Watch The Affairs of Cellini For Free

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

A duke takes a lover, so what does the duchess do? Take one of her own, of course! It doesn't help that the duchess's lover has been marked for execution by the duke who has no idea of what's going on in his own palace.Obviously, the name of the game here is sex, although the production code wouldn't let them make that obvious. Constance Bennett is the flirtatious duchess, the younger wife of the Duke of Flirence, played by the Oscar nominated Frank Morgan. Bennett is attracted to sculptor Frederic March, playing the title character who is in love with innocent Fay Wray. When the duke meets Wray, he decides to add her to his court, and no intention of including Wray's bearded mother, the delightfully funny Jessie Ralph.Speeding by with Morgan definitely a scene stealer, this came in a year of Hollywood history lessons, all more based on Encyclopedia synopsis with fictional dramatic elements to flesh them out. This is pure entertainment and succeeds on the fact that it is obviously a historical fairy tale and that any resemblance between this and historical fact was a total accident.

Edwin Justus Mayer's play about the life of Renaissance master sculptor Benvenuto Cellini ran for 241 performances in 1924-25 and Joseph Schildkraut and Nana Bryant played Cellini and the Duchess of Florence on Broadway. However Frank Morgan repeats the role he did on Broadway as the Duke of Florence and from then on he was typecast.This was an interesting phenomenon showing the power of the cinema to typecast someone. Morgan had done this same role on Broadway and well, but he did all kinds of parts on stage and screen before The Affairs Of Cellini. But when he repeated this particular stage role he was forever typecast as the fumbling, bumbling fool. Very rarely in his screen career after The Affairs Of Cellini did he deviate from this, the movie-going public came to want to see him in many variations on the Duke Of Florence and from then on he was typecast.The story is a long bedroom Renaissance farce where the talented, but amorous Cellini is constantly getting in scrapes of one sort or another, always over a woman be she married or not. Fredric March plays Cellini and he steals a bit from Douglas Fairbanks's swashbuckling shtick. He's a good artist though and the indulgent Duke keeps forgiving him and the Duchess played by Constance Bennett has her eye on him.However one time when the Duke catches sight of the model that March is using he decides to invoke some of his noble powers to get her into his court. That arouses Bennett's ire and March is put out as well. He starts pushing the envelope real hard by putting the moves on a less than resistant duchess.The model is played by Fay Wray and the only way I can describe her is a Renaissance valley girl. But that's exactly what's got both Morgan and March real interested.The Affairs Of Cellini got four Oscar nominations including one for Best Actor for Frank Morgan. He lost to Clark Gable for It Happened One Night. Still Morgan is who you really remember from The Affairs Of Cellini.

Because this movie starred Fredric March, I was sure to see it. However, after seeing it, I can't exactly say it's a must-see film...or that I even liked it. It's not that it's a bad movie, but it's not all that great, either.March plays the title character--a man who was a goldsmith for the Medicis in Renaissance Italy. Through much of the film, Cellini spends his time chasing women and killing people in sword fights (wow...Freud would have had a field day if he'd ever met a guy like this). It's all very well acted yet stilted because it's essentially a costume drama--the sort of films I don't particularly like--though I am a huge fan of classic Hollywood. My problem with this film and others like it is that so much energy and time and money is spend on sets and costumes that the rest of the film usually suffers. The only real plus for the film is the nice and jovial performance by Frank Morgan--he was a lot of fun and quite in his element. Otherwise, it's just another costumer combined with a light comedic/romantic touch--the sort of film Errol Flynn or John Barrymore (during the silent era) would have excelled at if they'd been given such a role.As for me, I never got into the film very much as it seemed like a silly sort of trifle of a film, but also could see it was a quality production. Perhaps there were just too many knowing glances between Constance Bennett and March to make this a particularly rewarding film to watch.

Nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Actor for Frank Morgan (best known for his many roles in "The Wizard of Oz"), this film is a rare gem that's well worth it's 80 minutes. The film showcases wonderful performances from an all-star cast that includes Fredric March ("The Best Years of Our Lives"), Fay Wray ("King Kong"), and Constance Bennett. Witty and clever dialogue is a strong point in the film and everyone makes this comedy as funny as it can be.Fox Movie Channel is showing this from time to time, so definitely stop and see it if you have the chance. Not only will you get to a rare Oscar-nominated film, but a brilliant comedy with a remarkable cast.