Cluny Brown is a 1946 American romantic comedy film made by Twentieth Century-Fox starring Charles Boyer and Jennifer Jones . It was directed and produced by Ernst Lubitsch following a screenplay written by Samuel Hoffenstein and Elizabeth Reinhardt based on the 1944 novel by Margery Sharp . The music score is by Cyril J. Mockridge . The film is a satire on the smugness of British high society and the last film Lubitsch completed before his death in 1947.
26-460: In 1938 London Cluny Brown meets Adam Belinski while she is fixing a plumbing issue at Mr. Ames's, and the two strike a chord. Later, at a party at Ames's, the self-obsessed Betty Cream is pursued by two young men: Andrew Carmel and John Frewen. Cream stumbles upon a sleeping Belinski, whom the men recognize as the prominent anti-Nazi author and professor. Andrew offers Belinski a place to stay at his family's residence outside London, before he leaves for
52-519: A nightingale under the window. Later, Belinski finds Brown and they realize that they are out of place at the Carmels' and make a pact to be platonic friends, even though Belinski is clearly interested in her. One afternoon, Brown tells Belinski that she has been invited by chemist Jonathan Wilson to meet his mother. At Wilson's, Brown is amazed by Wilson's mannerisms and array of skills. Meanwhile, Belinski rings Wilson's doorbell and disappears. After
78-465: A stronger face-pattern, including a pale supercilium . The song of the male nightingale has been described as one of the most beautiful sounds in nature, inspiring songs , fairy tales , opera , books , and a great deal of poetry. However, historically most people were not aware that female nightingales do not sing. It is a migratory insectivorous species breeding in forest and scrub in Europe and
104-561: Is Latin for "nightingale" and megarhynchos is from Ancient Greek megas , "great" and rhunkhos "bill". The common nightingale is slightly larger than the European robin , at 15–16.5 cm (5.9–6.5 in) length. It is plain brown above except for the reddish tail. It is buff to white below. The sexes are similar. The eastern subspecies ( L. m. golzi ) and the Caucasian subspecies ( L. m. africana ) have paler upper parts and
130-487: Is a small passerine bird which is best known for its powerful and beautiful song . It was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae , but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher , Muscicapidae . It belongs to a group of more terrestrial species, often called chats . "Nightingale" is derived from "night" and the Old English galan , "to sing". The genus name Luscinia
156-403: Is assumed to be important in defending the bird's territory. Nightingales sing even more loudly in urban or near-urban environments, in order to overcome the background noise. The most characteristic feature of the song is a loud whistling crescendo that is absent from the song of its close relative, the thrush nightingale (Luscinia luscinia). It has a frog-like alarm call. The bird is a host of
182-423: Is the focus of Sophocles ' tragedy, Tereus , of which only fragments remain. Ovid , too, in his Metamorphoses , includes the most popular version of this myth, imitated and altered by later poets, including Chrétien de Troyes , Geoffrey Chaucer , John Gower , and George Gascoigne . T.S. Eliot 's " The Waste Land " also evokes the common nightingale's song (and the myth of Philomela and Procne). Because of
208-639: The Palearctic , and wintering in Sub-Saharan Africa . It is not found naturally in the Americas . The distribution is more southerly than the very closely related thrush nightingale Luscinia luscinia . It nests on or near the ground in dense vegetation. Research in Germany found that favoured breeding habitat of nightingales was defined by a number of geographical factors. In the U.K.,
234-576: The Tablet of Ahmad , The Seven Valleys , The Hidden Words , and the untranslated Tablet of the Nightingale and the Owl. Chat (bird) About 30, see text Chats (formerly sometimes known as "chat-thrushes" ) are a group of small Old World insectivorous birds formerly classified as members of the thrush family (Turdidae), but following genetic DNA analysis, are now considered to belong to
260-452: The acanthocephalan intestinal parasite Apororhynchus silesiacus . The common nightingale is an important symbol for poets from a variety of ages, and has taken on a number of symbolic connotations. Homer evokes Aëdon the nightingale in Odyssey , suggesting the myth of Philomela and Procne (one of whom, depending on the myth's version, is turned into a nightingale ). This myth
286-515: The arrogance of that perfection. The nightingale is used symbolically in the Baha'i Faith to represent the founder Baha'u'llah . Baha'is utilise this metaphor to convey how Baha'u'llah's writings are of beautiful quality, much like how the nightingale's singing is revered for its beautiful quality in Persian music and literature. Nightingales are mentioned in much of Baha'u'llah's works, including
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#1732791236986312-475: The bird is at the northern limit of its range which has contracted in recent years, placing it on the red list for conservation. Despite local efforts to safeguard its favoured coppice and scrub habitat, numbers fell by 53 percent between 1995 and 2008. A survey conducted by the British Trust for Ornithology in 2012 and 2013 recorded some 3,300 territories, with most of these clustered in a few counties in
338-407: The city. Brown's uncle (also her guardian), disapproving of her unladylike behavior, sends her to work as the parlor maid for Andrew's family (headed by Sir Henry and Lady Carmel), much to her displeasure. Upon arrival, Brown is put under the contemptuous eyes of housekeeper Mrs. Maile and butler Mr. Syrette. At dinner, Brown is surprised to see Belinski. After dinner, Belinski is shown to a room with
