The World of the Cinema — The Swan

The World of the Cinema

When Ferenc Molnár wrote, years ago, one of his stories, "The Swan" — the one that immortalized him and afterward inscribed his name among the ranks of the brilliant novelists — it never crossed his mind that this story of his, whose events turn on a princess's love for the prince of her dreams — it never crossed the mind of the author of this romantic story that its events would one day actually come true. It is as though Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, in choosing Grace Kelly to play the part of the princess, was preparing her, if only in acting, to live the events of her life to come — I mean her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco.

The story of "The Swan" turns on a princess named Alexandra, for whom her mother, Princess Beatrice, chooses a husband: Prince Albert — a flighty young man addicted to bachelorhood. The mother succeeds in inviting him to spend four days as her guest, but the prince shows no interest whatever in Princess Alexandra, despite the snares the mother lays for him. Then Princess Beatrice thinks of a dangerous game: she summons her children's tutor, the handsome young Agi, and prompts her daughter to show him tenderness in full view of Prince Albert, in the hope of arousing his jealousy and his interest. What the mother truly did not know was that this young man secretly worshipped the beautiful princess, as a shepherd worships one of the stars glittering in the sky; and it had never crossed his mind that his golden dreams would one day come true, and that he would see in Princess Alexandra's eyes the echo of his own suppressed feelings!

Matters developed swiftly, beyond all reckoning, and Princess Beatrice sensed that her daughter had actually begun to love the tutor — and that was no part of her appointed plan... On the night before Prince Albert's return home, at the close of his visit, a great ball was held in the palace in his honor. Prince Albert danced with the mother, paying no heed to Princess Alexandra and her infatuation with the young tutor. And suddenly, as though a veil had been lifted from his eyes, the prince looked at Princess Alexandra as if he saw her for the first time, swaying in her splendid womanly beauty. In his heart there awakes a feeling long asleep, and from the violent, rapid beating of his heart he understands that he loves the princess — but what is to be done, when this stranger youth stands between them?! After a quarrel between the two men over the lovely princess, the tutor withdrew, feeling his own smallness and his material and moral unfitness to possess this precious treasure — and the field is left clear for Prince Albert, who turns back from his flightiness and takes his princess in his arms. Forever.