armen-17

Lucy is as energetic as ever but the material here is terribly thin and exacerbated by late 60's tricksy photography; all jump cuts and stop motion nonsense......directed by Richard Lester it ain't. It is a lame excuse to build a 50 minute show around the talents(?!) of Anthony Newley. Newley had a questionable charm which, when stretched to the running time of this TV special, wears extremely thin and swiftly irritating. James Robertson Justice and Wilfrid Hyde White are both grossly underused and I searched for the wonderful Robert Morley in vein. If you're a fan of Lucy, look elsewhere as you shall feel starved of her wonderfulness after watching this disappointing missed opportunity to highlight one of the most ebullient and exciting comediennes ever!

this is a spectacularly bad movie. a glowingly awful representation of the sword and sandal "epics" the Italian studios were churning out at the time.everything about it is cheap: the acting, the direction, the sets, the costumes. the score is the only saving grace. i have only seen it in its dubbed form which adds to the hysterical enjoyment of this nonsense. it made me mad that they even decided to dub the great Akim Tamiroff who contributes a cameo here as the great Khan. fortunately for him he's not on screen for very long and dies an unintentionally comic death at the hands of the enemy. favourite moment is when muscleman Ursus dislodges a polystyrene rock from the inside of a cave and great acting kicks in to exemplify his strength under the weight of his heavy burden. the film itself is a heavy burden, only watch it if you really absolutely most definitely have nothing better to do with your spare one hour and twenty minutes.

I watched this yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. How to write off a vast sum of money in a movie that's doomed to failure and thus evade the revenue investigation.........yes the plot is an earlier incarnation of The Producers' like mischief and invention. It's no where near that great masterpiece in achievement but is still a delightful excursion in to some good old fashioned boulevardier fun. Chevalier as the has-been matinée idol underplays with subtlety where he could have been gruesomely hammy.Oh the joy of seeing him play Romeo to Jayne Mansfield's Juliet!! However he does sing a couple of numbers which are entirely pointless to the plot and immediately forgettable. The true star of the piece however is the GREAT Akim Tamiroff as an acting guru par excellence.As ever he scene steals effortlessly and rewards us with an immensely funny characterisation of vanity and dodgy intellect succumbing to the power of a few dollars wafted under his nose. To see him direct an advancing close up on a potted plant is to witness his genius. See the movie for this moment alone.

One gripe to end on. The company responsible for releasing this video seems to have a contempt for both the movie and its potential viewing audience. The quality of the print is largely awful and no attempt to clean it up. It may not be a classic but it deserves better than this. Still it's the only way to see this movie at the moment so don't hesitate if you are thinking of getting a copy.