Cinema: New Picture, Mar. 24, 1947

The Private Affairs of Bel Ami (Loew-Lewin; United Artists) is the latest example of Albert Lewin's passion for bringing musky literary classics to the screen. Writer-Director Lewin is responsible for movie versions of Maugham's The Moon & Sixpence and Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. His adaptation of Maupassant's coldly sardonic novel Bel Ami is his smoothest job to date. But it also clearly defines the limitations of Mr. Lewin's kind of movie art.

A caption warns the audience, straight off: "This is the story of a scoundrel"—i.e., he is not to be mistaken...

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