Something for Everyone

Thank god I had the good sense back in 1984 to video tape this movie. I got all but the last 2 minutes of it and I kick myself every-time for not adjusting the clock on my video recorder. I paid $750.00 for that VCR back in 1984 because it had fast forward, slow motion and freeze frame capabilities. Now, when I look at my $199.00 Sony HD video pocket camcorder I think back to how times have changed.

This movie is such a classic I am surprised that it is ignored by TCM, the Independent Film Channel and every other cable movie channel out there. It is just unbelievable what a mistake they are all making in not showing this movie. The rant by Angela Lansbury after the party is one of her greatest scenes and I show it to everyone young person who think they know all there is to know about her. It seems none of them have even heard of this movie. What a shame that fact is.

Hal Prince's Something For Everyone is perhaps one of the most looked over American classics of the 70's. The blackest of comedies the title might, if taken literally, be misleading since it is, obviously NOT for everyone. Prince's theatrical touch can be felt and lends a strong hand in the telling of the tale and keeping tight reigns on what could easily have become an out-of-control experience (i.e., "Happy Birthday, Gemini"), a taut, thrillingly wry comedy – one of the best of its type. Combining the fantasy of fairy tale with the social repression and economic dire straits of a Post-II World II Bavaria the film provides a vastly entertaining (and darkly hilarious) look into subject matters verboten at the time of the tale including the Nazi issue, social pariahism, class distinction and sexual appetite.

The dichotomy between classes has never been more closely paralleled in film: on one hand there is the starving, eager and willing to do anything young Konrad (Michael York) and on the other the Countess von Ornstein – she of by gone nobility. Countess or now, she too is starving, clinging to a past which has not only faded, but threatens at any minute to disintegrate. Her prospects poor she does what she must. Lansbury's Countess is priceless and she plays it with an unlikely combination of superego and hopeless despair – and she is brilliant. A tour-de-force.

If released today – the film would be at the top of every best 10 list and be talked about salaciously at every Starbucks.

With nazis hiding in the woodwork, sexual weaponry, misplaced romantic feelings, murder, social climbing combining with delicious Bavarian countryside, castles, beer gardens, stunning mountain vistas and even Wagnerian opera, Prince gives us a fairy tale gone wrong. Wondrously, terribly and gloriously wrong.

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Charming, machiavellian drifter manipulates widowed aristocrat and her family to gain control of the estate. Exemplary characters and script, and striking scenery for atmosphere. Viewers may also enjoy "A New Leaf" (1971).(Rating: A)

One of my favorites of 1970, this intelligent script certainly took me my surprise back then. I've never been an Angela Lansbury fan (except for The Manchurian Candidate and Gaslight), but she's finally perfectly cast and Michael York actually had a persona back then (two years before Cabaret) and gave some interesting performances in the 1970's.

I imagine this is available on DVD and video. Even the unknown films of the 70's had some expert screenwriters and this one probably didn't even make a dime. Beautiful terrain and cinematography make this a delightful piece with real wit and class. An 8 out of 10! Best performance = A. Lansbury.

I haven't seen this movie in a long time. I've seen it more than once, so I must have rented the VHS when it was available. I did see it when it was originally released theatrically. If you weren't that lucky, let me tell you, when Angela Lansbury appeared on screen about to board a train in her white satin traveling suit and matching (stewardess-style) cap, there was a collective gasp from the audience--admittedly mostly gay men. You'd never seen anything like it EVER. And you never saw anything like it again until Dynasty in the 80s.

Furthermore, Jane Carr utters one of the best lines in all of cinema history: "There's nothing like a bit of pre-breakfast chocolate cake."

The movie is pitch perfect, and I'd say required viewing for gay people, even though that theme is a small part of the movie. Hunt it down and see it! And pray for Criterion to get the rights!