The Perils of Pauline

I absolutely love this movie, I remember seeing it in 1967, I think they only showed it on TV I don't think it was in theaters, but I was 4 or 5 at the time and I remember they showed it on TV alot. This movie is very funny and at times very heartwarming. I love the scene in the begining when George plays a trick on the son of the people who finally take Pauline (Pamela Austin) in after all the efforts to get her adopted fail. George releases the break on the car just as the son is getting Pauline's suitcase and Pauline goes back to the car for her toothbrush. They both end up riding the car in silent movie, comedy like romp (because neither of them can drive), with evryone chasing after them. They finally crash the car into a train, and pieces of the car go flying all over the place and Pauline ends up on a railroad signal pole. The people change their minds about adopting Pauline and when George admits to pulling the prank to the orphange trustee, he's told to pack his bag and leave. The scene when he's leaving is very heartwarming and touching bacause they must part and you get to hear Pat Boone sing the beautiful theme song. All through the movie, they must go through many perils and adventures in their efforts to find each other. I'm not going to tell you the ending though but I will say you will enjoy this movie thoroughly.

I was a military dependent in Rota Spain during most of the 60's, There were few if any televisions. I myself did not see a TV for 6 years. Imagine a kids life with no television. The movie theater was truly magic. I last saw this movie in 1967, and have been searching for it for the last 20+ years. Countless searches for this on the internet has only turned up others searching for it, but never anyone finding it. Well, Its finally here, on ELOVE channel encore love channel 23 mar 1020 am and 28 march 820 am. I'm looking forward to seeing some of this magic from the past. I don't know about the critics but this former 7-8 year old kid has had this film on his mind for the last 39 years.. THANK YOU ENCORE CHANNEL!! Some other movies i'd like to see again from that era include: John Goldfarb please come home, Lt Robinson Crusoe USN, The Haleluja Trail, and i think The Jungle Book played that tour too. It seems as time goes on, we're losing a few gems from the past.. it's getting really hard to find showings for some of these movies! (robinson Crusoe, perils of Pauline) From 39 year old memory of some young kid i give this one a 10! I'm gonna sit my kids down to watch this one, except they're a few years older than I was!

There are four movies/serials with this exact title. The present movie (according to Wikipedia also available as a 4-part serial) is the result of an aborted attempt to create an updated Pauline-type series. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that it is the incarnation with the lowest rating on IMDB. But that doesn't mean it's worse than the others. It's just more divisive, with the most common user rating actually being 10 stars (and the second most common 5 stars).

So what's going on? It seems that the 10 star ratings are primarily from those who still fondly remember this movie as one of the most impressive of their childhood. (This also explains the comments about this movie being 'clean' or 'wholesome'.) Whereas the 5 star (and lower) reviews are primarily from those who are a little too adult for their own good. One would expect the same effect for Batman (1966), which strongly inspired the style of this film, and in fact it has the same kind of split. Only in that case there are more people affected by the nostalgia because Batman never stopped being shown.

Personally, I grew up neither with this movie nor with the old Batman series (not shown on German TV in my youth), but despite being middle-aged I love both now that I have found them, and I think that each has certain advantages over the other. Too bad the Pauline series was aborted.

Plotwise, it's all about our heroes Pauline and George, two lovers who were clearly made for each other, but keep being separated by a never-ending series of bizarre accidents. As a result, Pauline and George, but mainly Pauline, are thrown into the most outlandish and extreme adventures. Which they stoically endure, driven onwards by their love. Since this movie was cut together from pilot episodes for a planned series, the pacing isn't optimal. I found it best in the beginning and at the end. In the middle, at some point I almost stopped caring about the protagonists.

Everything starts when George, still a little boy under the care of Mrs. Carruther, finds an abandoned but happy baby girl near the door of his home, the Baskerville Foundling Home. The baby comes with a message saying "Protect me. My name is Pauline". To which George replies: "Yes, Pauline, always. Nobody will get you away from me!" George works hard to prevent Pauline from being adopted, but at some point this goes horribly wrong.

Just like the 1960s Batman series, this movie doesn't take itself seriously. At all. In many ways this feels like the attempt to re-create a silent movie, only better, by making full use of color and sound. This becomes really obvious each time a nostalgic intertitle is shown or a slapstick scene is comically overdone or even sped up. The intentional retro-flair also explains the old-fashioned exoticism, which was dated already in 1967, and is nowadays considered racist by some: It is not just billionaires and male white English soldiers, but also marginal groups such as Arabic heir apparents and white pygmies who are stereotyped in negative ways required for the plot.

If you like the silliness of Monty Python or Y a-t-il un pilote dans l'avion ? (1980) even in films you haven't seen before and aren't nostalgic for, then this film is well worth trying out.

Pauline, first seen as a baby girl abandoned at the steps of the Baskerville Foundling Home, is taken in by a young George Steadman, who declares he'll always take care of her. As they grow up, he sabotages Baskerville's efforts to find a home for her. He loves her, and when they are young adults, he leaves Baskerville to make his fortune, promising to return and wed Pauline when the time is right.

Before George can fulfill his promise, the foundling home is shut down and teenaged Pauline goes to work in Africa(?) as a tutor for sex-crazed 12-year-old Prince Benji (whose voice is dubbed by June Foray to sound like Rocket J. Squirrel). She rebuffs his advances ("It's very bad manners to threaten your teacher with a simitar"), and during her escape from Benji's palace is sold to Bombo, "white pygmy chief of the Congo." Her rescuer, a white hunter and "member of the Royal blues," Willy Sten-Martin (Terry-Thomas), falls in love with her and chases her through the rest of the movie. Likewise, George follows her, too, looking for true love, accompanied by his male secretary.

THE PERILS OF PAULINE ka-chunks along on a preponderance of incident as George, Sten-Martin and Pauline criss-cross the globe. Pauline is cryogenically frozen (so is George)... George is brainwashed... Pauline appears in a film by "far-out" Italian filmmaker Frederico Frandisi... has to seduce a gorilla... becomes a Russian cosmonaut... climbs over the Berlin Wall... etc.

So goes THE PERILS OF PAULINE, originally a pilot episode for an unsold TV series, expanded for theatrical release. Influenced by mid-60s comedy series like GET SMART and THE MONKEES -- and co-directed by GET SMART alumnus Joshua Shelley -- THE PERILS OF PAULINE is far too long at 93 minutes and aimed at ten-year-old mentalities.

The basis for this movie, a 1914 serial with "cliffhanger endings" between chapters, was remade in 1934. The best-known version of the story was released in 1947 as a vehicle for actress Betty Hutton. This 1967 version is inspired by the silent version -- the visual humor is a series of ancient slapstick routines, filmed in fast-motion and featuring runaway cars and people falling off ladders. A few of these moments are funny, but the strained verbal humor is below the level of even THE MONKEES.

Of the acting, the less said the better about Pat Boone (George) and Pamela Austin (Pauline), especially when compared to an old pro like Terry-Thomas, who bravely battles the inanities to turn in a good comic performance.

This is a movie that is fun to watch as well as being funny. It's also safe to watch with your kids. They will love the comic action, meanwhile you don't have to sit with your finger on the mute button to cut out the dirty words that most producer add in just so not to get the dreaded G rating.

It has been along time since I have seen it, however I'd buy it in a second if someone would release it on DVD !