AFTER THE FOX

Peter Sellers

AFTER THE FOX (1966). Director: Vittorio De Sica.

Aldo Vanucci, a notorious criminal known as the Fox, escapes from jail to participate in the theft of a fortune in bullion known as the "Gold of Cairo." Working with a mysterious man named Okra (Akim Tamiroff), who only speaks through his beautiful companion, Aldo decides to make a movie about the theft and only pretend to be carrying off the gold. He inveigles aging American star Tony Powell (Victor Mature) to play the lead, and casts his aspiring actress sister, Gina (Britt Ekland) as his leading lady. The entire town turns out to participate in "Federico Fabrizi's" movie, but the best-laid plans ... 

Based on a play by Neil Simon (who also wrote the screenplay) this seems more like an attempt to cash in on the success of The Pink Panther and its sequels, but there's a reason why this never had any sequels. There are amusing and clever ideas and moments in the script, but they never quite jell, and the logistics of the crime are so hazy that the audience can't follow along, which is essential even in a comic caper treatment. De Sica may not have been the right director for this project -- he plays himself in a cameo -- but while star Sellers is good, he's simply not as farcical and as funny as he should have been; possibly he found the weak material uninspiring. Mature [Kiss of Death] is terrific as the vain actor whose dyed hair leaves streaks on Gina's face; Tamiroff [The Vulture] is as adept as ever; and Ekland [The Wicker Man], who was married to Sellers at the time, is also good and fetching. Martin Balsam has some funny moments as Tony's handler, and Lando Buzzanca makes an impression as a chief of police. This is one of those movies that probably looked hilarious on paper but just doesn't work out in actuality. The final gag is especially lame.

Verdict: Not one of Sellers' better movies nor performances. **.

ENDLESS NIGHT

Hywel Bennett and Hayley Mills

ENDLESS NIGHT (1972). Director: Sidney Gilliat. 

Michael Rogers (Hywel Bennett) drives wealthy people across Europe but wants a better life for himself. He greatly admires a piece of property called Gypsy's Acre in a small English village, and dreams of having his dying architect friend, Santonix (Per Oscarsson), design a house for him there. Dreams do come true after Michael meets and falls for Ellie Thomson (Hayley Mills), a lovely young woman who turns out to be an American heiress. Michael is disturbed by the discrepancy in their incomes, but Ellie is determined to marry him, despite her family's and advisors' objections. She is helped in her goal by her friend, Greta (Britt Ekland), who becomes an unwelcome presence in the couple's lives after they tie the knot. Santonix does design a magnificent house for them on the desired property, but events occur which make them feel ill at ease. Then there's a death ... 

Bennett with George Sanders

Endless Night is based on the novel by Agatha Christie, one of the author's personal favorites, and it is a suspenseful and especially well-written book which is told, as in the film version, from the point of view of Michael. Endless Night is quite well-acted by all the participants -- George Sanders adds a touch of class as a deceptively friendly lawyer -- the house is something to see (particularly the inside of it), and the viewer may or may not catch on to the twist that occurs at the finale. 

Britt Ekland with Mills

The trouble is that Endless Night is just blah. There's only one possible twist, not a lot of serious suspects, and the whole production just comes off as second-rate. Even Bernard Herrmann's score seems to consist of snatches from other and better movies. Bennett and Mills first worked together in The Family Way, then reunited for Twisted Nerve and then this film. Hayley Mills married Roy Boulting, who was 33 years older than her, and it is said that his choices for her all but ruined her career. Mills is still acting although her profile is comparatively low today. Bennett passed away in 2017. Britt Ekland's [The Wicker Man] last credit was in 2006. 

Verdict: Read the novel instead. **1/2.

P.S. I LOVE YOU: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT OF PETER SELLERS

P. S. I LOVE YOU: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT OF PETER SELLERS. Michael Sellers. E. P. Dutton; 1981.

