Finally got around to watching LITA which had been yet another of them fully aware of/never seen ones. Yeah, I had heard all the yada yada yada that Gary Cooper was too old for the part just like Humphrey Bogart before and Fred Astaire next and Cary Grant later. BALONEY. What was there worked and once again the too young Audrey H (ah!) made it thoroughly believable.
It brought out the incurable romantic that is still me. In spades. But I'm too old for that stuff.
And oh that Franz Waxman (ah! again) and the way he adapted "Fascination" and "C'est Si Bon." Just like Sayonara and whatever else I can't recall at the moment. It was beautiful to a superlative degree. The ending!!
Here and hear!! [for the eyes and ears of the unspoiled among us]
It's too bad the clip ends at the moment of her father's reentry. Maurice Chevalier was just plain wonderful in this film, the dialogue between him and Cooper near the end a highlight.
The pause in the music after her being swept into the train ends in such a stunning cue after he says "be quiet" for a second time even softer than the first. Magnificent placement of scoring.
Too bad the clip here ends only a few minutes before that final wry fadeout of the little band playing "Fascination" on the train platform. Marvelous witty touch.
