The Notorious Landlady

Jack Lemmon, an American, has newly arrived in England for business, and he rents a room in Kim Novak's house. When she's first introduced, she has a Cockney accent and tells him she's the maid of the house. Turns out, she's also American, and she owns the house-what else is she hiding? Jack's boss, Fred Astaire, and Lionel Jeffries at Scotland Yard believe Kim's hiding an awful lot, and they enlist Jack to help in their investigation. But when you're dating your landlady, do you really want to help put her in jail?

In their third onscreen pairing, Kim Novak and Jack Lemmon are dynamite in The Notorious Landlady! Jack is hilarious and charming in this classic 60s comedy, and while she isn't given much to do, Kim is as beautiful and alluring as her character requires. Fred, in a non-musical role, is very funny as well. If you're a fan of any of these three, this movie's a must-see! I'd praise the timing and chemistry as the elements that shine the brightest in this film, but the story is really interesting, too. This is a great flick to watch with your friends or your sweetie pie, or by yourself when you've had a stressful week and want some easy laughs. It's very funny, from the first scene to the last. Naturally, my favorite scenes are with Fred. Everything out of his mouth is hilarious!

Kim Novak was a Columbia star and went from a supporting role in Jack Lemmon's great Phfft to co star in Bell Book and Candle to lead and top billed over Jack Lemmon in this wickedly funny comedy mystery directed by Richard Quine.

This was the last movie Kim Novak made at Columbia and ended a legendary relationship between studio and star where Kim made Picnic, Pal Joey, Bell Book and Candle, Strangers When We Meet among others and her declared favorite film Middle Of The Night. Looking at times like the fabled Jean Harlow Ms. Novak reaches the top of the stardom ladder in this film.

To me Kim Novak was what a movie star looked like!

For a '62 film, it's a great parady of detective films,as well as the great wheelchair scene at the end.Great mystery,Kim Novak and Jack Lemmon had paired before and did well.

I saw this film for the first time on Turner Classic Movies tonight

A comedy set in England with this quartet of leads - Jack Lemmon, Kim Novak, Fred Astaire, Lionel Jeffries - a London cab full of great character actors, crisp and fully-toned black and white photography and a script from Larry Gelbert and Blake Edwards could not have been more pleasant. Gershwin's "A Foggy Day in London Town," washed it in additional wonderfulness. The sequences near the end of the film at a seaside resort in Penzance is wickedly choreographed with actors, camera moves and scoring for big laughs to a live band shell performance of a Gilbert and Sullivan ditty. Everything is spot on, silly to smart.

Jack Lemmon, rising young man in the United States State Department hasn't a clue when he rents a room from Kim Novak who turns out to be a fellow American in London. He also doesn't know she's The Notorious Landlady whose husband has gone missing and Scotland Yard thinks she did him in.

Americans in the diplomatic corps are supposed to be scandal free, even more so back in 1962 so poor Lemmon doesn't know what he's walked into. But his supervisor Fred Astaire does and he wants him to leave. But Lionel Jeffries of Scotland Yard thinks he'd make one great unofficial undercover man. So in the spirit of the alliance that defeated Hitler, Astaire agrees.

Later on after a hilarious barbecue scene nearly burns Novak's place down and gets the State Department unwanted publicity, Astaire wants to transfer Lemmon to Tierra Del Fuego, but Novak actually comes up and charms him into letting him stay. So much so that Astaire now wants to play Sherlock Holmes and solve the case himself or at least be Watson to Lemmon's Holmes.

Jack and Kim make a lovely couple in danger, 25 years earlier I could have seen Cary Grant and Carole Lombard in their parts. But when you set out to make a stylish comedy, casting Fred Astaire is always a stroke of genius. Director Richard Quine even had the good sense to acquire Astaire's classic, A Foggy Day from the defunct RKO studio where he introduced it in Damsel In Distress to use as background music. It's used to great affect on one of those foggy London nights where both of them are trailing Novak.

In the last half hour their sleuthing pays off and a rather intricate mystery is solved. Lionel Jeffries makes a dogged and determined Inspector Lestrade like Scotland Yard man, who if truth be told is one of the sleazier members of that organization ever portrayed on screen.

The joint creative hands who wrote The Notorious Landlady were Blake Edwards and Larry Gelbart. Can't do better than that for style and wit.