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DVD Darling Lili
A welcome new DVD life might be in store for Darling Lili, an underrated film whose reputation is mostly locked as one of the big, expensive flops that helped reshape Hollywood at the turn of the seventies. Julie Andrews was still at the height of her popularity when she began shooting this musical-comedy-drama with new husband Blake Edwards directing; budget overruns, studio interference, and the changing box-office climate all doomed the movie's disastrous 1970 release.
Even fans of the picture would have to admit that the weird storyline had something to do with it, too. Andrews plays a World War I singer in London and Paris who's actually a spy for the Germans (part of her cover is singing popular patriotic songs, such as "Pack Up Your Troubles" and "It's a Long Way to Tipperary"). Her new assignment is to get information from a famous pilot (Rock Hudson), but naturally she falls in love with him along the way. The movie's WWI aerial sequences (shot in Ireland) are a little like the film's approach: soaring, graceful, and disconnected from any carnage that might be happening in the trenches. However, if you can appreciate Edwards' slapstick prowess and commitment to the screwball-romance style of filmmaking, there's much to admire.
For one thing, Edwards photographs Julie Andrews with the loving devotion of a new husband. For another, his feeling for the widescreen frame as a big playground for lush color and busy action is well-served by the DVD release--this is a visually gorgeous movie. The new songs by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer include the superb opening number--evocatively shot--called "Whistling in the Dark." The DVD is billed as a "Director's Cut," but is shorter than the original release, a result of Edwards himself reportedly retooling the picture after 1970 (the disc has a whopping hour's worth of additional scenes). Whichever way it's sliced, Darling Lili was always going to be a strangely mixed movie, with Pink Panther-style bits sitting next to Mata Hari skullduggery. Fans of Julie Andrews and the vanished elegance of visual storytelling will find much to savor nevertheless. --Robert Horton
Shame on Paramount Studios for destroying such a good movie. If I were them I would fire the person who produced and edited this DVD version turning it into total mediocrity. And the gall to call it "The Director's Cut" is an unforgivable insult all around.
The original movie was 136 minutes. The Director, Blake Edwards cut it into 114 minutes. This version has 107 minutes which includes 8 minutes of music in the beginning and at the end which essentially brings it down to 99 minutes. Close to 15 minutes were cut by an idiot who did not even realize that the parts he was cutting were instrumental to the plotlines, robbing all the humor and spirit not to mention wonderful aerial scenes from the movie. This movie is a classic; you do not tamper with them. And watching 55 minutes of Additional scenes is more frustrating than anything else for they would have been better presented in their proper sequences. As it is, it only proves how much the viewer is missing. I think Paramount should remedy this error by releasing a Special DVD version, using all the 136 minutes for die hard fans of this movie. It will certainly become a Collector's Item.
Finally here, but not complete
When Amazon e-mailed me that Darling Lili was finally being released on DVD I was ecstatic. Unlike many critics I thoroughly enjoyed the film when it was first released. I nice romantic spoof, I thought. I still do, but with a little disappointment. As I watched my memory seemed to recall things not in this version. When I saw the special features and some additional scenes I found what was missing. The package indicates a 107 run time, but the original, according to Maltin's book, was 136 minutes. In making the "directors cut", Blake Edwards has cut too much. If it were up to me I would include the slightly longer version of the first dogfight. I would also keep the little bit where the French inspectors mistake Jeremy Kemp for a head waiter. I would also retain the charming sequence with the children marching and singing. Finally, it is almost a tragedy the way the scene at the Inn was edited; several very humorous bits were left on the cutting room floor. All this aside, it is still an enjoyable film with a nice mix of drama, a little music, a great deal of romance, and some humor; just not as much humor as the original.
One of my favorite films.
I was working at RCMH when this film opened. The Music Hall did great business with it probably because in those years you got a stage show as well. They say the film flopped in general release but i loved it. Great songs, great story, great acting and one of Rock Hudson's best films and seeing this film in 70mm and 6-channel stereo sound was the best. This is a great musical which is also beautifully filmed and shot in many locations in Europe. Enjoy this classic.
Screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky (Marty) sinks his satirical fangs into this story of an American naval officer (James Garner) selected to be the first victim at the invasion of Normandy. Julie Andrews plays a prim, British war widow who falls for him. Cynical in tone, the story becomes an interesting collision of manipulative interests and renewed life, the same formula that worked so well in Chayefsky's scripts for Network and Hospital. --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): James Garner - Julie Andrews - Melvyn Douglas Director(s): Arthur Hiller DVD Release Date: Released the 10 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) directed this adaptation of James Michener's novel about the history of the 50th state. Max von Sydow plays a zealous missionary with a Calvinist bent, intent on enlightening the natives even as his wife (Julie Andrews) is romanced by the dashing Richard Harris. The film is both a glossy vision of Hawaii in the early 19th century and a sometimes-brutal drama full of death, a rough childbirth, stormy weather, etc. Hill's blunt editing, meant to emphasize the more terrifying aspects of the natural order of life, makes the film look particularly dated and mannered today. This is best appreciated for its cast, all of whom were making inroads in Hollywood at the time. --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Julie Andrews - Max von Sydow - Richard Harris Director(s): George Roy Hill DVD Release Date: Released the 12 April 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The DVD era has unearthed another treasure. For the first time ever, Julie Andrews's performance in the title role of the original 1957 television production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella is available to the public on home video. Cinderella was created as a Broadway-style television production with an original score from the creators of Oklahoma! and Carousel, featuring such songs as "In My Own Little Corner," "Impossible," "Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful," and "Stepsisters' Lament." Cast in the title role was the 21-year-old Andrews, at the time starring on Broadway in My Fair Lady (another Cinderella story of sorts), and the cast was filled out by a talented bunch of stage veterans (including Kaye Ballard, Edie Adams, Dorothy... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Julie Andrews - Ilka Chase - Edie Adams Director(s): Ralph Nelson DVD Release Date: Released the 14 December 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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When a psychiatrist (Yves Montand) begins talking to a young woman (Barbra Streisand), he realizes that she can recall a past life while under hypnosis. Although this brash New Yorker is thoroughly modern and somewhat abrasive, he becomes fascinated by the 19th-century English woman who speaks through her. This oddball musical flicks back and forth between period flashbacks and modern times, which may be one reason it never builds up much power in either realm. On a Clear Day You Can See Forever failed at the box office in 1970, one of a number of glossy musicals that could not find an audience in the post-Easy Rider movie world. In fact, one of the film's out-of-place costars is Jack Nicholson, a symbol of the new movies that were making old-fashioned musicals a thing of... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Barbra Streisand - Yves Montand Director(s): Vincente Minnelli DVD Release Date: Released the 22 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Broadway to Hollywood: The Classic Musicals Collection is a five-film set of fondly remembered, mostly MGM musicals: Easter Parade (1948), The Band Wagon (1953), Bells Are Ringing (1960), Finian's Rainbow (Warner, 1968), and Brigadoon (1954). Four of the films are making their DVD debut, all are available separately (for a higher price), and the two best films, Easter Parade and The Band Wagon, come in two-disc special editions complete with commentary tracks, new and vintage documentaries, and musical outtakes. Both of those films star Fred Astaire following his return from premature retirement. Easter Parade is a Pygmalion-like tale of a Vaudeville veteran (Astaire) who attempts to develop an act with a small-timer... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gene Kelly DVD Release Date: Released the 15 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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