The Swan (film)

Plot

The film, set in 1910, deals with the story of the daughter of a minor branch of a European royal house who is being considered as a wife for her cousin, the heir to the throne.

Princess Alexandra (Grace Kelly) is the princess, her cousin the crown prince, Albert (Alec Guinness), and her brothers' tutor Dr. Nicholas Agi (Louis Jourdan), a commoner for whom she thinks she may feel more affection than she does for the prince.

The princess's relatives – played by Jessie Royce Landis, Estelle Winwood, and Brian Aherne – are comically eccentric, and Agnes Moorehead, as the queen who shows up near the end to find out if the princess has made the grade, is crankily imperious. Leo G. Carroll plays their butler. Van Dyke Parks also appears in this movie.

Princess Alexandra is urged by her mother to accept Albert so that their family may regain a throne that was taken from them by Napoleon. Princess Alexandra tries to gain Albert's attention; he is otherwise taken with sleeping late, shooting duck and playing football with Alexandra's two younger brothers. Alexandra's mother urges her to show interest in the tutor, Mr. Agi, to make Albert jealous and stimulate a proposal from him.

Agi is already taken with Alexandra and when she invites him to the farewell ball for the crown prince he eagerly accepts. Later when they are dancing at the ball it appears that Albert is getting jealous but instead he is more interested in playing the bass viol in the orchestra.

Later, Agi tells Alexandra how he feels about her. She tells him that it was all a ploy to get Albert to propose to her and she suspected he felt this way. She realizes that she has some feelings for him but he refuses her. Albert comes to find out about this situation and is a little taken aback. Albert and Agi trade insults. Agi then storms out and tries to leave the next morning.

Alexandra, distraught over what happened, tries to leave with him, but he refuses her again. Albert's mother shows up and gets the entire story and is aghast. Albert gives his blessing to the pair and says that when he is king he will allow them back into the country. However, Agi ends up leaving the mansion without Alexandra.

Albert tries to console Alexandra by telling her she is like a swan: on the water she looks serene, but on land she is more like a goose. Albert then offers Alexandra his arm and they walk back into the mansion together.

Cast

Music

The score was composed by Bronislau Kaper and conducted by Johnny Green, with orchestrations by Robert Franklyn. One piece of source music, "Rakoczy March", an 1809 piece by John Bihari, was conducted by Miklós Rózsa.

MGM Records released two suites of portions of the music from the film on long-playing record after the release of the film. The complete score was released in 2004, on cd, on the Film Score Monthly label.

Reception

According to MGM records the film earned $1,763,000 in the US and Canada and $1,986,000 elsewhere but the high cost meant it resulted in loss of $798,000.

Earlier film versions

Original Broadway production

The original Broadway production of The Swan opened on Broadway in 1923, with Eva Le Gallienne as Princess Alexandra, Philip Merivale as Prince Albert, and Basil Rathbone as the tutor.