is the young GI here and he's being used as a guinea pig in an experiment concocted by United States Senator Adolphe Menjou who's deeply concerned about the behavior of our GIs on leave in Paris. I sure hope Menjou's constituents were watching this movie and sent him packing post haste after the next election. Edward Arnold as the U.S. Ambassador to France and General Minor Watson are all in on this foolishness. This was Arnold's last film, not a good way to exit.Myrna Loy has a supporting part as Menjou's wife and she at least keeps a dignified front. What a shame that two giant cinema icons like Loy and DeHavilland should do this piece ridiculous fluff in their only joint screen effort.

Simply miserable film starring Olivia de Havilland as the daughter of the American ambassador to France. The trouble is that Edward Arnold, the ambassador, and the visiting senator Adolphe Menjou have very little to do in this hopeless film.It's basically the story of an engaged woman who meets a soldier by chance and the two engage in a whirlwind romance throughout Paris. Tommy Noonan as the friend of John Forsythe, the guy who courts de Havilland, and Myrna Loy, as the senator's wife, are both unable to salvage a poorly written film.At age 39, Miss de Havilland was way too old for the part.The story is nonsensical at best and Forsythe confusing de Havilland as a kept woman of the older Menjou is not written up to the hilt as it should have been.A shame that such a talented cast of thespians were wasted on this nonsense.

The only reason that Olivia de Havilland agreed to appear in this trifle must have been because it was going to be filmed in Paris where she was living at the time. On the positive side, there are great stars supporting de Havilland such as Edward Arnold, Adolphe Menjou and Myrna Loy, and they are very very good, as is the Star, but negatively speaking, the story has been done many times, but it could have been quite good, if a decent leading man had been engaged - there is no doubt John Forsythe was out of his depth, trying to compete with the players listed above. There were some bright moments of comedy, and it was good to see the Stars having a bit of a romp, but at times it is hard going. As lovely as she is, Olivia was too old for the part, but some of the shots of Paris helped a lot.