Breath of Scandal, A (1960)

A Breath of Scandal (1960), directed by Michael Curtiz.

A fairly bland romantic comedy. The setup is like Roman Holiday (1953) with a more hot-blooded princess (Sophia Loren). In 1907 Austria she is a royal merry widow who has been rusticated to a remote castle because of scandalous behavior at court. She tries her damnedest to seduce a straight-arrow American mining engineer, but later this complicates family plans for a royal wedding.

John Gavin is a problem: he is as stiff and handsome as a Ken doll, which is ironic because Loren is one of those rare women actually built like Barbie.

The timeless Angela Lansbury is a society cat, and Maurice Chevalier is the affable papa prince, curiously displaced from Paris. Some of the dialogue aims for Oscar Wilde wit, but it never really catches.

Just a bit of fluff, although richly made, and my wife says it's a keeper. Nice technicolor, especially in the vivid reds. Since this is Vienna we have elaborate costumes and waltzes in huge ballrooms. Rough dubbing in spots.

According to the wikipedia article, Loren had some of the scenes reshot after hours without Michael Curtiz's knowledge.

I never noticed before: she has large hands.