Based on Volpone (in the text all
over the place) from Ben Johnson—a play in the 17th century. It’s
witty. Definitely feels like Agatha Christie or Charlie Chan (in the text as
well) or even Perry Mason (also in the text shown at a home in Italy in a funny
scene).
It’s a talented cast- but it is Rex
Harrison’s show. He’s perfectly cast as the rich, dirty old man (“She was like
a combination of a 17 year old Venus and giant squid—she wore me out”) with
lines like “I know money… and there’s never enough”
I think it would also go onto
influence Sleuth and Deathtrap- especially in the 1 on 1
Cliff Robertson vs. Harrison scenes (and they have strong chemistry). All of
these films feel stage-bound and so does this. It makes you marvel at something
like Inarritu’s Birdman even more.
It was cut from 151 to 132 minutes
but it’s still too long. It was never going to transcend the “Recommend”
grade/evaluation but still.
Hayward is doing a Liz Taylor
southern dynamo from like Cat on a Hot
Tin Roof
Very Lion in Winter where the film is really a series of conversations
with two people in a room at a time—the writing and performances not on that
level
There’s a long scene (with Robertson
and Maggie Smith) where it drags—the film needs Harrison to carry it
Its fringe-archiveable and must have
seen ancient in 1967 in comparison with The
Graduate and Bonnie and Clyde
Ends poorly with the us cheaply going
to Smith’s inner monologue voice-over and then to Harrison’s voice-over
posthumously
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