Darling Lili (1970)

Excellent but underrated film

Best movie ever!

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Famous big-flop from the Bluhdorn era at Paramount, and it shares some aspects with that other big Paramount flop of the era, "Paint Your Wagon." Both are essentially square musicals that try to be hip. This one tries by messing with Julie Andrews' image: She's a World War 1 spy for the Germans, and she's looser than the Maria von Trapp standard she set: When Rock Hudson, as the flyer who's romancing her, suggests she might be a virgin, she slaps him. Blake Edwards, about to marry her, must have loved the thought of giving the world a new Julie Andrews, but he made some serious mistakes. I find her chemistry with Hudson, counter to some other commenters, just fine. But making her a Mata Hari-type spy leaves us unsure of whom to root for. There's never any mention of how many Allied plots she reported to the Germans, how many Allied deaths she might have caused. And to maintain a persuasive cover, she's always entertaining the Allied troops. But the character is not a heroine, and the ending--she devotes herself to entertaining and raising money for the Allies--is impossible. We wouldn't just forgive Mata Hari, we'd put her before a firing squad. Edwards lengthens the movie with some exciting aerial sequences, a pair of sub-Clousseau French detectives, and much footage of Rock and Julie kissing. It's shot beautifully, and some nice songs are scattered about, including "Whistling in the Dark," a typically lovely minor-key Mancini melody set to an uncharacteristically pointless Mercer lyric. It keeps the eye and ear occupied, but never engages the heart.

Colorful musical that is deficient in the script department, exactly why Julie is a spy is never really apparent and it really hurts the film. That being said the production design is beautiful as are some of Julie's costumes, it all seems overproduced and under-directed though. While the design is good a problem the film suffers from, and it was one many 60's musicals share, is that nothing looks lived in or used so it feels false from the beginning. Rock has been better elsewhere although that also is probably the fault of the script. What makes this worth sitting through is Julie and her voice which is exquisite and put to use on some lovely songs. "Whistling Away the Dark" in particular is haunting and beautifully staged if only the rest of the film was up to its brilliance this would have been something indeed.

I found this at a DVD sale and I'd never heard of this movie before. The description on the DVD case sounded fun and pacey - what a fallacy! After a very arresting opening scene, the movie devolves into the most wet and infantile romance story with no rhyme or reason to its plot and more montage sequences than you can poke a stick at. Neither Andrews or Hudson have more than a dozen lines in the first hour and when they finally do get any dialogue of significance you're past the point where you care to hear it. Andrews' songs are all identical (with the exception of an inexplicable strip sequence towards the middle) and while she is, as usual, vocally flawless, she is completely disconnected to her material and her co-stars. Hudson has no capacity opposite her to appear the powerful leading man he had in past movies. A minor amount of comic relief is offered with some stock Blake Edwards material - two bumbling French inspectors and a drunken flight captain. Beyond that this movie is badly put together, horrendously developed, badly scored (the same endlessly sappy violin riff throughout) and poorly costumed with little attention to detail or to period. Andrews looks sterile throughout, firing up a few times for some fight scenes that fall flat for the simple reason that they, like every other plot point in this movie, are given little to no background. The aerial dog-fighting sequences are very grandly shot but have no stakes whatsoever rendering them a pointless distraction. Edwards later claimed the studio interfered a great deal with this movie in development - honestly I don't buy it. This plot was rotten to the core. Having seen the full 133 minute cut I can well understand why a lot of editing went on. ANYTHING to make this dog have some pace or punch!

Julie Andrews made, I believe, only two major flops, in her career, this movie and "Star". In the case of "Star" I think we have a reasonably good and watchable film with several quite fine scenes. While not a great film, it didn't deserve to flop. On the other hand, this one really deserved its fate.Blake Edwards throws in scenes that don't fit at all together. The aerial dog fighting footage is fine, but has nothing to do with the spying, which has nothing to do with the two strip teases or the can-can dance. Perhaps the worse mistake is putting in two Inspector Clouseau types who just do some mildly amusing slap stick routines.Julie Andrews and Rock Hudson don't have chemistry at all, but that is probably because their scenes are absurdly written. She is trying to get secret spy information out of him, but it is hard to understand why he should be revealing top military secrets to her five minutes after they have met. It is almost like a poor T.V. comedy sketch about a spy. We never do find out why Lili is a German Spy. Why would a beloved and successful British star be risking her life to spy for Germany in World War I. The only explanation suggested in the movie is that her father was German. This really explains nothing.The DVD gives over 53 minutes of footage that was cut as a bonus. Only two or three minutes of Hudson and Andrews in the French Countryside with children singing should have been kept. It is the only scene where Hudson and Andrews seem to be enjoying themselves.Edwards best work with Andrews came later with "S.O.B." and "Victor Victoria." Those have more developed and interested characters.Henry Mancini's score was nominated for an Academy Award and several other awards, but it is only moderately effective and really quite forgettable. There's nothing of the quality of "Moon River" or "The Pink Panther Theme."