to instigate the dissolution of their union. His recommendations were incorporated into the script, and the final draft of the screenplay was approved. During pre-production, the film's title was Lady in Ermine, which was changed to This Is the Moment when principal photography began. By the time the film was released, its title had been changed yet again. The film was Lubitsch's first musical project since directing The Merry Widow for MGM in 1934. It proved to be his last film. Eight days after principal photography began, he died of a heart attack, and Otto Preminger, who had completed A Royal Scandal when Lubitsch was forced to withdraw due to illness in 1944, took over the reins. He stipulated sole screen credit should go to Lubitsch "as a mark of respect and admiration for the departed master." Friedrich Hollaender and Leo Robin composed the five musical numbers performed in the film. The cast included Reginald Gardiner and Virginia Campbell, but an error on the promotional poster (pictured above) mistakenly credits "Virginia Gardiner." Critical reception Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called the film "a bright and beguiling swatch of nonsense cut straight from the rich, gold-braided cloth of best-grade Graustarkian romance and done in a nimble, playful style." He added, "Wrapped up in Technicolor, which complements the trappings and costumes, it is a luxurious something to walk into on a damp and oppressive August day. For Mr. Lubitsch was nothing if not thoroughly indulgent of the tastes of the workaday moviegoers for elegance, amplitude and splash. And he also was nothing if not generous—as far as his writers would be—with the twists and turns and conniptions of an aggressively impudent wit. Fortunately, both of these penchants have been amply supported in this film." TV Guide rated it 2½ out of four stars, noting it "is definitely not a Lubitsch film" and adding, "Though the production was lavish, the film has no life and remains an exercise in trite and contrived plotting." Douglas Fairbanks Jr. thought that Otto Preminger "ruined everything. No sense of humour, no fun, everything light in the... script was squeezed out... It just wrecked my [career] momentum, just wrecked it." Awards and nominations Friedrich Hollaender and Leo Robin were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "This Is the Moment," but lost to Jay Livingston and Ray Evans for "Buttons and Bows" from