The V.I.P.s (1963)

One of my all time favorites.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

If you are thinking this may be a disaster movie such as the (1972) The Poseidon Adventure, (1974) The Towering Inferno, and/or (1997) The Titanic, you would be wrong. The V.I.P.s is a soap opera that outlines four (4) vignettes that take place at a London airport that has these interesting passengers grounded unexpectedly as follows:1. Love Triangle Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and Louis Jourdan are the three (3) figures with Richard Burton being the wealthy tycoon who ignores his wife Elizabeth Taylor so she falls "out of love" with Richard and into the charming hands by default of the addicted gambler and male gigolo Louis Jourdan with the end of their respective relationships being delivered via the exchange of two (2) letters.2. Save my corporation Rod Taylor and Maggie Smith are in a desperate battle to save Rod's tractor manufacturing corporation from an imminent takeover bid. Maggie who plays Rod's able executive assistant though is more interested in saving Rod's heart than his bank account.3. Save my estate Margaret Rutherford (best known for her role as Agatha Christie's female sleuth Miss Jane Marple) is attempting to board her flight from London to Florida to take a meaningless job in an effort to save her families estate and especially her gaudy and outdated castle.4. Save my film production company Orson Welles and his latest film star Elsa Martinelli seem to have nothing going for them but smoke and mirrors as the famed film director and wannabe film star respectively. So Orson has to be out of London and in Switzerland to avoid the taxman, but since their flight is delayed he and his accountant come up with an alternative plan once again to save his film production company.Although this will never be a film classic the all star cast will keep you interested in their separate stories and more importantly how their stories end. I give the film a decent 6 out of 10 rating. No harm, no foul.

Who needs a TV movie about Hollywood's greatest screen team when you have the real thing? Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, fresh from making headlines in Rome on "Cleopatra", quickly followed that up with this soapy women's picture about a business tycoon's obsession with his estranged wife, and the love a secretary has for her boss that results in her saving his business from a takeover. Elizabeth Taylor tones down the drama from her series of successful potboilers of the late 1950's and early 60's ("Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", "Suddenly Last Summer", her Oscar winning performance in the silly "Butterfield 8") while Burton is excellent as her demanding husband whose obsession moves between violence and tenderness. Playing the role that Burton had been portraying in real life ("the other man"), Louis Jourdan is the man Taylor is planning to marry once she gets rid of her unwanted husband. Pretty ironic considering the five years of scandal that Taylor had been undergoing since the Debbie/Eddie scandal.Rod Taylor seems to be utilizing an Australian accent to his role of a man on the verge of loosing his business while his shy but efficient secretary (Maggie Smith) quietly thinks of a way to save the day. Smith, rising slowly to stardom from here on in, had been around for a while in a couple of minor films, but mostly on stage. Her resemblance to Myrna Loy is quite eerie, and it is ironic that in 1976, she would be playing a parody of Loy's Nora Charles in Neil Simon's "Murder By Death". There is none of the acid tongued diva for which she became well known here, just a woman with a huge heart trying to find the courage to come out of her shell. The delightful Margaret Rutherford won the Academy Award for her performance as a chatty countess down on her luck, sort of a Marie Dressler "Dinner at Eight" grand dame that brings regalness to a delightful down-to-earth character.The weakest of the story lines is that of the film producer (Orson Welles) dealing with his star while preparing to fly to America from London. It seems to have been edited greatly, although his brief interaction with Rutherford towards the end does give it some purpose. The result is a mixed bag that audiences can enjoy even if it is far from perfect.

Elizabeth Taylor is having an affair with Louis Jourdan, a gigolo who has bedded around 500 women. Yet they never did it. She's running off with a professional gigolo and he hasn't managed to get her in the sack yet. Elizabeth Taylor. This gigolo must really be slipping. Richard Burton, as usual, reads names out of the phone book as if he's on the stage doing "Hamlet". Rod Taylor plays a businessman with a flashy wife who seems ready to dump him and a doe-eyed, matronly Girl Friday who saves his butt. I have to tip my hat to Rod Taylor - excellent Aussie accent. Orson Welles, who looked like a walking Burger King franchise, was very funny as the airhead Elsa Martinelli's companion. Then there was the frumpy old British dame with her own theme song and a chin that makes Jay Leno look like Beau Bridges. The movie had its strange moments. Elizabeth Taylor argues with Burton's character and he slams her hand against a glass closet door, cutting her. Instead of throwing a shoe at him and screaming, this somehow bonds her to him and they're on the road to reconciliation. But it takes Paul (Burton) to threaten suicide for her to finally go back to him before the plane takes off.

British Heathrow Airport's jet set have various reasons for high-tailing it to New York, but "The V.I.P.s" are grounded by London's notorious fog. The prospective travelers are first offered a free meal, then are put up in a hotel for the evening. Everything looks first class for the era, which benefits beautifully-wigged star Elizabeth Taylor (as Frances), who is leaving husband Richard Burton (as Paul Andros) for handsome Louis Jourdan (as Marc Champselle). They are the main story in the "Grand Hotel" (1932)-styled ensemble. Of the others, you'll have no trouble enjoying Margaret Rutherford steal not only her scenes, but the entire movie. Orson Welles never stood a chance. With less fanfare (than Liz and Dick), Rod Taylor and Maggie Smith have a good subplot.****** The V.I.P.s (9/1/63) Anthony Asquith ~ Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Margaret Rutherford, Louis Jourdan