1948年由普萊斯頓·斯特奇斯執(zhí)導(dǎo)的《紅杏出墻》（又譯《吃錯藥》），似乎在告訴我們：男人對愛的渴望一點也不遜于女人，且男人在愛情中的小心眼，一點也不比女人大，而為了所謂絕對占有的愛，可在所不惜以至傾囊解出。囊，并非只是錢和物，還包括用腦用心，抑或花招百出，原是一場惡夢而已，乃至弄得雞飛狗跳和啼笑皆非。

一部電影要想得到喜劇的效果，并顯示出持久的生命力，這得靠電影綜合優(yōu)勢的給力。該片時隔六十多年后，仍頗有嚼頭。該片從導(dǎo)演、劇本、演員、攝影、音樂等各個環(huán)節(jié)上，可謂相得益彰，配合得天衣無縫。按巴贊的說法，三、四十年代的好萊塢電影，是電影類型的創(chuàng)新時代，并確立了好萊塢電影在世界影壇的絕對優(yōu)勢，因為電影的形式優(yōu)勢已被好萊塢攻占，所以五十年代后的各國電影，更多的創(chuàng)新體現(xiàn)在內(nèi)容與題材上。

由雷克斯·哈里森出演的樂隊指揮阿爾弗雷德，深愛著妻子（琳達(dá)·達(dá)內(nèi)爾飾演），原本愛得簡單本真，卻因妻子妹婿奧格斯特的小心眼而遷怒到愛妻，繼而懷疑她與自己的年輕秘書托尼有一腿。他的光火，愛妻還以為是他工作的解壓方式。而演出在即，阿弗雷德的大塊疙瘩無法祛除，只得化怒火轉(zhuǎn)嫁到偌大的劇院舞臺上，讓指揮樂隊的小魔棍成為策劃弒妻的最佳動力。手中的小魔棍既可詮釋美妙的音樂，亦可成為愛的迷思與利器。

隨著悅耳又激昂的交響曲彌漫在劇院中，他三段弒妻計劃同步上演：第一幕殺妻，以嫁禍于奸夫托尼。先讓妻子約托尼去跳舞為借口，利用剛剛發(fā)明的錄音機錄下“殺人、救命”的錄音，導(dǎo)演一場謀殺妻子的騙局。第二幕破財消災(zāi)，支付托尼一筆費用，讓他遠(yuǎn)走高飛，實際上可能人財兩空。第三幕玩轉(zhuǎn)“俄羅斯輪盤”，即與托尼玩左輪手槍，看誰走運能碰到這一顆子彈（也是唯一的一顆），結(jié)果自以為穩(wěn)操勝券的他，竟然“死”于自己的主意下。

看來這三個策劃都不靠譜，唯一成功的是現(xiàn)實中的樂隊表演，掌聲雷動，愛妻就在樓上深為感動，雖然這一日情勢突轉(zhuǎn)，感覺到一向愛她的阿弗雷德，對她顯得莫明其妙地憤然，但她還是沉浸于觀眾對他的掌聲中。

但阿弗雷德可不這樣想，他仍專注于弒妻計劃中，并要付諸實施。樂隊演出完畢，他立馬跑回家搬錄音機，準(zhǔn)備完成第一步計劃，可事與愿違，羈絆太多，等他疲憊不堪之際，愛妻趕到，說出有一次去托尼房間的緣由，原是她懷疑妹妹去了托尼處，于是到托尼房間，但發(fā)現(xiàn)妹妹不在就出來了，剛好這一幕被偵探社的人看到。

事情就這樣簡單，并非偵探社和他懷疑的愛妻與托尼劈過腿，如夢方醒，興奮莫明。從噩夢中清醒過來的阿弗雷德緊緊地?fù)肀燮?，如同影片一開始人們所羨慕的一幕，他在她耳邊溫柔絮語：我所得到的愛，如同千來來千位詩人所渴求的愛。

2013、6、29

Golden-Age Hollywood screwball fabricator Preston Sturges’ last feature film worthy of his caliber, UNFAITHFULLY YOURS stars Rex Harrison as a renowned conductor Sir Alfred de Carter, on the eve of his concert, he is deviled by the paranoia that his much younger wife Daphne (Darnell) might have an extramarital affair with his personal secretary Anthony Windborn (Kreuger) thanks to his philistine brother-in-law August Henshler (Vallée)’s presumptuous misconstruction.

The apprehension and exasperation of being cuckolded hangs like a rock over Alfred’s mind and Sturges only knows all too well, that for a man of Alfred’s Brobdingnagian ego, the last thing to do is to lay bare his suspicion point blank in front of Daphne, from blunt rebuke to mounting curiosity, until firmly convinced bythe circumstantial evidence, it all comes down to an increasingly fractious Alfred envisages three possible outcomes when wielding his baton in front of a full symphony orchestra and a full-house audience.

Every scenario is pertinently induced by a different classical piece from romantic-era he conducts and introduced by a cracking zooming-in shot right into Alfred’s eyeball, the overture of Rossini’s baroque SEMIRAMIDE triggers a murderous plan A which a framed Anthony to take the rap, yet what Wagner’s operatic TANNH?USER suggests is a plan B with lenience and munificence, whereas plan C of a Russian roulette derring-do is influenced by Tchaikovsky’s symphonic poem FRANCESCA DA RIMINI, a special treat for musos and cinephiles alike.

Sardonically, reality is, more often than not, not exactly what we have imagined, so during his execution of one of the plans after the concert (interestingly, the choice of the plan betrays Sturges’ arch amalgamation of comedy and morbidness), a knockabout transpires in a slightly labored fashion which plays up to Alfred's clumsiness, and he is merely stuck in the preparatory step with the“so-simple-it-operates-itself” home recording unit when Daphne returns, thus an air-clearing finale is all we need to put everything back to the status quo.

A motormouthed Rex Harrison simulates a great impression as a conductor andrelishes Sturges’ long-winded screenplay which jollily throws barbs to the folly of machismo, meanwhile,Linda Darnell is hobbled as a virtuous beauty with a little more to act (albeit it is all in one’s figment), yet, quintessentially it is Sturges’ trademark witticism and sleight-of-hand that marks this oldie a treasure to be appreciated by posterity and here is thetakeaway quip to round off my review - “If there is one reassuring thing about airplane, they always come down.”

referential point: Sturges’ SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS (1941, 7.1/10); David Lean’s BLITHE SPIRIT (1945, 7.3/10).