König, Dame, Bube

Imagine a wilder, wackier, weirder European take on The Graduate and you get the general idea of the themes underlying this picture. Niven is his usual smooth, urbane self, but Gina is just magnificent: gorgeous to look at, sexy and hilariously funny too! It's pretty clear why this movie is less well known than some of the others its stars appeared in: it's almost the antithesis of a Hollywood blockbuster. There are strange interludes which don't really come off. It's not quite in the class of Harold and Maude, but worthy of comparison in many respects. This is really the kind of film you have to accept on its own level - a diverting caper without that much depth, but no less amusing for all that. It's probably more of a man's film, by which I mean simply that most women may not enjoy it all that much. But I could be wrong! Anyway I hope so, because it IS worth seeing.

Once again between Gina Lollobrigida's buxom beauty and David Niven's considerable charms they're asked to shoulder a black comedy based on a Vladimir Nabokov novel in King Queen Knave. They just about get it over the finish line.

King Queen Knave finds David Niven and Gina Lollobrigida as a married couple who have a nephew coming to stay with them. John Moulder- Brown's parents have been killed and his uncle David has agreed to take him and train him in the business of which he will be heir. Moulder-Brown is a nerdy klutz and a disappointment to Niven and he's at first dismissed by Gina. But she soon finds a use for him as Moulder-Brown starts thinking with his male member and she obliges him.

Gina's got her own plans in regard to Niven whom she married when she was an Italian refugee and he was in the British army of occupation. But it all doesn't quite work out as she thought it would.

Niven and Lollobrigida are about what you expect from them. But Moulder-Brown who is a better actor than he shows in this film goes way over the top in his portrayal of a klutz. I think he must have prepared for the role by watching all the Jerry Lewis movies he could find. It really got too much after a while.

For a good film based on a Nabokov novel, try Lolita.

If you can stand the bits of overacting by Mulder-Brown, continuity and the editing problems, the fun plot and charm of Lollobrigida and Niven are simply brilliant. It's a great story line with some silliness especially with Mario Adorf's Professor Ritter's skin invention.

It's a comedic tale of a young half-witted lad trying to make big but with the help of his uncle and more than help of his aunt. So typical for the post-60s sexual revolution, it showcases a bit of raunchiness of its older charming stars. Industrialist Uncle Charles tries to help his orphan nephew Frank on the road to success. However, Frank might be in for more than success as we watch a ménage à trois take course with sexy Aunt Martha ending in a most surprising twist.

Niven is charming, Mulder-Brown is half-witted (but I'll keeping the secret on that) and Gina Lollobrigida is clearly at her sexiest since Solomon and Sheba. Jerzy Skolimowski directed in his typical eccentric style that won't appeal to many but at times it's brilliant and at times poor, quite an uneven balance.

This film has not been digitally restored or produced on DVD so it's a rare gem if you can see it.

I watched this film adaptation shortly after reading the Vladimir Nabokov novel on which it's based. I realize that doesn't necessarily do a film many favors in terms of predisposing one towards it, but even with that taken into account I don't think the film of "King, Queen, Knave" fares very well.

There would be no way really to reproduce that wonderful texture of the prose work, but in the adaptation somebody also seems to have systematically extracted all characterization and subtlety, leaving only a bare outline events. Slapstick comedy is played up but not timed well, so characters stumble over each other time after time in sequences that last too long.

Events are carried over in the writing of the adaptation with their significance stripped away, so that we seem to be hearing about a chauffeur dying for no narrative reason. Martha says she's surprised Frank (who in print was Franz) hasn't come round in three days, when moments earlier he was agonizing over a reason to visit for the first time.

The dichotomy between aggressively conventional Martha and the whimsical, creative Dreyer - central in how I read the book - falls by the wayside. Dreyer (who was Kurt and is now Charles) is less a curious, joking sort than a driven, slightly imperious executive type. David Niven gives a good, relaxed performance, but, with one scene of practical joking left in and others of business acumen played up, the character he's playing doesn't feel complete.

Gina Lollobrigida is a talented, magnetic personality and it's always a pleasure to watch her, in visual and acting terms. Here, though, she is given nothing more to do than be seductive and ruthless. She does it well, but it's a limited role. John Moulder-Brown grossly overplays Frank as so ineffectual that he's often almost incapable for speaking. It reaches the point of being not only ineffective but simply irritating to watch. Similarly Mario Adorf's interpretation of the inventor Ritter seems to be so full of broad strokes and "comedy" faces that it becomes an unfunny distraction.

There are a number of a sequences where dream images break into the narrative, but these clatter on so unsubtly that their surrealism becomes a puzzling distraction rather than an explication of the narrative.

"King, Queen, Knave" leaves logic, character, and atmosphere behind to play up comedy -- without getting any laughs. The best that can be said is that it's nice to watch Lollobrigida and Niven enjoying themselves in some pleasant scenery. On the whole, it;s not worth bothering.

Sometimes Hollywood makes bad casting decisions, casting an actor or actress who, no matter what they do, could never be believable in the role. For example, in 1970's Ryan's Daughter, Robert Mitchum was cast as a man so sexually unfulfilling that his wife cheats on him. It's just not believable. And, in 1972's King, Queen, Knave, Gina Lollobrigida cheats on David Niven and has an affair with her nephew-in-law, John Moulder-Brown. He's a bumbling, mumbling fool, and David Niven is a stud who exercises every night before bed. The basic premise of this movie doesn't really make any sense.

However, if you can suspend your disbelief, it's actually a funny movie-in a quirky, seventies way. Everyone knows the seventies were weird, and this movie doesn't hide it. There are parties, uses of recreational substances, lavish costumes and wigs, a free-love attitude, and group sex. So, know what you're getting into with this movie, and if it sounds like something you could get a good laugh out of, you'll probably like it. I still maintain that anyone who cheats on David Niven should have her head examined, let alone choosing someone so ridiculous for her lover. If you agree with me, I'm sure you'll get some semblance of satisfaction from the famous bathtub scene: The Niv isn't exactly a faithful husband, and he has a threesome with two beautiful babes. It's actually a really funny scene, one of the only scenes in the film that's totally believable.

I'm about to write something weird, but since the entire movie is weird, I feel justified. Even though Gina and Niv aren't really paired together romantically, they make a very attractive and well-suited couple onscreen. They have similar interests, the chemistry of their banter sparkles, and they're easily the best looking couple at the party.

Another reason-albeit small-why I liked this movie is the family dog. A beautiful, award-winning, statuesque Dalmatian pals around with Gina and Niv in several scenes, and he is gorgeous and very well trained. That breed is one of my favorites, and it's adorable to see him follow Gina as she paces or give The Niv a big kiss on the lips. How darling is that? So, if you want to see The Niv with a beautiful dog, a beautiful wife, and two babes in a bathtub, there's only one movie where you'll find all three: King, Queen, Knave.

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to nudity and sex scenes, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.