In this revealing, entertaining, and well-written book, the son of Peter Sellers talks about his life with his famous father, his siblings, his mother, and his father's assorted other wives, including actresses Britt Ekland [Asylum] and Lynne Frederick [Schizo]. The portrait that emerges is of a man who never seemed quite satisfied no matter what he got out of life, which in terms of success, wealth and prestige was considerable. Paranoid, mercurial, and often inexplicably temperamental, Peter Sellers would routinely disown assorted children on what some might deem a whim, although he was often mortally offended, such as when his daughter Victoria tactlessly referred to him as looking like a "little old man" in Being There. (Victoria was the daughter of the hated second wife, Britt Ekland). Michael Sellers and his siblings had a life of privilege for the most part, although his father was, like most movie stars, probably more concerned with his status in the industry than with anything else, although he undoubtedly loved his children as much as he was capable of. The final chapters of the book deal with how fourth wife Frederick somehow managed to get virtually all of her estranged husband's fortune away from his own children. This is an intimate and frank portrait of its subject, although I'm not certain if we needed to know about Seller's late-in-life bouts with impotency.

Verdict: Good read about a comic genius with assorted issues. ***.

MR. STRANGELOVE: A BIOGRAPHY OF PETER SELLERS

MR. STRANGELOVE: A BIOGRAPHY OF PETER SELLERS. Ed Sikov. Hyperion; 2002.

"He was amoral, dangerous, vindictive, totally selfish, and yet had the charm of the devil." -- Sellers' first wife.

Mr. Strangelove adeptly traces the career and personal life of one of the cinema's funniest men, the brilliant Peter Sellers. There is his early association with Spike Milligan, with whom he did radio and TV programs; his relationship with his ever-loving if too controlling mother, Peg, as well as his several wives (including actress Britt Ekland) and children; and of course the many, many movies he appeared in. Sellers was like many powerful, successful film figures -- a man who could be monstrous one minute, even with his own children, and then turn around and be remarkably generous. Doted on by his mother, Sellers became self-absorbed at an early age, but many of his companions make clear that he could also be a very good friend. His career took precedence over everything else, as it does with so many driven film stars. Mr.. Strangelove also goes behind the scenes of Sellers' movies, both famous and obscure, such as The Pink Panther films, Dr. Strangelove, The Magic  Christian, Being There, Murder By Death, The Wrong Box, and many, many more. Sikov perhaps spends too much time on Milligan and the Goons (a comedic group/program of which Sellers was a part early in his career); otherwise this is a solid bio.

Verdict: Interesting look at a comic genius. ***.

THE WICKER MAN

Christopher Lee

THE WICKER MAN (1973). Director: Robin Hardy. Screenplay: Anthony Shaffer.

"You'll simply never understand the nature of sacrifice."

Sergeant Hardy (Edward Woodward) travels to a Scottish village on a remote island in answer to a letter claiming that a woman's young daughter has disappeared. The townspeople, including the woman who allegedly wrote the letter, claim that no one is missing and they never heard of the little girl in question. Seeing the free-spirited natures of the pagan villagers and their unashamed attitudes towards sexuality brings out the prig in the Catholic police officer, who is outraged by the licentiousness and confused by the weird rituals he sees all around him. On the other hand, Hardy is truly concerned with the welfare of the child he is searching for. Which makes his ultimate fate all the more troubling ... The Wicker Man, although conventional enough in its thinking at its core [substituting Paganists for Satanists], is an unusual horror suspense film. At times it plays like a weird musical with the villagers breaking out in song at the drop of a hat -- these sequences don't really work and were wisely cut in some versions -- and a scene with a naked Britt Ekland dancing and singing around her bedroom seems like nothing so much as a rock video [she even sings into the camera like a rock star!]. Ekland is the nubile daughter of the tavern keeper; Ingrid Pitt is a librarian; Diane Cilento is a teacher; and Christopher Lee is Lord Summerisle, leader of the Pagan cult. In general the cast is very good and Edward Woodward gives the performance of a lifetime. The version on the DVD is still not complete, as a documentary on the movie shows clips from scenes that are not included and were supposedly "lost." It's too bad that some fairly serious directorial missteps prevent this from being a true classic, although it certainly has many admirers, and once you get past the foolish moments it's actually quite good, with a chilling wind-up. Remade in 2006 with Nicolas Cage in the Woodward role.

