L'inquiétante dame en noir

Jack Lemmon, rising young man in the United States State Department hasn't a clue when he rents a room from Kim Novak who turns out to be a fellow American in London. He also doesn't know she's The Notorious Landlady whose husband has gone missing and Scotland Yard thinks she did him in.

Americans in the diplomatic corps are supposed to be scandal free, even more so back in 1962 so poor Lemmon doesn't know what he's walked into. But his supervisor Fred Astaire does and he wants him to leave. But Lionel Jeffries of Scotland Yard thinks he'd make one great unofficial undercover man. So in the spirit of the alliance that defeated Hitler, Astaire agrees.

Later on after a hilarious barbecue scene nearly burns Novak's place down and gets the State Department unwanted publicity, Astaire wants to transfer Lemmon to Tierra Del Fuego, but Novak actually comes up and charms him into letting him stay. So much so that Astaire now wants to play Sherlock Holmes and solve the case himself or at least be Watson to Lemmon's Holmes.

Jack and Kim make a lovely couple in danger, 25 years earlier I could have seen Cary Grant and Carole Lombard in their parts. But when you set out to make a stylish comedy, casting Fred Astaire is always a stroke of genius. Director Richard Quine even had the good sense to acquire Astaire's classic, A Foggy Day from the defunct RKO studio where he introduced it in Damsel In Distress to use as background music. It's used to great affect on one of those foggy London nights where both of them are trailing Novak.

In the last half hour their sleuthing pays off and a rather intricate mystery is solved. Lionel Jeffries makes a dogged and determined Inspector Lestrade like Scotland Yard man, who if truth be told is one of the sleazier members of that organization ever portrayed on screen.

The joint creative hands who wrote The Notorious Landlady were Blake Edwards and Larry Gelbart. Can't do better than that for style and wit.

Kim Novak was a Columbia contract star and thru a series of films such as Pushover, The Eddy Duchin Story, Jeane Eagles and her big hits Picnic, The Man With The Golden Arm,* Pal Joey, Vertigo*, Middle Of the Night, Strangers When We Meet become the biggest star at Columbia.

Kim was the subject of the TCM Summer Under The Stars 2021 with some of her classics Vertigo, Picnic, Bell Book And Candle, Middle Of The Night and the Man with the Golden Arm as well as Billy Wilder's Kiss Me Stupid. Two Films that should have been omitted was a slight comedy from WB The Great Bank Robbery, and the truly mixed up Legend of Lyle Clare. I would have substituted The Amororous Adventures of Moll Flanders and The Mirror Crack'd with Kim trying bros with Liz Taylor with Rock Hudson , Angela Lansbury co starring.

Blake Edwards fashioned a wonderful screenplay sort of a comedy mystery set in London but filmed at Columbia in Hollywood. Jack Lemmon was a star of Phftt a fun comedy with the great Judy Holiday with Novak in a supporting role. Bell Book And Candle saw Novak with her fave leading man James Stewart with Lemmon billed after Novak, in this film her sign off at Columbia Novak is first billed over Lemmon and the great Fred. Astaire. Richard Quine loved Novak and I feel he is most responsible for the "Kim Novak" look so popular in the late 50's and early 60's with her films Bell Book And Candle, Strangers When We Meet and this delightful movie. Kim Novak was what a movie star should look like. Kim's clout was so great she designed her own wardrobe for this film and also for MGM's Boys Night Out. Both films were released in the summer of 62 giving audiences a chance to see this lovely star in 2 big movies.

Kim was rarely more beautiful than she appears in Notorious Landlady.

See this movie for a fun relaxing time and admire the work of film masters Edwards, Quine, Lemmon, Astaire (all now gone to Heaven) and Kim Novak.

In her great career Novak worked with Billy Wilder Alfred Hitcock, Otto Preminger, , Richard Quine, Mark Robson, Terence Young, Delbert Mann all of whom loved her. Co star in a her great career with Elizabeth Taylor, Jack Lemmon, Rita Hayworth, James Stewart. Judy Holiday, Ben Kingsley, Roz Russell, Frank Sinatra, Jane Wyman, Dean Martin, Rock Hudson, Angel Lansbury, Eleanor Parker, Fred. Astaire, Frederic March, Fred McMurray, Ty Power, James Garner, and Richard Johnson whom she would wed. Her co starring with William Holden in Picnic was electric and made Kim Novak a worldwide superstar. One star I wished Novak co starred with was Cary Grant. The combo of Novak and Grant would have been a rocking box office success. Kim however worked at Columbiand Grant at Universal.

*Preminger loved working with Kim..He had a habit of treating some players brutally for example Tom Tryon in both "The Cardinal" and "In Harms Way" but Superstars like John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, and Ms. Novak he was very very kind.

Pleasant mystery/comedy with a young energetic Jack Lemmon and an attractive Kim Novak developing a love interest (as expected) while trying to solve the problem of the apparent murder of her husband. Some intriguing plot twists and surprising jumps. Light film provides a nice diversion for an hour and a half especially with the presence of Fred Astaire and Lionel Jefferies.

Unfortunately it does not appear to be available on video tape at the present time.

Kim Novak is "The Notorious Landlady" in this 1962 Columbia film starring Jack Lemmon, Fred Astaire, Estelle Winwood, and Lionel Jeffries.

William Gridley (Lemmon) is a junior diplomat assigned to London who comes to look at rooms for rent by one Mrs. Hardwicke (Novak). As soon as Gridley lays eyes on her, he wants the room. At first she says she's the maid and can't rent to him, but she drops the pretense and allows herself to be talked into giving him the rooms, though she preferred a couple.

When his boss, Franklyn Ambruster (Astaire) hears the name of Gridley's landlady, it sounds familiar. It takes him a couple of minutes to find out that she is suspected of murdering her husband and remains the talk of London. The police, headed up by Inspector Oliphant, want Gridley to see what he can find out. Gridley, of course, is sure that his landlady is incapable of murder.

The plot thickens and so does the comedy, leading to an atypical trial and finally to a chase scene out of the Keystone Kops. Along the way there's blackmail, fire, a witness, poison, and a few other things.

As good as I thought this film was, and as much as I like Kim Novak (who designed her own clothes and they're gorgeous - she could have had a second career) I thought she could have added to the comedy a little more, although she's just fine as the beautiful, mysterious Mrs. Hardwicke. Jack Lemmon is delightful as the confused Gridley, and Lionel Jeffries is a standout as the exasperated Inspector. Fred Astaire makes an elegant Ambruster. Estelle Winwood, as an elderly neighborhood, is on hand for some fun comedy.

Very entertaining film, recommended, especially given the stars. Written by Larry Gelbart and Blake Edwards.

I saw this film for the first time on Turner Classic Movies tonight

A comedy set in England with this quartet of leads - Jack Lemmon, Kim Novak, Fred Astaire, Lionel Jeffries - a London cab full of great character actors, crisp and fully-toned black and white photography and a script from Larry Gelbert and Blake Edwards could not have been more pleasant. Gershwin's "A Foggy Day in London Town," washed it in additional wonderfulness. The sequences near the end of the film at a seaside resort in Penzance is wickedly choreographed with actors, camera moves and scoring for big laughs to a live band shell performance of a Gilbert and Sullivan ditty. Everything is spot on, silly to smart.