Diane (1955)
Contemporary review by Bosley Crowther for New York TV Times

Lana Turner, who has been plagued by the pangs of amour while captivating legions of admirers in a variety of films with exotic locales, again is the victim of true love in Diane, a royal romance of the Renaissance. The film was unfolded at Loew's State yesterday.

Although Miss Turner is kept quite busy maintaining her affair of the heart while staying abreast of French court intrigues, Diane is more stately than exciting, more pageant than play. Handsomely mounted and abetted by the fine colors in which it was filmed and, in a few instances, by the sweeping vistas provided by the CinemaScope camera, Diane is, nevertheless, largely peopled by play actors in a drama that rarely moves a viewer.

Credit a major portion of the deficiencies of this period piece to Christopher Isherwood's script, which might have delved more deeply into the mores and motivations of the nobles surrounding King Francis I and his son, Henri. Although Mr. Isherwood took some liberties with history, his story of Diane de Poitiers, Henri's attractive and sagacious mistress, surely must have been more persuasive and intriguing than what is projected here. His dialogue has the measured cadence but not the fire or depth of thought of Shakespearean speech. Miss Turner and the other principals certainly lack conviction when they speak such lines as "I would be loved as a woman, not worshiped as a goddess."

But director David Miller has managed to inject some action into such scenes as the climactic royal tournament, a passage of arms in which Henri is killed by his aide, Count Montgomery. Although jousting has been captured by cameras before, this sequence is equal to some previously filmed. And, the emotional clashes between Diane and Catherine de Medici, Henri's unloved wife, convey genuine feeling. The manners, dress and physical background of knighthood are pictorially depicted with apparent care for historic detail.

As Diane, Miss Turner is decidedly decorative in gemencrusted gowns and coiffures. Although history has painted Diane as a misunderstood figure, Miss Turner's portrayal is not historic. She is still misunderstood, but except for her scenes with Catherine, Miss Turner is beautiful but somewhat stiff in what is largely a sympathetic role. Marisa Pavan is impressive as the de Medici Queen, who tries desperately but unsuccessfully to make her marriage a happy as well as a political liaison. Roger Moore makes a tall and handsome Henri, the young prince and later king who loses his heart to his teacher, Diane.

Pedro Armendariz is properly tough and regal as the sovereign who heeds the counsel of Diane. A succession of nobles of the era, including Henry Daniell, as the villainous de Medici intermediary; Torin Thatcher, as Diane's ill-fated elderly husband; Sean McClory, as Henri's friend, and Sir Cedric Hardwicke, as Catherine's astrologer, figure briefly in the insidious court plotting. But they, like Diane, are a largely loquacious lot who declaim about memorable people and events but seldom bring them to life.

© 16 Jan 1956, NY TV Times

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