Darling Lili

I remember seeing DARLING LILI when it ran it's short original theatrical release. I also remember being the only person in the theatre during the particular showing I attended. It saddens me now as it did then that this beautifully crafted and delightful film was so sneered at and snubbed by critics and audiences alike. Movie musicals made a brief comeback in the early sixties and peaked with THE SOUND OF MUSIC in 1965. Hollywood continued to make them and even though two of them, OLIVER! and FUNNY GIRL, were mildly successful, the genre was again on the decline. The movie musicals of the late 60s all died at the box office including DOCTOR DOLITTLE, CAMELOT, FINIAN'S RAINBOW, GOODBYE MR. CHIPS, CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, PAINT YOUR WAGON, HALF A SIXPENCE, SWEET CHARITY, HELLO DOLLY! as well as Andrews' other underrated drama with music, STAR! which I consider a companion piece to both DARLING LILI and Andrews' comeback film, VICTOR,VICTORIA. But even in 1970 the movie musical struggled to survive with not only DARLING LILI but two other large scale musical extravaganzas, ie: ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER and SCROOGE. Much salt was added to the wound when not only 'LILI' but also 'CLEAR DAY' and SCROOGE tanked at the box office. These films failed not because they were bad films but because audiences had grown cynical and no film was any good unless it was "realistic". It seemed that going to the movies was no longer an excercise in temporarily putting one's troubles aside for a few hours of nurturing the spirit and soul with beautiful singing and dancing. Critics and audiences seemed to have taken themselves so seriously that even their entertainment had to be a reflection of their harsh day to day realities. One was labeled old fashioned and unhip to enjoy movie musicals. As for DARLING LILI, I found this delightful comedy farce with music to be truly charming and funny. Julie Andrews is in top form both musically and dramatically. Not only that but her comic talents are equally displayed. She looks gorgeous in this film and like STAR! she dazzles us in her canny ability to retain her girl next door demeanor and be damn sexy at the same time. Of course her success in keeping the balance of wholesomeness and sexy seductiveness is in part due to the excellent directing of her director/husband Blake Edwards. Again, the movie's failure at the box office is due the audiences' inability to appreciate what Edwards was trying to do. They just plain didn't get it. Nor did the critics have a clue either. Edward's clever variation on the Mata Hari story mixing musical numbers and intrigue and farce and romance with World War 1 the backdrop should have been embraced by the public during the Vietnam years as a bit of reprieve and relief from all the turmoil of the times; not as a way to forget the harsh realities but to make them easier to cope with. But this was not to be. I sometimes wonder if this movie would be better received if it was being released now for the first time.

Besides the highly entertaining adventure comedy, the music is gorgeous. Ms. Andrews sings one of the finest songs of the period, the haunting "Whistling Away the Dark" which was tragically robbed of the Best Song Oscar for 1970. But all the songs are great written by Henry Mancini. The sumptuous sets, art direction and costumes frame the movie with grand artistic opulence. Rock Hudson is great as an American fighter pilot and he revives his suave, debonair dash reminiscent of his farcical bedroom comedies with Doris Day.

For several years now I have longed for Mr. Edwards to release a widescreen letterbox video release on DVD. To my knowledge there has never been home video version. I'm willing to bet that the DVD would do well in sales. Edwards could even do a Julie Andrews commemorative box set of DARLING LILI and VICTOR VICTORIA in gorgeous letterboxed DVD transfers with all the fancy extra features. Well, one can dream. If I knew how to contact Mr. Edwards and Ms. Andrews I'd write them a letter begging them to make DARLING LILI available. Heck, I'd grovel if necessary. I'd love to tell everyone to go out and rent this wonderful movie but I can't since it's not available. The only way one can see this film is when it's broadcast on cable - which I don't have. And even then it's not always shown in it's widescreen splendor. Often one is subjected to cable broadcasts of the film in the horrific pan and scan format which sadly upstages and obstructs the artistic integrity of the film. If I were Julie Andrews or Blake Edwards, I would want to share this lovely work of art on film in the very best venue possible: DVD home video in widescreen. So far, all we are allowed is an occasional glimpse of this little gem often crippled by pan and scan butchery via cable, a source slowly dying off with the emergence of Direct TV and the growing popularity of DVDs and DVD players.

It was 1970. Julie Andrews had hit her highs onscreen, and her star was starting to fade, at least in the public's eye. "Lili" represented another opportunity for Julie to change her image, coming right after the megamusical "STAR!" which didn't deserve the drubbing *it* received either.

Audiences didn't seem to care for this WWI musical drama. In fact, they were staying away in droves from ANY musical--drama or not.

The shame of it all is that this film, with its many classic moments, was stigmatized by the press who were gunning for Our Fair Julie and her new beau, writer/director/producer Blake Edwards.

