Nobody was apparently happy with this frolic about a tippling French movie star--a French poodle--certainly not co-screenwriter Waldo Salt (who openly disparaged the film) nor star Tony Curtis, whose last film this was with stable studio Universal. The dog, "Monsieur Cognac", has an educated palette for fine wines and brandy--and a jealous streak when one of his human handlers (Christine Kaufmann) falls in love with an American jazz musician touring Paris. It's a completely harmless, appropriately nonsensical romp with a very mild-mannered Curtis blithely sharing the screen with a scene-stealing canine who understands English (filmed in Hollywood, nobody speaks much French here and the travelogue shots are all from stock). The opening 30mns are perhaps best (frosted with Morton Stevens' lovely jazz-lite score); after that, "Wild and Wonderful" gets more wild than wonderful, becoming almost a different picture altogether. It culminates with a free-for-all in an elegant manor during the taping of a live TV show. The laughs are still there, but the early promise has already been buried like a doggy bone. Kaufmann was then-married to Curtis; they have an unforced rapport and lovely chemistry. ** from ****
