As Aventuras Escandalosas de uma Ruiva

This movie has to be one that shows off Kim Novak at her most luscious. It's too bad there wasn't enough showcasing! It's also too bad that this movie was made as a COMEDY unlike the newer PBS version. The only consolation, once again, is the luscious Kim Novak.

The best things about TAAOMF were the settings and the stream of well- known and not so well-known names and faces from British cinema, some in very small roles. Richard Wattis looked quite handsome in his period wig, but Derren Nesbit appeared a bit ridiculous in his period hairstyle - though, to be fair, his character was a foolish fop.

At 32 Kim Novak was a little too old to portray a Moll whom I took to be in her late teens but she did well enough. The great George Sanders provided some weight to the proceedings.

A desperate attempt to cash in on the wholly unexpected success of 'Tom Jones' that attempts to do for Defoe what the earlier film had done for Fielding, with a fashionably prolix title, a starry cast in fancy dress (including Hugh Griffith from the original), a noisy and overemphatic score by John Addison to keep reminding us how hilarious this all is, flashy direction from Terence Young between Bond movies - what could possibly go wrong?

...and Kim Novak in the title role.

An attractive film with mild humor.

The US distributor made 59 cuts to it, to shorten the time. I haven't seen any information on how long the US release was.

There is now an Italian DVD release in 2.35 format. It is based on the shortened US edition, and adds missing footage from the 4:3 TV master, mainly in the last half.

But in the 1990s another scene was dropped from both the VHS and TV masters. At about 45 minutes there had been a scene where she appears wrapped in a bedsheet. This is not restored in the DVD.

There may be a problem in the UK having a good master. It may need to be remastered from the uncut negative.

It can be interesting to look at films from years ago and see how one's views have changed. I saw this when it came out in 1965, and again when it was revived a few years later. I quite enjoyed it then, although the critics were not impressed, however it must be fifty years since I last saw it, so when I saw that Talking Pictures TV were showing it, I set my TV to record it so that I could watch it at my leisure. Looked at today, my impression is that it has not aged at all well. There seems to be a lot of energy expended to little effect. At times, it resembles a Carry-on movie, and it hardly helps that Kim Novak seems to be miscast. However credit is due to Leo McKern playing Richard Johnson's sidekick, who adds some much needed fun to the proceedings. It has a good supporting cast, but I can't help but feel that with this cast, it really should have been a lot better.