Luke warm comedy of manners. The storyline's done with style, but needed verve gives way to too much talk. The results are more sophistication than set-ups, more occasional chuckles than laughs. Larry (Douglas) is a married insurance executive. Trouble is he's neglecting wife Jill (Oberon) who's having hiccup bouts, probably because his main communication is poking her playfully in the stomach. So she takes up with squirrelly Sebastian (Meredith) who's an egotistical man of the arts. Now Larry's unhappy with the results, but what's he to do.Oberon and Douglas both low-key their parts. Add that to a talky script and we get some good lines and situations, but mild results overall. Looks like Meredith's sour artiste was intended to supply needed verve. However, his character is too obnoxious to generate much comedy. Too bad, as other reviewers point out, that Eve Arden's comedic potential goes untapped. Some caustic exchanges between her and Meredith would have livened things up. However, two comedic set-ups do stand out: the office scene where divorce plans keep misfiring, plus the climax where Larry pretends to have a girl in his bedroom to make Jill jealous. In fact, that last scene has the vivacious earmarks of a better total comedy than what we have otherwise.Anyway, it's New York sophistication done Lubitsch style, even if second rank.

THAT UNCERTAIN FEELING is based on a French play by Victorien Sardou. He was the leading French dramatist for most of the 19th Century, but his specialty of "the well made play" was lampooned into oblivion by later writers (most notably George Bernard Shaw, who labeled such carefully plotted works as "Sardoodledum"). Actually, like such good 20th Century dramatists as Terrance Rattigan, a really good drama can survive it's structural mechanics if the characterizations stand out to be true. Sardou's serious plays (like his historical plays) are too stiff to work today. But his lighter fare might still be able to work if up-dated.Lubitsch reset the story into modern New York. Melvin Douglas is married to Merle Oberon, and is a successful attorney. But their seemingly happy marriage has hit a dull spot. He is not aware of this but she is noticing his idiosyncrasies, and finding some too annoying for words: His habit of sticking his finger into her middle (playfully, of course) and saying "Keex" drives her up a wall. She tries a popular psychiatrist (Alan Mowbray, in a kind of reprise of a similar role from Lubitsch's DESIRE). Then she goes to an art gallery and meets eccentric pianist Burgess Meredith. He is a man who seems more full of sour, but honest, opinions about everything than he has musical talent. He goes from picture to picture telling Oberon what is wrong with each. "That painting won't live.", he declares of one work. Oberon, who can barely keep looking at it, says, "Thank God for that!".Meredith, with his sour view of most things, is soon ruining one of Douglas's business dinners (for a bunch of Hungarian businessmen, led by Sig Ruman). Douglas has a first rate Hungarian meal, complete with goulash for his guests, and even teaches - or tries to teach Oberon - to say a Hungarian toast for their guests. But Meredith dominates the evening, by insisting on playing a classical piece of piano music, and then 19 variations he has composed on it.Gradually Douglas tries to restore his marriage, but finds Oberon in a deep commitment to Meredith. This leads to one of the best scenes when Douglas and his partner Harry Davenport try to stage an act of cruelty against Oberon for divorce purposes. To do this they have to have Eve Arden as an unsuspecting witness to an escalating argument leading to a slap in the face. But each time Douglas can't bring himself to do it, until he basically downs two or three drinks. In the meantime Arden keeps noticing that Davenport (supposedly giving her dictation) is actually doing everything over and over again, including snapping his fingers at the moment that Douglas and Oberon are supposed to start their argument. The film ends with Oberon considering the good and bad points of Douglas and Meredith, to reach her conclusion about who to stay with. It is an obvious choice, perhaps, and it may seem to take her too long to decide, but the three leads give bright performances (supported by Davenport and Arden and the others). Not on the level of THE MERRY WIDOW or NINOTCHKA, but worth watching for some satisfactory chuckles.

Enjoyed this Classic Comedy with outstanding veteran actors who must have had fun making this film way back in the 1940's. Merle Oberon,(Mrs. Jill Baker),"A Song To Remember",'45, had problems with her hiccups whenever she got upset about things in her life and also the fact that her husband use to poke (keek) her in the stomach, which greatly annoyed her. Jill took these problems to her physician, Alan Mowbray,(Dr. Vengard)," I Wake Up Screaming",'41, who finally found out a solution for her problems. Jill Baker also runs into a crazy pianist and artist, Burgess Meredith (Alexander Sebastian),"Rocky V",'90, who seems to stop her problems with hiccups. However, Jill's husband, Melvyn Douglas (Larry Baker),"Hud",'63, begins to become curious about her relationship with this artist, pianist and all crazy and wild sorts of situations start happening through out the picture. This is definitely a Classic comedy film and if you love to see Merle Oberon act in an entirely different role, this is a good film to view and especially if you are a fan of Modern Art.

In "That Uncertain Feeling", good performances by the three lead actors give some life to a rather simplistic story. It is a mildly amusing movie, but there isn't enough to the plot or the script to make it any more than that.Melvyn Douglas and Merle Oberon play a married couple who seem to be reasonably content, but a chance meeting between the wife and an eccentric pianist (Burgess Meredith) suddenly threatens their whole marriage. Rather than choosing direct confrontation, the husband tries to use psychology to turn the situation in his favor, leading to some comic situations that only partially come off.The three leads are all pretty good, especially Meredith, who has the liveliest role. And Ernst Lubitsch directs with his usual dapper style. But there isn't really much of a story, and the behavior of the characters, while generally humorous, is too often completely implausible. So the movie is really never more than mildly entertaining.This will probably only be of particular interest to those who are fans of the director or one of the stars.