Arch of Triumph
The rough cut of the film ran four hours. In reducing it to two hours, several actors were cut, including Ruth Warrick. She does appear briefly in the restored 133-minute version.,When Ravic takes his gun and goes to look for Haake in the streets, the first shot of him has been reversed for some reason as evidenced by the signs he passes, which are backwards.,Joan Madou: He wanted to kill me. They always talk about it but they never do.
[laughs]
Joan Madou: You wouldn't want to kill me.,Featured in Legends of World Cinema: Charles Boyer,Long After Tonight
(1948) (uncredited)
Music by Rudolph Polk
Music by adapted from the Russian folk song "Prochlada"
Lyrics by Ervin Drake and Jimmy Shirl
Sung by an uncredited singer dubbing Ingrid Bergman at the Scheherazade casino,Not sure about this one. There's much to like; the atmosphere, the camera work, the lighting and shadows, the closeups, the acting. But something's missing, perhaps continuity, or the impression that it all somehow fits together. Taken as a series of vignettes this film is very good. Combine the vignettes to tell a subset of the original story and it could be even better. But put it all together and it succumbs under the sheer weight of all the subplots.

And yet, despite my criticism, I am pleased to have seen it. As I said there's much to like, especially the acting. Louis Calhern is always a joy and here he lends a nuanced gravitas to his part. Charles Boyer is better than usual playing a tormented refugee torn between love and revenge. Charles Laughton is the pivot about which the story revolves and without him his one dimensional character would have been but a caricature. There's even a memorable cameo by an uncredited William Conrad. His scene is no more than a minute or so but it's not one you're likely to overlook or forget. But the best reason to watch it is of course Ingrid Bergman. Her effortless ability to switch personalities simply draws you in to her performance. Here she plays an insecure wreck, an incredibly seductive, infuriatingly deceitful and mostly terrified woman. Her character's choices are not perhaps entirely honorable but with Bergman who cares...,