But "Lili" really *is* worth seeking out. Julie sings beautifully, especially the haunting "Whistling Away the Dark," a lovely Henri Mancini tune that opens and closes the film. Her performance is nuanced and quite affecting--just watch her as a fat tear silently slides down her cheek after a tumultuous argument with Major Larabee.

Edwards has staged some stunning flight sequences, but the suffer somewhat, in 1990s sensibilities, from the blue-screen process shots needed to get Rock "into" midair. Edwards also can't seem to help himself from sliding into formulaic comedy bits (he apparently thinks a bumbling Frenchman with an umbrella on a roof in a rainstorm is hilarious--it shows up in film after film of his).

The reason to watch "Lili" is for its interesting spin on the Mata Hari legend and the performance of Miss Andrews, who certainly didn't deserve the brickbats that came her way following its release.

Blake Edwards' "Darling Lili" is not a great film, but it is better than most people give it credit for. One of the most maligned productions in history (the aerial sequences took 2 years to film, the budget swelled to 3 times the original budget, various cuts of the film only add to the muddle), my final analysis is this: an underrated film whose reputation should soar once it's more widely seen.

This film exists in three versions: the original roadshow version (190 minutes)which Edwards disowned, the general release version (136 minutes)and Edwards' personal director's cut (113 minutes).

Tones shift between versions. The roadshow version had more talky sequences and was a numbing bore. The general release version deleted these sequences and was an improvement, but was still missing something. Edwards' cut was a great improvement. It is more serious in tone than the previous cuts, but the story concucted by Edwards and William Peter Blatty benefits from that approach. Julie Andrews is simply great as Lili, the singer/spy and her singing is at an all time high. Rock Hudson is excellent as her American pilot lover. Only after his inclination was exposed, did people take him seriously as an actor. But he was great all along. The songs by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer are strong as is the cinematography (by Russell Harlan, in Panavision)

Sadly, "Darling Lili" is not available on tape or DVD. But luckily for us, AMC shows this very often.

Roadshow version: 1/2* General Release: ** 1/2 Director's Cut: ***1/2

Julie and Blake deliver a real bomb {no pun intended}of a World War 1 musical with this sloppily made mega budget mess. Julie's voice is always a joy, but the music here is of the "in one ear, out the other" variety. Hudson shows all the romantic magnetism of a buttered scone and his scenes with Julie hold about as much spark as my 1987 Yugo. The comic relief is painfully unfunny, the flying scenes ho hum {with most of the aircraft and even one of the stars, Jeremy Kemp, rehashed from "The Blue Max"}and the whole experience just makes me glad that I saw this on free TV. Its a long way to Tipperary alright, this movie is closer to Verdun....

Except for "Star!", (Which another reviewer understandably considers a "companion piece" to this film), Julie Andrews never starred in a film that was more ideally structured specifically for her many talents than "Darling Lilli." She gets to sing, act, look lovely, even let her hair down and do a striptease in her continuing efforts to get away from her Mary Poppins/Maria Von Trapp image, and much more. Lilli is certainly one of the most interesting characters she ever played; you're never quite sure whether you're supposed to root for or despise this half-English, half-German who is a London music-hall entertainer but also acting as a spy for the Fatherland in World War I and is sent to, um, extract military secrets from American Major William Larabee but falls in love with him and tries to clear both their names for the suspicious French government.

And like "Star!", "Darling Lilli" was released at the wrong time. It had enough "performance numbers" to count as a movie musical, even though it also had elements of drama, comedy, and spy intrigue, and both movie musicals and Julie Andrews were not what critics and audiences were anxious to see in the late 1960s and early 70s, when both films were released. So both bombed at the box office. "Darling Lilli" in particular, judging by the "director's cut" that director Blake Edwards prepared several years later, did not really deserve this fate. While flawed, it is still highly entertaining, and Miss Andrews is utterly radiant, whether acting, stripping, or singing some vintage WW I tunes or some lovely songs written for the film by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer. The film should be seen if for no other reason than for the hauntingly beautiful "Whistling Away the Dark" and Julie's tender, achingly vulnerable performance of it.

But as I said, the film itself is not too great. The description of Lilli's character alone is confusing enough, and often it's hard to figure out what is going on. (Perhaps some footage that could've cleared up this confusion is in the original version of the film?) In addition to the rather muddled string of events, Rock Hudson is pretty stiff as Larabee, and the various German, French, and English accents of the supporting characters come and go. The authentic WW I aircraft is cool, but the air sequences, appaarently the ones that took the longest time out of the film's very long shooting period, are the least interesting in the film. And another reviewer also noted the film's uneasy yo-yoing between genres: the "director's cut" is probably the most serious film Edwards (Who happened to have just married Miss Andrews before they started filming this) ever directed, but he can't resist putting in some of his trademark cheap laughs, although several of them are admittenly funny. And all in all, the film is very entertaining, whether as a drama, comedy, musical, or spy thriller, and whenever Julie Andrews is onscreen, all the film's faults seem like quibbles. Obviously, Mr. Edwards is in love with his wife; can you blame him?