Um Marido de Reserva

I am hesitant when recommending this movie, not because I doubt the movie, but because I doubt people. There are so many criticisms that non-believers could throw at THE BLISS OF MRS. BLOSSOM - that it's silly, obvious, crude, cartoonish, dated - but they would all be beside the point. The point is that this movie is a sweet-natured ding-bat adolescent pro-feminist look at sex and marriage in a world where people don't seem to have naughty bits - except women, whose most noticeable naughty bits need to be covered by industrial strength brassieres. The dialogue is a step above Benny Hill, but the performances (Shirley MacLaine, Richard Attenborough, James Booth and even [briefly] John Cleese) lift it to the level of Noel Coward, just by putting an aching sincerity into the outlandish situations. Most memorable, however, is the art direction, costume design, and editing, all of which take off from Carnaby Street and land somewhere on the planet Swinging Mod Paisley Surprise. The editing is particularly trippy, with deliberate disjunctions of time and space that give the title character an almost otherworldly cool. And why reach for THE BLISS OF MRS. BLOSSOM when there are so many other relics of Mod London in the late sixties to choose from? Because, like Linus's pumpkin patch, it's really and truly very sincere: whereas other movies of the period where aimed cynically at the youth market, T.B.O.M.B. is aimed at adults.

I found the film extremely hard to watch. I saw it on Netflix and I kept stopping it after fifteen or twenty minutes and resuming it the next day until I got through the whole thing.

I generally like Shirley Maclaine and Richard Attenborough and I like splashy British psychedelic 60's movies like "Casino Royale" and "What's New Pussycat" However, Maclaine was unexpectedly listless and dull and Attenborough, despite a brave attempt, could not bring a spark of life to the movie. The great sets are wasted in a movie that seems to want to be hip or hippie, but doesn't know how.

Someone named James Booth is the real star. It was a surprise to see such an unknown actor actually given more screen time than big stars like Maclaine and Attenborough. I kept thinking he was going to disappear from the movie, but instead his part just grew bigger and bigger to the point of pushing the other stars out. To be fair, He apparently did star in five or six movies low budget, moderately successful films in the 60's, but then went into playing mostly guest star television roles for the next 40 years. He plays a part that desperately needs the zaniness of Peter Sellers. One feels as if the part of Ambrose Tuttle, a crazy spaced out genius was written with Sellers in mind. Booth is much too laid back for the absurd cartoon style of the character and the work.

The movie is visually quite interesting, but it pitches, rolls and jumps all over the place. Sadly, the director seems to know nothing about directing actors or scenes. The actors seem to be talking directly to the audience and not each other. This has the effect of making the movie seem like a long episode of the 1960's television show "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in," but without any jokes. The wonderful time that all the characters appear to be having is not infectious, but annoying.

Anyways, I give the movie one star for Maclaine, one star for Attenborough and one star for the sets, but everything else is a gigantic bore in the film. If you're heavily stoned when watching, as the filmmakers appear to have been when putting this mess together, you can add another three stars.

In 1968 I worked as a projectionist. I saw thousands of movies. Memories of this one, among few, have stuck with me for all these years.

Richard Attenborough at his "dry" best. Shirley Maclain at her most sexy and appealing as a bored housewife. James Booth, her "house guest" is a charmer. Along with a host of other fascinating characters an extraordinary look at the 60s English culture and sense of humor.

Keeping your paramour in the attic for the occasional tryst whilst hubby is off making brassieres. It makes for great comedy If you get a chance to see this.....do it. It is worth your time and you will enjoy it.

A psychedelic film from the 60s that hasn't aged very well. It was probably rated higher when it was released and may have been popular with the teenagers of the time but now it's difficult to watch. A lot of money must have been spent on the fantasy sequences with lavish sets that appear only briefly. A strange film to have some big name actors, and actresses, in it which would not have come cheap. I wonder if it ever manage to make a profit?

The sort of nonsense that brought the British cinema to its knees at the end of the sixties. Considering how politically correct Shirley MacLaine was to become during the seventies this seems to have something to offend everyone. Suffused throughout with gaudy Dayglo colours; and believe it or not written by the guy who ten years earlier had shared script credit on 'Vertigo' and shot by the cameraman who had recently shot '2001'!

Nothing dates faster than something trying hard to be trendy; and Fellini seems to have inspired the raucous fantasy scenes. Constant product placement of long vanished items like the 'Teach Yourself' series of handbooks make this film feel as it was made over fifty years ago.

Ye Gods it was!