O Rolls-Royce Amarelo

The Yellow Rolls Royce was one of French film star Alain Delon's American films. Unfortunately, like Dirk Bogarde, Horst Buchholtz, Jean Gabin, and other foreign threats to the U.S. stars, American success would not be his. Only the rest of the world, where he remains one cinema's greatest icons. Dirk Bogarde turned down Gigi to do a biopic about Liszt; Hollywood just did not put Delon in films that were directed at his audience (fainting women) or that showcased him.

A huge cast stars in The Yellow Rolls Royce, a 1964 film, and the production is truly sumptuous, with glorious European scenery. It is a series of three vignettes about people who have owned the car.

The first is set in England, and stars Rex Harrison, Jeanne Moreau, and Edmund Purdom. Harrison buys the car for his wife's (Moreau's) birthday; little does he know that she has a lover (Purdom). Frantic for a place to make love before Purdom leaves the country, they choose the car.

The second is set in Italy, and stars George C. Scott, Shirley Maclaine, Art Carney, and Alain Delon. Scott is an American mobster who brings his girlfriend (Maclaine) to Italy to introduce her to his family. She falls for an Italian photographer (Delon) while Scott is away taking care of some business in America. She and Delon's first tryst is in the yellow Rolls Royce. Delon is better-looking than the scenery despite a heavy coat of tan makeup, which was also done to him in Texas Across the River.

The third is set in Yugoslavia (actually filmed in Austria), where one Mrs. Millet (Ingrid Bergman) finds herself sneaking a rebel (Omar Shariff) into his country to fight the Germans. She takes him to the village where the rebels are gathering and sleeps in her car...until she is joined by a grateful Shariff.

The third episode of this film is the best and the most fun, with Bergman a determined woman who will stop at nothing to do just as she pleases, including pouring wine while the restaurant is being bombed around her. Bergman is truly wonderful in an exciting, warm, and moving story.

The other two parts of the film for me moved somewhat slowly, though they were well acted.

This is a good film. When you see the scenery, you'll wish you were there. And the exterior of the house where Rex Harrison and Jeanne Moreau live - unbelievable!

The Yellow Rolls-Royce follows three sets of car owners and how the title car influences their slice of life. With an all-star cast and short stories that are easy to follow, these types of movies are always popular and usually include something or someone to love.

The first vignette actually makes you feel sorry for Rex Harrison, which is a miracle in itself. He's a wealthy diplomat with an unfaithful wife, Jeanne Moreau, and his story is rather sad. Everyone will get a laugh, however, when Jeanne requests, "Be a darling, will you, and fetch me my slippers?" Take that, Professor Higgins!

In order to make up for the sadness of the first vignette, the second starts off a little silly. Italian mobster George C. Scott and his low-class American fiancé Shirley MacLaine buy the car. Between her gum-chewing and his pseudo-Italian accent, you think you're in for a ridiculous third of the movie. It does get better, though, when George leaves for business and leaves Shirley alone with the car. . . and the ridiculously cute Alain Delon.

By the time the third vignette rolls around, you've had time to realize this is a bittersweet movie. Ingrid Bergman and Omar Sharif join forces in the last act, using the car to help the resistance before WWII breaks out. It's an interesting ending to the film, since all three vignettes aren't really stories to write home about but are entertaining at the time.

This is a slow moving but entertaining movie. The three stories are romantic and charming. The cast is outstanding. Ingrid Bergman, Omar Shariff, George C. Scott, Art Carney, and Shirley McLaine to mention a few. Chances are of you enjoy movies from the 1960s you may like it. This type of movie was common then, but many have not fared well in getting to video. This has never been a hit but always enjoyed by many. Unfortunately it is not available on DVD or even VHS. If you have seen it and enjoyed it you may want to see "The Red Violin" with Samuel Jackson. Several stories that tie together with a red violin. The only common thread in "The Yellow Rolls-Royce" is the car. One of those if such-and-such could talk stories. It has been years since I have seen it telecast on TV. Good luck trying to see it.

After the success of "The V.I.P.s" the year before, Anthony Asquith and Terence Rattigan are at it again with uneven results. The excuse this time is a Rolls Royce that passes hands from star to star. It is a formula used before many times, most successfully in Julian Duvivier's "Tales of Manhattan" in which a dinner jacket plays an important part in the destinies of Edward G Robinson, Charles Laughton, Henry Fonda and Paul Robson among others. More recently the formula was used by John Badham in his "The Gun" and then Martin Donovan in the lyrically powerful "Seeds of Tragedy" in which the Rolls Royce there is cocaine. Terence Rattigan was master at dialogue and his characters tended to move in confined spaces, take "Separated Tables" for instance. In "The Yellow Rolls Royce" we travel from England to Italy to Eastern Europe and the only confinement Rattigan finds for his characters is the interior of the luxury car. On the first segment, Rex Harrison and Jeanne Moreau show Rattigan at his best, they are great fun to watch. Harrison, playing a big shot at the foreign office, does wonderful things with Rattigan's words. On the second episode Shirley MacLaine and Art Cartney are lovely as a gangster's moll and her minder but the Italo-American gangster, as played by George C Scott, is so over the top that, practically, sinks the whole little segment. French star Alain Delon plays an Italian gigolo of sorts. He is beautiful to look at but hopeless at delivering Rattigan's lines. On the third episode Ingrid Bergman plays Ingrid Bergman, beautifully and Omar Shariff plays Omar Shariff, just as beautifully. Joyce Grenfell plays a cameo as Bergman's companion, as usually, when she's on, she steals the scene. As you may have gathered, this is the kind of picture that one would enjoy the most on a rainy Sunday afternoon. That in itself is a recommendation.

All the three actresses are beautiful and attractive: some honest and some dishonest. The men remain the drones to the queen bee in all the three episodes.

Jeanne Moreau is probably the weakest of the trio but elegant in her role as a wife who has a young lover. Shirley Maclaine is the classical stunning dumb blonde who has to make a choice to step into a stable, rich married life. The fascinating Ingrid Bergman chooses to step down from a wealthy peerage to a realistic rustic lifestyle using charming wit for achieving an honest end.

This is Asquith's last film with Jack Hildyard's cinematography that is patchy but stunning at times. As a film it is average but the casting and the performances of the three ladies and George C Scott are notable.