A Breath of Scandal (released as Olympia in Italy) is a 1960 American/Italian international co-production romantic comedy-drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, based on the stage play Olympia by Ferenc Molnár. It stars Sophia Loren, Maurice Chevalier, and John Gavin, with Angela Lansbury, Milly Vitale, Roberto Risso, Isabel Jeans and Tullio Carminati. The film is set at the turn of the 20th century and features lush Technicolor photography of Vienna and the countryside of Austria. The costumes and lighting were designed by George Hoyningen-Huene. Loren disagreed with Curtiz's direction, so director Vittorio De Sica was hired to reshoot certain scenes with Loren after hours without Curtiz's knowledge.

Plot

In 1907, the widowed Princess Olympia of the Austro-Hungarian Empire has been banished from the imperial court to her late husband's country estate. The bored princess spends her time improving her rifle marksmanship by using flowers, statues and the postman as her targets. When she tires of that, as an expert equestrian as well as an expert markswoman, she rides a wild stallion to her hunting lodge. On the way, she is thrown from her mount by the appearance of an automobile driven by American mining engineer Charlie Foster. Intrigued with Charlie, Olympia feigns injury and keeps her royal heritage a secret from him, for Charlie believes her to be a peasant. Treating her with first aid, Charlie lends her his own pajamas but mistakenly gives her a sleeping pill with a glass of wine that sends Olympia into a deep sleep.