Ancora una volta con sentimento

While Yul Brynner and Kay Kendall throw themselves admirably into their parts, their characters are annoying. Brynner's character, Victor Fabian, is a one-note, over-the-top egocentric and quickly becomes tiring.

Kay Kendall's character, Dolly Fabian, is the peacemaker counterweight to Victor Fabian's "bull in the china shop", and is the person who soothes the wealthy benefactors to Victor's orchestra.

The wealthy benefactors are the stereotypical dull and eccentric people with money who need to give it to poor, creative, artistic people.

As Victor Fabian grew quickly tiresome it fell to Dolly Fabian's character to pull me into the movie. She failed as she was a doormat.

Victor and his stereotypically lying and money hungry agent, Maxwell Archer (with an annoying and hard to understand Russian/Eastern European accent), lie and scheme to get Dolly back after she rightfully-so left Victor when he dallied with a young music student.

After leaving Victor, Dolly started a career as a teacher and is now engaged. Good for her as I could not see what she saw in Victor in the first place.

A wealthy elderly backer will not support Victor with the London orchestra unless Dolly is back with him. So Victor and his agent pursue and trick Dolly into returning. Not the most romantic of reasons. Still it could be comedic but it is not.

Dolly comes across as weak willed and a doormat. Her protests of not wanting to be with Victor again are ignored and steam rolled. Apparently the lady's "No!", does not mean no.

The movie's pretend divorce request to cover up for a pretend marriage is too dumb to be believed.

Donen directs a film based on a familiar theme - the ugly side of of genius that is hidden from the public, but all too familiar with valet, wife or agent. Donen manages to make a comedy of it all, without becoming a farce. That is probably due to the acting talents of Yul Brynner, Kay Kendall and the over worked agent played by great character actor Greg Ratoff. The plot may sound silly if one reads the screen play, but as a finished film, it is a delight to watch as three different personalities clash with each other, going in all directions only to end up on the same page at the end. Donen manages to describe genius, art, and a selfish ego and puts it into a package that will not make you laugh, but smile through most of the film. If you like classical music (and Sousa), you have an additional bonus. If you are a musician or played in school, you will recognize some of the tantrums of the conductor and the bulling of musicians who do not give the conductor what he wants.

And one final tribute to the film. Kay Kendall's acting is all the more remarkable because she shows no signs of nearing the end of her life and career. Once More With Feeling was her last film.

It is a shame that this film has not been released on video. It is a witty observation of the classical music world with Yul Brynner playing the part of a temperamental orchestra conductor. It was also Kay Kendall's last film - she was fatally ill when she made it and died shortly after it was finished. She was a marvelous comedienne and was a great foil for Yul Brynner. Every classical music buff should see this film!

Two films came out in the same year based upon plays by Harry Kurnitz, directed by Stanley Donen and starring Yul Brynner. The less said about 'Surprise Package' the better as it is too ghastly even to contemplate. This one is quite an improvement although once again Brynner, this time playing an orchestral conductor as opposed to a gangster, proves that he is utterly devoid of a sense of comedy. His portrayal of egomania is convincing. The redeeming feature of the other one was Noel Coward whilst here it is Kay Kendall. Her vivacity is intoxicating and her comedy timing impeccable. The scene where she plays the harp for the orchestra trustees is a comic gem. There are some excellent one-liners and it looks fantastic courtesy of lighting cameraman Georges Perinal and production designer Alexandre Trauner. Sadly this film represents the final bow for the glorious and incomparable Kay Kendall who died before its release.

This is a latter-day example of the "screwball" comedies of the 1930s, and has standout performances from Yul Brynner, Kay Kendall, and Gregory Ratoff. Beautifully filmed, gorgeous sets, great comic emsemble, and is LONG LONG overdue for re-release on video. Please!! I want to own a copy of this film for my library. This is one movie I could watch again every week.