Gente Muito Importante

The beautiful people, the jet set, or let's just call them by their names - Liz and Dick. They are the cornerstone of this luscious, glamorous cream puff about the elite stranded at an airport.

There's Liz, the unhappy wife of the filthy rich Burton, getting ready to run away with playboy Louis Jourdan; Margaret Rutherford, on her way to work in Florida so she can keep her estate afloat; Orson Welles as a filmmaker, who has to leave London by midnight or be stuck with $1 million in taxes; Elsa Martinelli as his bratty star; Rod Taylor as man about to lose his business; Maggie Smith as his secretary suffering from unrequited love for her boss.

It doesn't get much better than this in terms of star power. Taylor is gorgeous with a wardrobe to match, Rutherford delightful, and Burton, Jourdan, and Rod Taylor all at their handsome bests. Maggie Smith gives a lovely, very touching performance, adding reality to this superficial story.

This is a marvelously entertaining film, done back in the days when a film budget went for a star cast and wardrobe and not special effects. The original star with Burton was to be Sophia Loren, but Taylor piped up and said she'd do it. It was made rather quickly to beat "Cleopatra" to the box office and cash in on Burton and Taylor's hot love affair.

Terrence Rattigan based his story on a true account of Vivien Leigh running away with Peter Finch and Olivier managing to stop them because their flight was delayed.

When I was in my teens I well remember all the publicity surrounding Elizabeth Taylor, from her serious illness, to her Oscar for Butterfield 8, to the various problems with Cleopatra and finally all the kanoodling with Richard Burton. No film star before or since had the media attention the way Ms. Taylor did.

When Cleopatra was in its editing stages and there sure was a lot of footage to edit, the publicity was too good to take advantage. Taylor had been off the screen since 1960. I'm sure that Anthony Asquith the director had this project that became The VIPS in mind for some time while Cleopatra was still being shot.

It was all shot at Heathrow Airport so there were no sets to build so the money was spent on getting a top rate cast. Orson Welles, Elsa Martinelli, Dennis Price, Robert Coote, Michael Hordern, Rod Taylor, Maggie Smith, Linda Christian, Louis Jourdan and the Best Supporting Actress of 1963 Margaret Rutherford join Liz and Dick.

A bunch of VIP passengers are stuck at the airport due to fog and we see their stories unfold in a Grand Hotel style plot. Orson Welles is an extravagant producer and I'm sure he borrowed bits from Alexander Korda, Dino DeLaurentis, and himself in a very outrageous portrayal of a man trying to leave Great Britain before the income tax nails him. His tempestuous Italian star Elsa Martinelli figures in the solution to his problem.

And Welles figures in the solution to Margaret Rutherford's problem. She's an impoverished and widowed Duchess who is leaving her home to settle in Florida. She's bright and funny and her portrayal is very much like Helen Hayes who won a second Academy Award for playing a little old eccentric lady in Airport.

Taylor and Burton oddly enough have the weakest story in the film. He's a billionaire tycoon who's wife Elizabeth Taylor is running off with a playboy gigolo portrayed by Louis Jourdan. Burton is as offended as Orson Welles was in Citizen Kane when Susan Alexander was running away from Charles Foster Kane. It's his pride more than anything else. It's a humbling experience.

My favorite story in The VIPS occurs with Aussie businessman Rod Taylor who is the victim of a cash flow problem as a result of beating back a hostile takeover. Linda Christian is his socialite jetsetting wife and Maggie Smith his loyal private secretary. It's one of the few times Rod Taylor has ever played someone from his native country on screen.

Though Margaret Rutherford got an Oscar, in my opinion the best portrayal in The VIPS goes hands down to Maggie Smith. She is so touching as the prim and proper Ms. Meade who is crushing out big time on her boss.

The Burton-Taylor story intersects with the Rod Taylor story when Smith spots Burton at the airport and corners him for help on behalf of her boss. She explains Rod Taylor's problems to Burton and of course she doesn't know of the personal crisis he's going through. Their scene is the highlight of the film.

Richard Burton was later reported to say that when he saw the finished film and saw Maggie Smith with him on the screen that she was guilty of grand larceny for her scene stealing. He said it with a smile and chuckle in admiration for her talent. I think you'll agree with him.

It's a good film, The VIPS, filled with characters you become involved with though they are hardly likely to be ones you come in contact with in your daily life.

Much of the action focused on a romantic triangle involving a pampered wife, a wealthy husband, and a penniless playboy lover…

Liz once again is the neglected wife, comforting herself with a lover (Jordan)… When the destitute husband is threatened by his wife's departure who has given her diamonds instead of affection, Burton shows he cares… Liz, unyielding however; wants him to suffer…

Taylor's performance is cool and serene… Her face undisturbed by normal human expression… Playing an instigator of male insecurity, she is, for a change, altogether lovely to look at…

Maggie Smith plays the trusty secretary in love with her Australian boss Rod Taylor… Orson Welles's arrogant character provides the comic relief… Margaret Rutherford won a Best Supporting Oscar for her delightful role as the eccentric elderly duchess

A product! That's what this is. Beautifully wrapped but inside, a potential for heartburn. Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor at the height of their popularity then, are hopelessly dated now. But, the Maggie Smith and Rod Taylor story is just great. Moving and funny. Orson Welles in another piece of self indulgence and self parody is priceless and so is the Academy Award winner Margaret Rutherford. Louis Jourdan, poor thing, as a gigolò - still, he spends the entire film, thinking that he'll be able to take Elizabeth Taylor away from Richard Burton - All that makes the film, almost sink. But put up with them to enjoy the rewards of Rod, Maggie, Orson and Margaret dealing with Terence Rattigan's enjoyable dialogue.

but a fascinating melodrama also. This was the first movie Liz Taylor and Richard Burton made as a married couple.

The story is by Terence Rattigan who apparently based it on a scene he observed in the VIP lounge of London Airport when Vivien Leigh made plans to run away with Peter Finch and was stopped by her husband, Laurence Olivier.

It is well filmed, way ahead of its time in certain segments where other minor characters are playing in the background of the scene, a continuum not employed in movies until the nineties (this was filmed in the early 60s).

Some of the script is a hoot, the fact that Liz and her lover are running away without ever having "made love". Richard and Liz both overact dramatically. But the cast make it well worth watching.

Maggie Smith is particularly vulnerable as a secretary, she is yet to find the acerbic edge that laces her subsequent movies. Margaret Rutherford is particularly good as a Duchess who has to go earn a living in America to save her stately home. More scenes with her would have been a treat.

7 out of 10, totally watchable and almost sinful in the enjoyment of same, it is just so deliciously shallow.