One of those movies from my childhood that I recently revisited on DVD. It seems to me to have stood the test of time very well, especially with regard to many of the matte shots, which are remarkable.
This is a completely frivolous movie, and anyone approaching it looking for anything else is bound to be disappointed. It is, inevitably given the story, episodic; it definitely flags in places, and undoubtedly might have had greater success if it had been pruned. But I caught it on TV some years ago and discovered that one of its most charming irrelevancies - Natalie Wood singing Mancini and Mercer's "The Sweetheart Tree" - had disappeared, presumably so that the whole film could fit into the schedules. Not including it also makes a nonsense of Mancini's superb score, which uses the song as one of its principal themes. The 2001 DVD restores the song, which is very gratifying.
The film is dominated by the relationship between Jack Lemmon and Peter Falk. They are, individually and together, outrageously hammy, as are the sight gags associated with them. The brio with which they attack this material is a joy to behold, and they represent the best possible reason to watch the movie. Curtis and Wood manage to stand up in the Lemmon/Falk whirlwind, and somehow survive intact. The comic interludes provided by Arthur O'Connell, Vivian Vance and Marvin Kaplin shouldn't be overlooked: they have some very funny dialogue.
The other stars of the film are the cars driven by Lemmon and Curtis, and the astonishing wardrobe provided for Natalie Wood by Edith Head.
I think the dedicatees of the film, "Mr Laurel and Mr Hardy", would have been pleased with the efforts of all concerned.
This is a completely frivolous movie, and anyone approaching it looking for anything else is bound to be disappointed. It is, inevitably given the story, episodic; it definitely flags in places, and undoubtedly might have had greater success if it had been pruned. But I caught it on TV some years ago and discovered that one of its most charming irrelevancies - Natalie Wood singing Mancini and Mercer's "The Sweetheart Tree" - had disappeared, presumably so that the whole film could fit into the schedules. Not including it also makes a nonsense of Mancini's superb score, which uses the song as one of its principal themes. The 2001 DVD restores the song, which is very gratifying.
The film is dominated by the relationship between Jack Lemmon and Peter Falk. They are, individually and together, outrageously hammy, as are the sight gags associated with them. The brio with which they attack this material is a joy to behold, and they represent the best possible reason to watch the movie. Curtis and Wood manage to stand up in the Lemmon/Falk whirlwind, and somehow survive intact. The comic interludes provided by Arthur O'Connell, Vivian Vance and Marvin Kaplin shouldn't be overlooked: they have some very funny dialogue.
The other stars of the film are the cars driven by Lemmon and Curtis, and the astonishing wardrobe provided for Natalie Wood by Edith Head.
I think the dedicatees of the film, "Mr Laurel and Mr Hardy", would have been pleased with the efforts of all concerned.