Many great novels do not adapt easily to the cinema, and it was with a certain hesitancy that I watched this version of Stefan Zweig's ' Beware of Pity. ' It does not totally succeed, and the lead actor Albert Lieven did not seem quite right for the soldier who succumbs to pity towards a woman played by Lilli Palmer who has lost her ability to walk. I am not sure who in 1946 could have taken on such a complex and exacting role, but he does his best. Lilli Palmer by contrast is superb as the woman who tries to gain his love, but realises that she is asking too much and that pity towards her is intolerable. The direction is somewhat pedestrian but the supporting cast makes up for it, and Gladys Cooper ( a great actor who should be more remembered than she is ) is extraordinary as a blind woman who tries to convince the soldier there is a difference between compassion than pity. The film is set just before the First World War in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and it is the fatal shot at Sarajevo that precipitates the saddening climax. To reveal more would be unfair, and for those who have not read Stefan Zwieg this is a good introduction. I recommend finding this rare film.
Review of Beware of Pity
