Even the greatest artists have works that are less successful than others, and Ernst Lubitsch is not an exception. It isn’t even a matter of him ever having made a truly bad film, or even one that wasn’t worth watching, but rather that there are a few that pale in comparison to some of his others. That Uncertain Feeling was always going to be a difficult film to embrace, especially in hindsight, since it was sandwiched between The Shop Around the Corner and To Be or Not to Be, the unimpeachable masterpieces that defined the director’s career and helped make him not only a wildly popular director at the time, but established him as amongst the most important filmmakers of his generation. In a career as lengthy and prolific as his, it was a foregone conclusion that some films would be less effective than others, and unfortunately one of his more notable examples comes in the form of this one, which has many interesting ideas, but slightly fumbles a few of them through a misalignment of tone, a very bizarre sense of humour and a narrative that may have been ahead of its time, but had many strange ideas that weren’t able to be developed as a result of conventions, which needlessly restricted this film from having the immense potential it could have had, with the structure and general premise being promising enough to make us wonder how effective it could have been had Lubitsch (as well as screenwriters Walter Reisch and Donald Ogden Stewart) been allowed to have his original vision realized, rather than being hidden under layers of relatively innocuous, harmless comedy, which has value, just not on the same level as some of his other works.

Despite being one of his weaker efforts, That Uncertain Feeling is not without its merit – in fact, there are an abundance of wonderful moments that make it well worth our time. Lubitsch rarely (if ever) made anything that was not at least partially entertaining, and while this may be one of the more experimental projects that saw him tinkering with certain new ideas that may not have been all that well-realised, this is clearly a work that bears his distinctive, fascinating directorial touch. The most peculiar aspect of the film is that this is a story that not only centres on the concept of divorce, but is actually very positive about it, and considering this was produced over eight decades ago, where mainstream American culture was still propelled by the supposed belief that a happy, long-lasting marriage is not only ideal, but mandatory. Lubitsch himself was known to reiterate this belief (albeit in more creative ways, and where there was an actual sense of genuine human connection, rather than just a series of convienient moments that coalesce in a happy ending), so to see him doing something so different is truly surprising, and one can only imagine how those in charge of enforcing the draconian conventions may have felt when realizing how subversive this story was. However, its all part of the experience, and Lubitsch knows how to transform the story into something quite special – but it takes a short amount of time, since That Uncertain Feeling plays as a dour melodrama for the first act, before hitting its stride and becoming the hilarious comedy-of-manners that we expected from the director, who does his best to keep us engaged, even when the story is slightly too abstract at times.

Beneath the melodrama and off-the-wall humour is a story that is remarkably revolutionary, perhaps not in the way we may expect, but rather in how it handles material that was very unique for its time. Considering most of his work adhered to the idea of a fairytale ending for his protagonists, for That Uncertain Feeling to keep us guessing as to whether the protagonists will remain together or divorce (and where we genuinely cannot figure it out until the final moments) is proof that it is something remarkably different, a radical departure from the entertaining but toothless romantic comedies of the time. Expectations are essentially what causes this film to feel underwhelming, since we may go in expecting a hilarious screwball comedy, but instead emerge having experienced a very darkly comical satire on the institution of marriage, written by a pair of screenwriters who seem to have a profound umbrage for married life (whether or not this carried over into real life is unclear, but it would not be surprising if a lot of this screenplay was used as a place to work through their own marriage-related quandaries and frustrations), and it presents a far more cynical perspective on romance, one in which a happy ending may eventually arrive, but it was never once inevitable, and simply existed as a means to tie up the loose ends and adhere to the standards of at least ending the film on a high note (had this film concluded a scene earlier, it would have been one of the more bleak endings of a romance from this period, and there is an argument to be made that such an approach may have improved the film considerably, as opposed to the tacked-on resolution that feels out of place), and the film’s ability to be cynical without resorting to misanthropy is very effective, and is responsible for many of its more interesting ideas.

Lubitsch was always able to attract a high-calibre of talented actors to appear in his films, and very rarely depended on a repertory company, only collaborating with certain performers if he felt they were appropriate for the roles. This essentially meant that his films contain a blend of character actors and major stars, each one of them doing solid and compelling work due to having roles tailor-made to their gifts. That Uncertain Feeling is anchored by a trio of tremendous actors – Merle Oberon and Melvyn Douglas (two of the most versatile actors working in Hollywood at the time) are the feuding lovers who find themselves on the verge of supporting, while the young and rambunctious Burgess Meredith is the deranged pianist who inserts himself into their lives, and refuses to take any form of rejection as an answer to his frequently strange advances. The three leads are exceptional, and manage to capture both the melodramatic sadness of the first act and the off-the-wall hilarity of the other two, convincingly playing these parts that draw on their individual skills in order to be successful. It’s a very unique cast, and it is kept quite small, and therefore never had the opportunity to spiral out of control, since the more intimate, character-based approach to the story inherently serves as the foundation for the humour that pulsates throughout this film and which makes it such a terrific piece of not only conceptual satire, but character-based humour.

When Billy Wilder and other filmmakers spoke fondly about “the Lubitsch touch”, which was his standard technique to elevate any material to a place of profoundly moving, effective humour, it was only referring to his unimpeachable masterpieces, but also those middling works that would have been dreadful had it not been handled by someone who could temper the tone and produce something both compelling and insightful in equal measure. This doesn’t mean That Uncertain Feeling is without its flaws – some of its ideas are far more effective than others, and it’s clear that some could have been more developed. Whether this is a fault of the director or the people who had to ensure that the film met the standards of the time remains to be seen, but there are numerous lost opportunities in which the film could have been one of the most delightfully subversive satires of the time (especially since other divorce comedies included the plain Mr and Mrs Smith, which was far from the bold and ambitious social comedy many expected it to be), but instead settled for a more straightforward approach that may offer consistency, but at the expense of telling an even more compelling story, one that was radically ahead of its time, and far more interesting than the final product here. Not necessarily a failure, but also not a film that represents Lubitsch at his best, That Uncertain Feeling is an apt title for a film that is never sure what it wants to be, but at least tries its best work with the resources it had at its disposal, resulting in a charming but otherwise conventional comedy.