Verdict: You just can't trust those Pagans -- and Edward Woodward's finest hour and a half. ***.

ASYLUM

Barbara Parkins being prepared for chop chop routine

ASYLUM (1972). Director: Roy Ward Baker.

When Dr. Martin (Robert Powell) applies for a job at an institution for the mentally disturbed, he is told by Dr. Rutherford (Patrick Magee of Dementia 13) that the head of the institution, Dr. Star, has recently become a patient. He challenges Martin to figure out which of the people upstairs could be the good doctor, and each in turn relates his tale of horror. In "Frozen Fear" a man (Richard Todd of Stage Fright) chops up his wife, but the wrapped pieces come to life and attack both him and his mistress (Barbara Parkins of The Mephisto Waltz). In "The Weird Tailor" a poor tradesman (Barry Morse) is offered money to make a suit from strange material for a man (Peter Cushing) mourning his son. "Lucy Comes to Stay" is a rather obvious split personality story with Charlotte Rampling [The Verdict] and Britt Ekland as two sides of the same woman. In "Mannikins of Fear" Dr. Byron (Herbert Lom) creates little mechanical men that he can control with his mind and that have brains and internal organs inside them. Scripted by Robert Bloch, Asylum is an entertaining picture, although Baker directs without any style or panache. Most of the acting is fine, with a superb Morse and Cushing taking top honors in the second story. Rampling, who is usually the Ice Princess Supreme, is actually warm and winning playing a psychopath  -- go figure! From Amicus films, not Hammer.

Verdict: Fun horror flick. ***.

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (1974). Director: Guy Hamilton.

The film throws out the storyline of Ian Fleming’s novel of the same name, but retains the arch villain, master assassin Scaramanga (who gets one million dollars per hit) and also pits him against Bond. The locale is switched from Jamaica to Southeast Asia, and instead of a bunch of mafioso at a planned resort, the supporting cast includes a sinister businessman and his allies at a Kung Fu school. (As a sop to the Kung Fu/martial arts craze of the time, one of Bond’s associates has two schoolgirl nieces who are experts at karate and join in a battle at one point.) The prize everyone wants in this venture is a solar cell that helps power a huge solar battery and laser gun on Scaramanga’s island retreat. As in the novel Scaramanga -- well-played by Christopher Lee -- has three nipples, and his first long-ago murder had to do with a circus elephant. Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland), 007's former secretary in the novel, is a sort of half-assed agent/assistant in the film. Maude Adams appears as Andrea Anders, who is Scaramanga’s lover but wants Bond to free her of him by killing him. Herve Villichaize is fun as Scaramanga’s little assistant Nick Nack, who hopes his boss will die so he can inherit everything he owns. Dressed in costume as a li’l devil, Nick Nack figures in an amusing scene when Bond is attacked by two huge Sumo wrestlers.

007 does not appear in the lengthy prologue (which depicts a gunfight between Scaramanga and an ill-fated hit man played by Marc Lawrence) except as a life-size dummy. The fat cop, J. W. Pepper, who first appeared in Live and Let Die, shows up again and is just as unfunny as before, serving only to slow down the action and irritate the viewer. Roger Moore is okay doing the rough stuff with the ladies and others – he slaps around Maud Adams at one point when she won’t give him information – but not nearly as convincing at it as Sean Connery was. The climactic duel between Bond and Scaramanga in a kind of fun house atmosphere may have influenced John Gardner when he wrote the climax to his novel "Never Send Flowers." The theme song is mediocre – not one of the worst, but hardly top-drawer, either. Pop singer Lulu does an okay job although her vocal peculiarities may not be to everyone’s liking. M has a headquarters inside the derelict Queen Elizabeth ship we see overturned in the harbor.

The Man with the Golden Gun is not a bad film and will hold your attention, but it is lesser Bond, without a single really outstanding sequence that stays in the memory (although there is some suspense worked up over the business with Bond working on the solar device at the end involving the laser beam). The photography is good but not great, and director Guy Hamilton seems to do little more than cover the action. Some beautiful locations, however. It is an improvement over Live and Let Die but not on the level of the Roger Moore 007s that would come later.

Verdict: Has its moments. **1/2.