364-410: The female sang when it is in fact the male. The song is loud, with an impressive range of whistles, trills and gurgles. Its song is particularly noticeable at night because few other birds are singing. This is why its name includes "night" in several languages. Only unpaired males sing regularly at night, and nocturnal song probably serves to attract a mate. Singing at dawn, during the hour before sunrise,
390-409: The memory of the nightingale's song makes man happy." The nightingale is the official national bird of Iran . In medieval Persian literature , the nightingale's enjoyable song has made it a symbol of the lover who is eloquent, passionate, and doomed to love in vain. In Persian poetry, the object of the nightingale's affections is the rose which embodies both the perfection of earthly beauty and
416-486: The morning. The next morning, Andrew decides he will settle the score with a fight. Brown falls ill and Belinski suddenly announces his departure. He asks Maile to give her his parting present and wishes Brown well with Mr. Wilson. Just as Belinski leaves, Brown rushes out and catches up with him at the train station. She reveals that while Mr. Wilson was disappointed by her behavior that night, he will ask his mother to give her another chance. However, Belinski ushers her onto
442-476: The muse. The nightingale has a long history with symbolic associations ranging from "creativity, the muse, nature's purity, and, in Western spiritual tradition, virtue and goodness." Coleridge and Wordsworth saw the nightingale more as an instance of natural poetic creation: the nightingale became a voice of nature. John Keats ' " Ode to a Nightingale " pictures the nightingale as an idealized poet who has achieved
468-518: The night, and the guests, sensing that things have gone wrong, leave just as suddenly and quickly; Mr. Wilson is exasperated and has second thoughts about his intentions with Cluny Brown. That evening, Belinski enters Cream's bedroom, asking her to be nicer to Andrew, but Cream believes Belinski is trying to seduce her and screams. A furious Andrew tries to confront Belinski but Lady Carmel persuades him to sleep. In Cream's room, Cream tells Lady Carmel that she intends to marry Andrew and will tell him so in
494-513: The pair's meeting, Belinski finds Wilson and acknowledges that he is a good man for Brown. Belinski tries to dissuade Brown from engaging with Wilson but she misinterprets his words and becomes more smitten with him. Andrew has a row with Cream in London. He is shocked to find that Cream is a guest at the Carmel residence the following day. Belinski persuades Cream to let Brown, her personal maid, off
520-608: The poetry that Keats longs to write. Invoking a similar conception of the nightingale, Shelley wrote in his “A Defence of Poetry": The nightingale is the national bird of Ukraine . One legend tells how nightingales once only lived in India , when one nightingale visited Ukraine. Hearing sad songs from the people, the nightingale sang its song to cheer them up. The people responded with happy songs, and since then, nightingales have visited Ukraine every spring to hear Ukrainian songs . National poet Taras Shevchenko observed that "even
546-499: The rest of the evening so she may attend Mrs. Wilson's birthday party, where Wilson may announce his engagement to Brown. When something goes awry with the plumbing during the Wilsons' party, Brown cannot resist the chance to show her skill at plumbing and bangs loudly and disruptively with a wrench on the offending pipe until it is fixed, startling the Wilsons and their guests. Mrs. Wilson, expressing her disapproval, promptly retires for
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#1732791236986572-565: The southeast of England, notably Kent, Essex, Suffolk, and East and West Sussex. By contrast, the European breeding population is estimated at between 3.2 and 7 million pairs, giving it green conservation status ( least concern ). Common nightingales are so named because they frequently sing at night as well as during the day. The name has been used for more than 1,000 years, being highly recognisable even in its Old English form nihtegale , which means "night songstress". Early writers assumed
598-402: The train. He professes his love to her, promising that to support both of them, he will write a best-selling murder mystery. They embrace and kiss. In the window of the "Fifth Avenue Bookstore", copies of Belinski's novels The Nightingale Murder and The Nightingale Strikes Again! are displayed. A New York Times review in 1946 called the film a "delectable and sprightly lampoon" and "among
624-416: The violence associated with the myth, the nightingale's song was long interpreted as a lament. The common nightingale has also been used as a symbol of poets or their poetry. Poets chose the nightingale as a symbol because of its creative and seemingly spontaneous song. Aristophanes 's The Birds and Callimachus both evoke the bird's song as a form of poetry. Virgil compares the mourning of Orpheus to
650-503: The year's most delightful comedies". A reviewer for Variety wrote " Cluny Brown is in the best Lubitsch tradition of subtle, punchy comedy, and his two stars make the most of it. It is a satire on British manners, with bite and relish." Cluny Brown was adapted to radio and presented on Star Playhouse on November 15, 1953, starring Celeste Holm in the title role. Nightingale The common nightingale , rufous nightingale or simply nightingale ( Luscinia megarhynchos ),
676-473: The “lament of the nightingale”. In Sonnet 102 Shakespeare compares his love poetry to the song of the common nightingale (Philomel): During the Romantic era the bird's symbolism changed once more: poets viewed the nightingale not only as a poet in his own right, but as “master of a superior art that could inspire the human poet”. For some romantic poets, the nightingale even began to take on qualities of
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